Process for the desulfurization of hydrocarbonacecus oil

Abstract

A process for the desulfurization of hydrocarbonaceous oil wherein the hydrocarbonaceous oil is contacted with a hydrodesulfurization catalyst in a hydrodesulfurization reaction zone to reduce the sulfur level to a relatively low level then contacting the resulting hydrocarbonaceous stream from the hydrodesulfurization zone with an oxidizing agent to convert the residual, low level of sulfur compounds into sulfur-oxidated compounds. The resulting hydrocarbonaceous oil stream containing the sulfur-oxidated compounds is separated after decomposing any residual oxidizing agent by contacting the stream with an adsorbent material to adsorb the sulfur-oxidated compounds to produce a hydrocarbonaceous oil stream having a reduced concentration of sulfur-oxidated compounds. The spent adsorbent is regenerated and subsequently returned to adsorbent service.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The field of art to which this invention pertains is the desulfurization of hydrocarbonaceous oils to produce low concentrations of residual sulfur. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] There is an increasing demand to reduce the sulfur content of hydrocarbonaceous oil to produce products which have very low concentrations of sulfur and are thereby marketable in the ever more demanding marketplace. With the increased environmental emphasis on the requirement for more environmentally friendly transportation fuels, those skilled in the art have sought to find feasible and economical techniques to reduce the sulfur content of hydrocarbonaceous oil to low concentrations. [0003] Traditionally, hydrocarbons containing sulfur have been subjected to a catalytic hydrogenation zone to remove sulfur and produce hydrocarbons having lower concentrations of sulfur. Hydrogenation to remove sulfur is very successful for the removal of the sulfur from hydrocarbons that ha...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011] The present invention discloses a novel integrated process that is capable of easily and economically reducing the sulfur content of hydrocarbonaceous oil while achieving high recovery of the original feedstock. Important elements of the present invention are the minimization of the cost of hydrotreating in the integrated two-stage desulfurization process and the ability to economically desulfurize hydrocarbonaceous oil to a very low level while maximizing the yield of the desulfurized hydrocarbonaceous oil.

Problems solved by technology

However, the removal of sulfur components that are sterically hindered becomes exceedingly difficult and therefore the removal of sulfur components to a sulfur level below about 100 ppm is very costly by known current hydrotreating techniques.

The disadvantage to this approach is that the isolated sulfur bearing hydrocarbon compounds are still not useful as a sulfur-free material and therefore the yield of a sulfur-free material from the original hydrocarbonaceous oil is less than desirable and therefore uneconomic.

Images