Nitrogen compounds removal from oil-derived middle distillates by MIL-101(Cr) and its impact on ULSD production by hydrotreating

Oil-derived middle distillates (straight-run gas oil and mixture with light cycle oil and coker gas oil) for Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) production by HyDroTreating (HDT) were pretreated by selective Nitrogen Organic Compounds (NOC) adsorption. Highly crystalline Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) MIL-101(Cr) prepared with propylene oxide (proton scavenger) as textural improver was used to that end. MOF was characterized by N2 physisorption, X-ray diffraction, thermal analysis, infrared, Raman and UV-vis spectroscopies, and electron microscopy (SEM and HR-TEM). NOC removal was carried out at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, the adsorbent being easily regenerable under mild conditions. Extruded MOF efficiently removed NOC from real feedstocks to concentrations ~ 80 ppm which allowed ULSD production at much milder conditions to those used during pristine feedstocks HDT. Operating temperature could be significantly diminished (from 350 to 330 °C, at 56 kg cm−2 (5.77 MPa), LHSV = 1.5 h−1, H2/oil = 2500 ft3 bbl−1 (445 m3 m−3)) which could notably prolong cycle life of NiMo/Al2O3 formulation used.