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 N-2 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 similar to 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 degrees C, at 56 kg cm(-2) (5.77 MPa), LHSV = 1.5 h(-1), H-2/oil = 2500 ft(3) bbl(-1) (445 m(3) m(-3))) which could notably prolong cycle life of NiMo/Al2O3 formulation used.