Increasing demands for distillate fuels and decreasing supplies of lighter, easy-to-process crude are forcing refineries to process heavier stocks. The major problems encountered during the processing of these types of stocks are the higher nitrogen and sulfur contents, which on burning, produce nitrogen and sulphur oxides that cause serious environmental hazards.
Hydrogenation and hydro-sulfurization using hydro-treating catalysts is the conventional process being employed in refineries worldwide to remove organic nitrogen/sulfur compounds from liquid fuels. This process normally requires high temperatures, high pressure, and hydrogen consumption.
The current hydro-desulfurization process is effective to remove only the "easy sulfur" compounds but not the refractory sulfur compounds present in the liquid fuels. In addition, although there is no limitation on nitrogen compounds, they compete with sulfur compounds on the active sites of catalysts in the conventional process. Therefore, nitrogen compounds should be removed as much as possible.
The adsorbent material in the present invention can selectively remove both nitrogen and sulfur compounds at room temperature and atmospheric pressure without the use of hydrogen. The technique will allow refineries to produce qualified liquid fuels in a cost effective way.
The novel features of the adsorbent material are:
A prototype has been developed and successfully tested on a small scale (lab testing).
Issued US Patent: US 7,935,248 - Adsorbents for denitrogenation desulfurization of hydrocarbon oils and methods of producing
Canadian Patent Pending
This technology is available for non-exclusive licensing.
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