Rapid Hydrotreating Catalyst Lifetime Determination and Deactivation Sensitivity Assay

Activity and stability of hydrotreating catalyst is extremely important in hydroprocessing, as it determines how long the reactor can be operated before the catalyst needs to be regenerated or replaced. However, methods for hydrotreating catalyst deactivation evaluation are not cost-effective, inefficient, and only in non-commercial process conditions. In the meantime, catalyst coking in the liquid is one of the least understood aspects of hydrotreating. This paper will present a novel methodology to estimate hydrotreating catalyst deactivation behavior in a short time catalyst activity exploitation. Commercial hydrotreating catalyst was tested with different feedstocks, including spiked dodecane, tetralin, and diesel fuels, in a 4-Place Catalyst Tester developed at SwRI.