Chemical process used to remove sulfur in natural gas and oil refining
Not to be confused with Flue-gas desulfurization.
Hydrodesulfurization (HDS), also called hydrotreatment or hydrotreating, is a catalytic chemical process widely used to remove sulfur (S) from natural gas and from refined petroleum products, such as gasoline or petrol, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel fuel, and fuel oils.[1][2][3] The purpose of removing the sulfur, and creating products such as ultra-low-sulfur diesel, is to reduce the sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions that result from using those fuels in automotive vehicles, aircraft, railroad locomotives, ships, gas or oil burning power plants, residential and industrial furnaces, and other forms of fuel combustion.
Hydrodesulfurization unit in a refinery
Another important reason for removing sulfur from the naphtha streams within a petroleum refinery is that sulfur, even in extremely low concentrations, poisons the noble metal catalysts (platinum and rhenium) in the catalytic reforming units that are subsequently used to upgrade the octane rating of the naphtha streams.
The industrial hydrodesulfurization processes include facilities for the capture and removal of the resulting hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas. In petroleum refineries, the hydrogen sulfide gas is then subsequently converted into byproduct, sulfur (S) or sulfuric acid (H2SO4). In fact, the vast majority of the 64,000,000 metric tons of sulfur produced worldwide in 2005 was byproduct sulfur from refineries and other hydrocarbon processing plants.[4][5]
An HDS unit in the petroleum refining industry is also often referred to as a hydrotreater.
^Shafiq, Iqrash; Shafique, Sumeer; Akhter, Parveen; Yang, Wenshu; Hussain, Murid (2020-06-23). "Recent developments in alumina supported hydrodesulfurization catalysts for the production of sulfur-free refinery products: A technical review". Catalysis Reviews. 64: 1–86. doi:10.1080/01614940.2020.1780824. ISSN 0161-4940.
^Gary, J.H.; Handwerk, G.E. (1984). Petroleum Refining Technology and Economics (2nd ed.). Marcel Dekker, Inc. ISBN 978-0-8247-7150-8.
^Nancy Yamaguchi (May 29, 2003). "Hydrodesulfurization Technologies and Costs" (PDF). Mexico City: Trans Energy Associates. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 13, 2006.
^Sulfur production report by the United States Geological Survey
^Discussion of recovered byproduct sulfur
and 23 Related for: Hydrodesulfurization information
catalysts and mechanisms. In an industrial hydrodesulfurization unit, such as in a refinery, the hydrodesulfurization reaction takes place in a fixed-bed reactor...
which leads to acid rain. Processes used for desulfurization include hydrodesulfurization, the SNOX process and the wet sulfuric acid process (WSA process)...
product for other oil refinery processes such as hydrocracking and hydrodesulfurization. Oil refineries will blend various feedstocks, mix appropriate additives...
cracking unit, two catalytic reforming units, one alkylation unit, hydrodesulfurization units, and two coker units. Joanne Knoch (May 26, 1967). "Union Oil...
produced. In the purification of petroleum products, the process of hydrodesulfurization is utilized. Thiols, such as thiophene, are reduced using H2 to produce...
much of which often comes from a sulfur-removing process called hydrodesulfurization. This H2S-rich stripped gas stream is then usually routed into a...
sulfur contaminant is transformed to hydrogen sulfide via catalytic hydrodesulfurization and removed from the product stream via amine gas treating. Using...
naphtha feedstock to a catalytic reformer is always pre-processed in a hydrodesulfurization unit which removes both the sulfur and the nitrogen compounds. Most...
are sometimes passivated with hydrogen sulfide. Catalysts used in hydrodesulfurization are routinely activated with hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide was...
catalyst support for many industrial catalysts, such as those used in hydrodesulfurization and some Ziegler–Natta polymerizations. Aluminium oxide is widely...
exist. The type refers to whether the solvent has been subjected to hydrodesulfurization (removal of sulfur) alone (type 1), solvent extraction (type 2) or...
Hydroformylation of alkenes often uses cobalt octacarbonyl as a catalyst. The hydrodesulfurization of petroleum uses a catalyst derived from cobalt and molybdenum....
in the "upgrading" of fossil fuels. Key consumers of H2 include hydrodesulfurization, and hydrocracking. Many of these reactions can be classified as...
dependent. Although not practical, IrS2 is a highly active catalyst for hydrodesulfurization. Munson, Ronald A. (February 1968). "The synthesis of iridium disulfide...
Murid (June 23, 2020). "Recent developments in alumina supported hydrodesulfurization catalysts for the production of sulfur-free refinery products: A...
product. UOP Naphtha Hydrogen Treatment (NHT, "Hydrotreatment" or "Hydrodesulfurization") Input: Naphtha from CDU with sulphur and nitrogen contaminations...
including some homogeneous examples Desulfurization of petroleum (hydrodesulfurization) H2 + R2S (idealized organosulfur impurity), RH + H2S Mo-Co on alumina...
1–3%. The thiophenic content of oil and coal is removed via the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process. In HDS, the liquid or gaseous feed is passed over...
Merox process is usually more economical than using a catalytic hydrodesulfurization process for much the same purpose. It is rarely (if ever) required...
examples include hydrogenation, hydroformylation, hydrosilylation, hydrodesulfurization catalysts. Even certain enzymes, the hydrogenase, operate via hydride...
undesirable impurities in petroleum, may be upgraded by subjecting them to hydrodesulfurization, which cleaves the C–S bonds: R-S-R + 2 H2 → 2 RH + H2S The resulting...
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