Mixed phase two-stage hydrotreating processes for enhanced desulfurization of distillates

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11208600-B2
Application number	US-201916703555-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2019
Priority date	Dec 4, 2019
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A process for hydrotreating a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon feedstock may include producing a hydrotreated effluent by hydrotreating the feedstock in a three-phase trickle reactor to remove a first portion of the sulfur from the feedstock, separating the first hydrotreated effluent to give a hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a separated hydrotreated effluent, stripping the separated hydrotreated effluent to give a hydrogen sulfide-containing gaseous fraction and a stripped hydrotreated effluent, saturating the stripped hydrotreated effluent with hydrogen, and hydrotreating the hydrogen-saturated effluent in a two-phase reactor to remove a remaining second portion of the sulfur and produce a second hydrotreated effluent.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for hydrotreating a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon feedstock, the process comprising:
hydrotreating the feedstock in a three-phase trickle reactor to remove a first portion of the sulfur from the feedstock, to produce a hydrotreated effluent;
separating the first hydrotreated effluent in a gas-liquid separation process downstream of the three-phase trickle reactor to give a hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a separated hydrotreated effluent;
stripping the separated hydrotreated effluent in a stripper downstream of the gas-liquid separation process to give a hydrogen sulfide-containing gaseous fraction and a stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent;
saturating the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent in a hydrogen saturator downstream of the stripper with hydrogen to produce a hydrogen-saturated effluent; and
hydrotreating the hydrogen-saturated effluent in a two-phase reactor downstream of the hydrogen saturator to remove a remaining second portion of the sulfur and produce a second hydrotreated effluent;
wherein the process is a single-pass hydrocarbon process, and
wherein an entire amount of the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent is passed from the stripper to the hydrogen saturator.

2. The process of claim 1 , further comprising mixing the feedstock with hydrogen gas and heating the mixture in a heater prior to the hydrotreating.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the stripping is steam-stripping or stripping with a gas that is heated by a reboiler.

4. The process of claim 1 , further comprising separating the second hydrotreated effluent to give a second hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a second separated hydrotreated effluent.

5. The process of claim 4 , further comprising stripping the second hydrotreated effluent to give a second hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a second stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent has a sulfur content that ranges from 100 to 1000 ppmw.

7. The process of claim 5 , wherein the second stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent has a sulfur content of 10 ppmw or less.

8. A process for hydrotreating a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon feedstock, the process comprising:
hydrotreating a mixture of the feedstock and hydrogen in a three-phase trickle reactor to remove a first portion of the sulfur from the feedstock, to produce a first hydrotreated effluent;
separating the first hydrotreated effluent in a gas-liquid separation process downstream of the three-phase trickle reactor to give a hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a separated hydrotreated effluent;
purifying the hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction in a gas-sweetening system downstream of the gas-liquid separation process to produce a recycled hydrogen stream that is mixed with the feedstock upstream of the three-phase trickle reactor;
stripping the separated hydrotreated effluent in a stripper downstream of the gas-liquid separation process to give a hydrogen sulfide-containing gaseous fraction and a stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent;
saturating the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent in a hydrogen saturator downstream of the stripper with hydrogen that comprises fresh make-up hydrogen to produce both hydrogen-saturated effluent and a second recycled hydrogen stream that is mixed with the feedstock upstream of the three-phase trickle reactor; and
hydrotreating the hydrogen-saturated effluent in a two-phase reactor downstream of the hydrogen saturator to remove a remaining second portion of the sulfur and produce a second hydrotreated effluent;
wherein the process is a single-pass hydrocarbon process, and
wherein an entire amount of the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent is passed from the stripper to the hydrogen saturator.

9. The process of claim 8 , further comprising heating the mixture of the feedstock and hydrogen in a heater prior to the hydrotreating.

10. The process of claim 8 , further comprising separating the second hydrotreated effluent to give a second hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a second separated hydrotreated effluent.

11. The process of claim 10 , further comprising stripping the second hydrotreated effluent to give a second hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a second stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent.

12. The process of claim 8 , wherein the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent has a sulfur content that ranges from 100 to 1000 ppmw.

13. The process of claim 11 , wherein the second stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent has a sulfur content of 10 ppmw or less.

14. A process for hydrotreating a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon feedstock, the process comprising:
hydrotreating the feedstock in a three-phase trickle reactor to remove a first portion of the sulfur from the feedstock, to produce a first hydrotreated effluent;
separating the first hydrotreated effluent in a gas-liquid separation process downstream of the three-phase trickle reactor to give a hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a separated hydrotreated effluent;
purifying the hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction in a gas-sweetening system downstream of the gas-liquid separation process to produce a first hydrogen stream;
stripping the separated hydrotreated effluent in a stripper downstream of the gas-liquid separation process to give a hydrogen sulfide-containing gaseous fraction and a stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent;
saturating the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent in a hydrogen saturator downstream of both the stripper and the gas-sweetening system with hydrogen that comprises at least a portion of the first hydrogen stream to produce both a hydrogen-saturated effluent and a recycle hydrogen stream that is mixed with the feedstock upstream of the three-phase trickle reactor; and
hydrotreating the hydrogen-saturated effluent in a two-phase reactor downstream of the hydrogen saturator to remove a remaining second portion of the sulfur and produce a second hydrotreated effluent;
wherein the process is a single-pass hydrocarbon process, and
wherein an entire amount of the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent is passed from the stripper to the hydrogen saturator.

15. The process of claim 14 , further comprising heating the mixture of the feedstock and hydrogen in a heater prior to the hydrotreating.

16. The process of claim 14 , further comprising separating the second hydrotreated effluent to give a second hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a second separated hydrotreated effluent.

17. The process of claim 16 , further comprising stripping the second hydrotreated effluent to give a second hydrogen-containing gaseous fraction and a second stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent.

18. The process of claim 14 , wherein the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent has a sulfur content that ranges from 100 to 1000 ppmw.

19. The process of claim 17 , wherein the second stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent has a sulfur content of 10 ppmw or less.

20. The process of claim 14 , wherein the stripped hydrotreated liquid effluent is saturated with hydrogen that consists of the first hydrogen stream.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Huang Haitao
• Koseoglu Omer Refa
• Ma Youshan

Classifications

• C10G65/04 Primary

  including only refining steps · CPC title

• C10G2300/4081

  Recycling aspects · CPC title

• C10G2300/1048

  Middle distillates · CPC title

• C10G47/34

  Organic compounds, e.g. hydrogenated hydrocarbons · CPC title

• C10G2300/802

  Diluents · CPC title