Small-scale parallel trickle-bed reactors were used to evaluate the performance of a commercial hydrodesulfurization catalyst under industrially relevant conditions. Catalyst extrudates were loaded as a single string in reactor tubes. It was demonstrated that product sulfur levels and densities obtained with the single-pellet-string reactor are close to the results obtained in a bench-scale fixed-bed reactor operated under the same conditions. Moreover, parallel single-pellet-string reactors show high reproducibility. To study the hydrodynamic effects of the catalystbed packing, the catalyst-bed length was varied by loading different amounts of catalysts, and crushed catalyst was also loaded.

Authors: Roel Moonen, Jeroen Alles, Erik-jan Ras, Clare Harvey, Jacob A. Moulijn

Received: February 24, 2017; revised: April 11, 2017; accepted: July 06, 2017

DOI: 10.1002/ceat.201700098