Adsorption of sulfur compounds in light cycle oil on activated carbon and multicomponent metal oxide

I&EC 56

Chang Hyun Ko, chko@kier.re.kr1, Hong-Joo Jeon1, Kwang Bok Yi, cosy32@kier.re.kr1, Jong-Ho Park, jongho@kier.re.kr1, Hyungwoong Ahn2, Gyoo Tae Kim2, and Jong-Nam Kim, jnkim@kier.re.kr1. (1) Chemical Process Research Center, Korea Institute of Energy Research, 71-2 Jang-dong Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-343, South Korea, (2) Refining Process Technology, Energy R&D Center, SK Corporation, 140-1, Wonchon-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejoen, 305-712, South Korea
As the environmental regulation imposed by government has tightened, demand on clean fuel has increased gradually. Light cycle oil (LCO) is a complex combination of hydrocarbons produced by the distillation of products from the fluidized catalytic cracking process with carbon numbers in the range C9 to C25. Previously, LCO was used as bunker fuel because it contained high concentration of sulfur and aromatic compounds. However, bunker fuel market is expected to be shrunken rapidly due to the environmental regulation. Thus, LCO must be converted to clean fuel or chemical feed stock. Thus, desulfurization is a mandatory process for LCO treatment. In this study, sulfur compounds were selectively removed from LCO using a series of activated carbons and multi-component metal oxides as adsorbents. When a serious of activated carbons were used as adsorbents, surface area, surface properties of activated carbon and concentration of aromatic compounds in LCO were closely related with the sulfur adsorption capacity. When multi-component metal oxides, which contained zinc oxide, ferrite, cerium oxide and nickel oxide, were applied as adsorbents, the composition of metal oxides and adsorption temperature affected the sulfur adsorption capacities.