HYDROTREATMENT REACTIONS WITH A DISPOSABLE CATALYST

The residue from the West Virginia University coal cleaning process may contain pyrite in significantly higher concentrations than the raw coal. Accordingly, the residue is used as a catalyst for the hydrodesulphurization (HDS) of benzothiophene and the hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) of quinoline. Grinding improves the performance of the residue catalyst. The results are compared with those when the raw coal or a commercial hydrotreatment catalyst is used. The catalytic activity of the residue is approximately 15% that of the commercial catalyst for HDS, and approximately 56% for HDN. The activation energies of the HDN reaction catalysed by the raw coal and by the residue are relatively small, 23-30 kJ mol-1. This implies that external mass transfer to the surface of the catalyst is the rate-determining step.