Dembaremba Tendai O, Majodina Siphumelele, Walmsley Ryan S, Ogunlaja Adeniyi S, Tshentu Zenixole R
Department of Chemistry, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa.
Research and Development Division, Sasol Technology (Pty) Ltd, Sasolburg, South Africa.
Front Chem. 2022 Jul 22;10:807225. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2022.807225. eCollection 2022.
Reliance on crude oil remains high while the transition to green and renewable sources of fuel is still slow. Developing and strengthening strategies for reducing sulfur emissions from crude oil is therefore imperative and makes it possible to sustainably meet stringent regulatory sulfur level legislations in end-user liquid fuels (mostly less than 10 ppm). The burden of achieving these ultra-low sulfur levels has been passed to fuel refiners who are battling to achieve ultra-deep desulfurization through conventional hydroprocessing technologies. Removal of refractory sulfur-containing compounds has been cited as the main challenge due to several limitations with the current hydroprocessing catalysts. The inhibitory effects of nitrogen-containing compounds (especially the basic ones) is one of the major concerns. Several advances have been made to develop better strategies for achieving ultra-deep desulfurization and these include: improving hydroprocessing infrastructure, improving hydroprocessing catalysts, having additional steps for removing refractory sulfur-containing compounds and improving the quality of feedstocks. Herein, we provide perspectives that emphasize the importance of further developing hydroprocessing catalysts and pre-treating feedstocks to remove nitrogen-containing compounds prior to hydroprocessing as promising strategies for sustainably achieving ultra-deep hydroprocessing.
对原油的依赖程度仍然很高，而向绿色和可再生燃料来源的转型仍然缓慢。因此，制定和加强减少原油硫排放的战略势在必行，这使得可持续地满足最终用户液体燃料中严格的硫含量法规（大多低于10 ppm）成为可能。实现这些超低硫水平的负担已转嫁到燃料精炼商身上，他们正在努力通过传统加氢处理技术实现超深度脱硫。由于目前加氢处理催化剂存在若干局限性，去除难处理的含硫化合物被认为是主要挑战。含氮化合物（尤其是碱性含氮化合物）的抑制作用是主要问题之一。为了制定更好的超深度脱硫策略，已经取得了一些进展，这些进展包括：改善加氢处理基础设施、改进加氢处理催化剂、增加去除难处理含硫化合物的步骤以及提高原料质量。在此，我们提出一些观点，强调进一步开发加氢处理催化剂以及在加氢处理之前对原料进行预处理以去除含氮化合物作为可持续实现超深度加氢处理的有前景策略的重要性。
