KINETIC STUDY FROM OPERATIONAL CONTROL IN THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY: DESULPHURIZATION STAGE

Abstract

Introduction:
Countless chemical reactions are involved in oil refineries. In the fuel desulphurization process, alkaline scrubbing is widely used to remove sulfides and acids.
Objective:
To obtain the kinetics of the chemical reactions that occur in the process.
Materials and Methods:
The raw material was characterized considering that several types of crude oil enter the refinery and are mixed in different proportions. Based on process control data, the reactions occurring during the removal of sulfur compounds from unstable naphtha in the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) production process and from jet fuel in the aviation fuel production process were analyzed.
Results and Discussion:
The kinetic expressions of the reactions occurring in the neutralization processes of both the unstable light virgin naphtha entering the process and the jet fuel were obtained. These reactions, including those with H2S and R-SH in both stages, showed low percentage deviations: 0.67 and 0.28 for the first stage, and 0.00467 and 0.00265 for the second stage, respectively. This data will allow for their use in future studies.
Conclusions:
The kinetic expressions obtained adequately describe the processes carried out in the plant and allow us to conclude that the order of the neutralization reactions of the unstable light virgin naphtha and the jet fuel is in the range of 1.35 to 5.16.