Hydrotreating the bitumen from the Whiterocks oil sand deposit

The bitumen from the Whiterocks oil sand deposit in the Uinta Basin of eastern Utah was hydrotreated in a fixed-bed reactor to determine the extent of upgrading as a function of process operating variables. The process variables investigated included reactor pressure (11.2-16.7 MPa); reactor temperature (641-712 K) and liquid hourly space velocity (0.19-0.77 h1). The hydrogen/oil ratio, 890 m3 m-3, was fixed in all experiments. A sulphided Ni-Mo on alumina hydrodenitrogenation catalyst was used in these studies. The deactivation of the catalyst, 0.2 °C/day, was monitored by the decline in the API gravity of the total liquid product with time on-stream at a standard set of conditions. The effect of temperature, WHSV, and pressure on denitrogenation, desulphurization, and metals removal were studied and apparent kinetic parameters determined. The effect of process variables on residuum conversion and Conradson carbon residue reduction were also investigated.