Oil Shale, Vol.30, No.4, 517-535, 2013
LUMPING KINETICS OF HYDRODESULFURIZATION AND HYDRODENITROGENATION OF THE MIDDLE DISTILLATE FROM CHINESE SHALE OIL
The hydrogenation experiments of the middle distillate (MD) of Chinese Huadian shale oil were carried out in a bench-scale trickle-bed reactor using a commercial catalyst Ni-Mo-W/Al2O3 under various operating conditions. Three kinds of lumping kinetic models were developed in order to compare their capabilities to predict the concentrations of sulfur and nitrogen in hydrotreated oil samples. The results showed that three-lump and four-lump models can be reasonably used to describe hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN), respectively. The predictions made using lumping models agreed well with experimental data. The discrepancies between experimental and predicted data are smaller than 5%. The three-lump model for HDS and the four-lump model for HDN were also utilized for predicting reactive features and obtaining suitable operating conditions for HDS and HDN of the middle distillate (MD) of Huadian shale oil. The species and distribution of sulfur and nitrogen compounds were also investigated.