Investigation of intrinsic hydrodesulphurization kinetics of a VGO in a trickle bed reactor with backmixing effects

Intrinsic hydrodesulphurization kinetics of a VGO has been investigated in a bench scale trickle bed reactor using three different catalysts. Kinetic equations have been determined by using the plug-flow model for the liquid phase as well as by using the axial dispersion model. The differences observed in the kinetic parameters and the reaction rates are discussed. Discrepancies in predicted reactor performance resulting from using kinetics derived by the two different flow models are also presented. It is shown that using the plug-flow model the catalyst ranking is the same as determined with the use of the dispersion model. However, the reactor operating temperatures can be overestimated up to 12°C when kinetics determined by the plug-flow model is used in simulation codes.

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