Deep Theory, Ultradeep Hydrodesulfurization

The Desulfurization Blog focuses on … you guessed it … desulfurization.  Despite the title, however, its real value is in the delivery of tips and tricks on researching ANY technology, using “desulfurization” as a vehicle to that end.

Below is the abstract of an article I was alerted to by email from Google® Scholar.

TIP: Set up your own Google® Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/) alerts focusing on your field of interest.

///////
Reaction Engineering, Kinetics and Catalysis
A theory of ultradeep hydrodesulfurization of diesel in stacked-bed reactors
Authors
Teh C. Ho
E-mail address: tehcho@gmail.com
Hydrocarbon Conversion Technologies, Bridgewater, NJ 08807
Search for more papers by this author
Abstract
Hydrodesulfurization catalysts have two types of active sites for hydrogenation and hydrogenolysis reactions. While hydrogenation sites are more active for desulfurizing refractory sulfur species, they are more susceptible to organonitrogen inhibition than hydrogenolysis sites. In contrast, hydrogenolysis sites are more resistant to organonitrogen inhibition but are less active for desulfurizing refractory sulfur species. This dichotomy is exploited to develop an ultradeep hydrodesulfurization stacked-bed reactor comprising two catalysts of different characteristics. The performance of such a catalyst system can be superior or inferior to that of either catalyst alone. A mathematical model is constructed to predict the optimum stacking configuration for maximum synergies between the two catalysts. The best configuration provides the precise environment for the catalysts to reach their full potentials, resulting in the smallest reactor and minimum hydrogen consumption. Model predictions are consistent with experimental results. A selectivity-activity diagram is developed for guiding the development of stacked-bed catalyst systems.
source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aic.15969/full
///////