HYDRO-TREATMENT PROCESSES

In Oil-gas industry Hydrotreating is an established refinery process for reducing sulphur,

nitrogen and aromatics while enhancing cetane number, density and smoke point. The
refining industry’s efforts to meet the global trend for more-stringent clean fuels
specifications, the growing demand for transportation fuels and the shift toward diesel mean
that hydrotreating has become an increasingly important refinery process in recent years.

Catalytic hydrotreating (HDT) is applied extensively in the petroleum refining industry to

remove impurities,as mentioned above such as heteroatoms (sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen),
PNAs (polynuclear aromatics), and metal-containing compounds (primarily V and Ni). The
concentration of these impurities increases as the boiling point of the petroleum fraction
increases. S-, N-, O-, and PNA-containing compounds are found in low-molecular-weight
feedstocks such as straight-run distillates (naphtha, kerosene, gas oil), while high-molecular-
weight feedstocks (vacuum gas oils, atmospheric and vacuum residua) contain the same
impurities in higher concentrations, as well as complex V- and Ni-containing compounds and
asphaltenes.
The operating conditions will depend on the product is undergoing to hydrogenation. For
instance, temperatures could range between 300 and 320°C, and pressures between 25 and
30 barg for Kerosene HDT technology. And based on that several process configurations are
available. The heart of our hydrotreating process is the reactor section, which features a
high-pressure reactor vessel and proprietary catalyst and reactor internals technology. The
process configuration is optimised for each application to suit operating requirements and
customer-specific project economics.
The primary hydrotreating catalyst is basically NiMo catalyst and in order to archieve ultra
low sulphur component product higher purified H2 to be used (>99.99% mol H2).

Kerosene Hydrotreatment (KHT) process:

In general Kerosene Hydrotreating Unit (KHT) is designed to process a feed-straight run
kerosene stream to produce a kerosene product that meets Jet A-1 specifications and with
10wtppm sulfur. Reducing the sulfur to 10wtppm provides flexibility to route the kerosene
product to Jet A-1 product.
General Process scheme of KHT is given below:
In general hydrotreatment units are divided into sections:
- Feed Pretreatment Section
- Reaction Section
- Degassing Section
- Stripper Section

Feed Pretreatment Section:

The combined feed passes through a Feed Filter to remove large particulates that could otherwise
damage the catalyst in the reaction section. Two feed filters are provided with one being in service
and the second on standby to be placed in service when the operating feed filter becomes fouled. The
feed blend may be delivered to the Unit at varying temperatures. Therefore, Feed/Vacuum Bottoms
Exchanger and Feed/Stripper Bottoms Exchanger are provided to maintain a constant feed
temperature to the system. After the Feed/Stripper Bottoms Exchanger, the combined feed enters the
Feed Surge Drum. The Feed Surge Drum is normally sized to provide 30 minutes of storage to
provide for a constant feed rate to the reaction system during variations in the incoming feed rate. The
feed is then pumped by the Charge Pumps and mixed with a small amount of the required makeup
hydrogen before being heated in the Feed/Effluent Exchangers. The preheated feed may then be
mixed with an additional small amount of makeup hydrogen before being heated to the required
reactor inlet temperature in the Reactor Charge Heater. Depending upon the type of feed to the unit,
the addition of this small amount of makeup hydrogen is very important to reduce fouling.

Reactor Section:

At this point, the feed is combined with recycled effluent provided by the Reactor Recycle Pumps from
Reactor. Reactor effluent is recycled back to this point in order to provide adequate fluid in which to
saturate the required amount of hydrogen for the hydrotreating reactions. This recycled effluent also
acts as a heat sink for the exothermic reactions that take place in the Reactor. The combined recycle
and fresh feed is mixed with additional makeup hydrogen and enters the first bed of the Reactor. The
amount of hydrogen added to the feed of the first bed is determined by the saturation limits of the
fluid. Sufficient additional hydrogen is added until a small amount of off gas is vented from the first
bed. This ensures complete saturation of hydrogen. Re-saturation with hydrogen is also required
between the beds of the reactor. The Process eliminates problems associated with flow mal-
distribution and catalyst wetting, which can result in smaller reactors and less catalyst volume. To
meet the product specifications, only one Reactor is required. The has two catalyst beds total. The
operating conditions (pressures, temperatures, recycle rates, catalyst space velocities, and hydrogen
consumption) within the Reactor were set to provide the desired saturation of aromatics and
desulfurization of the unit’s feed quality as provided in the design basis. The net liquid from the
Reactor flows to the Feed/Effluent Exchanger and then on to the Hot Low Pressure Separator. Vents
from all Reactor beds are combined with vapor from the Hot Low Pressure Separator before being
cooled in the Off Gas Cooler.

Degassing Section:

The pressure of the effluent to the Hot Low Pressure Separator is reduced across a control valve and
the vapor and liquid are then separated. The liquid is let down through a level control valve and is
directed to the Stripper. The vapor from the Hot Low Pressure Separator is cooled and partially
condensed by passing through the Off Gas Cooler and the Off Gas Trim Cooler. Wash water is
introduced at the inlet of the Off Gas Cooler to reduce the amount of ammonium bisulfide salt
deposition. The cooled vapors, condensed liquid, and sour water leaving the Off Gas Trim Cooler are
separated in the Cold Low Pressure Separator. The vapors are sent to battery limits. Because the
vapor stream has relatively a high amount of hydrogen, it may be sent to a hydrogen recovery system
or to the refinery fuel gas treating system depending upon the Refinery requirements. The sour water
from the Cold Low Pressure Separator is sent to the refinery sour water system. The hydrocarbon
liquid is recycled back to the Feed Surge Drum.

Stripper Section:

The Stripper is designed to separate the hydrogen sulfide and light ends from the Kerosene product.
The Stripper overhead vapor is partially condensed in the Stripper Overhead Condenser. The partially
condensed vapors, condensed hydrocarbon liquid, and sour water are separated in the Stripper
Overhead Accumulator. The vapors are sent to the refinery fuel gas treating system. The sour water
is sent to the refinery sour water system. The condensed liquid is fed to the Stripper Reflux Pumps. A
portion of the reflux pump discharge is refluxed to the Stripper and the remainder is sent to battery
limits as a Wild Naphtha, if produced. To recover the heat available in the kerosene product, the
stripper bottoms passes through the Feed/Stripper Bottoms Exchanger before entering the Vacuum
Drier. The Vacuum Drier removes the water content in the kerosene to meet jet fuel product
specifications. The bottoms product is pumped by the Kerosene Product Pumps to battery limits. To
further recover energy, the kerosene product is cooled in the Feed/ Vacuum Drier Bottoms
Exchanger. In order to meet the desired battery limit conditions, the kerosene product is air-cooled in
the Kerosene Product Cooler and then water-cooled in the Kerosene Product Trim Cooler.

Naptha and Diesel hydrotreatment processes are more or less the same. Basically only process
conditions are varying. Heavier the feed the severe the process condition is.