CHAPTER 3

HYDROTREATING
 HYDROTREATER
/HYDRO-
DESULFURIZATION
REMOVE SULFUR & OTHER
CONTAMINANTS   COMPOUNDS
FROM REFINED PETROLEUM
PRODUCT e.g
KEROSENE,GASOLINE, JET FUEL
HYDROTREATING…
.• Hydrocarbon product streams from the Crude Distillation unit contain
levels of sulphur that exceed the specifications for the finished
product stream and/or the catalyst specifications for downstream
processing units.
• To remove the sulfur from the intermediate stream.
• Hydrotreating may also reduce the levels of nitrogen contained in the
stream.
• In addition, some of the metals (such as nickel and vanadium) may
be removed from the hydrocarbon stream during hydrotreating.
HYDROTREATING…
High concentration of SO2
. can cause asthma and
chronic bronchitis
 Process
•..
Hydrotreating is a refinery process in which
hydrogen gas is mixed with the hydrocarbon
stream
•
Contacted with a fixed-bed of catalyst in
a reactor vessel
• High temperature and pressure to effect the
hydrotreating reactions.
300-
400⁰C
30-130
HT = hydrotreater

HT located before the

reformer, hydrocracker and
FCC

Why HT??

to keep contaminants
from poisoning the
conversion catalyst.
Process
step…
1) Hydrogen is combined with the feed and
heated to the desired hydrotreating
temperature using a fired heater
2) Feed and hydrogen pass downward in a
hydrogenation reactor packed with various types
of catalyst depending upon reactions desired
3) Reactor effluent is cooled and enter the
high pressure separator which separates the
liquid hydrocarbon from the
hydrogen/hydrogen sulfide/ammonia gas.
4) Hydrogen is recycle back to reactor
5) Further separation occurs in the stripper
prior to sending the hydrocarbon liquids to
fractionation.

1. Hydrocarbon liquid
feed is mixed with
hydrogen and fed into
a furnace
2. The furnace will
heat up the liquid
mixture to desired
hydrotreating
temperature
4. The reactor effluent is
cooled and enter the high
-pressure separator
3. Then mixture fed into a
fixed bed catalytic reactor
High
pressure
separator
5. High -pressure separator
separates the liquid hydrocarbon
from the hydrogen/hydrogen
sulfide/removing nitrogen (to form
ammonia)
Liquid feed Hydrogen recycle gas

Remove
item
Reactor High-
300-400 oC pressure
separator
30-130 atm
stripper

Treated

product
CATALYST
•…
The catalyst is a solid consisting of a base of alumina impregnated
with metal oxides that promote (i.e., catalyze) the desired
reactions.
• These catalysts are usually formed into small pallet to maximize
the surface area available for contacting the reactants in the
reactors.
• The catalyst used normally cobalt, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)
and nickel
CATALYST
…
HYDROTREATING: Chemical
Process
HYDROTREATING: Chemical
Process