Screening hydrotreating catalysts for the valorization of a light cycle oil/scrap tires oil blend based on a detailed product analysis

Abstract

Predicting the hydrotreating performance of industrial catalysts used for upgrading heavy oils is hampered by the unknown chemistry behind it. In this work, we have used a set of chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques (APPI/ESI FT-ICR MS, FID-MS GC×GC and PFPD GC) for acquiring a more precise composition of the feed and products of the hydrotreatment of a blend of light cycle oil and scrap tire oil (20 vol%) using three benchmark catalysts: CoMo/Al2O3, NiMo/SiO2-Al2O3 and NiW/USY zeolite. Despite the different nature of the catalysts, the composition of the products was relatively similar, indicating the slower and controlled trans- formation of the heaviest molecules of the feed, particularly in tire oil. A faithful analysis of these molecules by combining the results of the analysis clarifies the multiple mechanisms affecting hydrotreating simultaneously: hydrodearomatization, hydrocracking, hydrodesulfurization, hydrodeoxygenation and hydrodenitrification. An effort has been made to use these results in a quantitative manner for catalyst screening.