Development of Carbon Supported Hydrodemetallization Catalyst for Kuwaiti Heavy Crude Oil

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Utilization of heavy and extra crude oil is vital to be able to cope with the increasing demand for fuel oil in developing countries. These crudes not only have high level of contaminates metals (Ni, V, Fe Na, and Mg combined with high levels of coke precursors), but also contain large amount of bottom of barrel (atmospheric residue, AR), which requires effective processing in order to produce clean fuel. This proposal addresses the research and development activities required to perceive a catalyst that can effectively be used as guard-bed catalyst for Kuwaiti atmospheric residue in hydro-processing. This process reduces the level of metal impurities present in residue, which would endow better quality products specifically low sulfur fuel oil. The development of a catalyst can be rationalized by varying support compositions such as carbon alone or carbon in alumina matrix. The support can be modified with the metals that provide high throughput and catalyst stability with time-on-stream. The primary aim of this research project is to develop a front-end catalyst that has higher activity and superior stability than commercially available ones. The life of catalyst can be prolonged by tailoring the textural properties of the catalyst, which is the innate property of the support. The proposed catalyst is designed to optimize two catalytic parameters, namely, demetallization activity and stability. The objective of this research proposal will be achieved by focusing on the usage of highly active, large pore catalyst, which is less expensive and more convenient to use in atmospheric residue desulfurization (ARDS) system as compared to the hydrodemetallization (HDM) catalyst currently used in onstream catalyst replacement (OCR) in Kuwait National Petroleum Company’s ARDS units.