Project number
16103
Organization
UA Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Academic year
2016-2017
Refineries had to design new processes following the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2014 decision to limit sulfur content in commercial diesel fuel to 15 ppm.
The goal of this project is to redesign an existing hydrodesulfurization unit in the Delaware Valley to allow for the production of 30,000 barrels per day of ultralow-sulfur diesel fuel with a sulfur content of less than 15 ppm.
The team used Aspen HYSYS simulation software to model and optimize a new hydrodesulfurization catalytic process based on data from industry literature. In the new unit, the feedstock is mixed with hydrogen before being heated to the start-of-cycle temperature. The mixture is then passed through a packed-bed reactor filled with a nickel-molybdenum and silicon dioxide catalyst where sulfur is converted into hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogen sulfide is separated in the final stage using a distillation column to produce the ultralow-sulfur diesel product.
The goal of this project is to redesign an existing hydrodesulfurization unit in the Delaware Valley to allow for the production of 30,000 barrels per day of ultralow-sulfur diesel fuel with a sulfur content of less than 15 ppm.
The team used Aspen HYSYS simulation software to model and optimize a new hydrodesulfurization catalytic process based on data from industry literature. In the new unit, the feedstock is mixed with hydrogen before being heated to the start-of-cycle temperature. The mixture is then passed through a packed-bed reactor filled with a nickel-molybdenum and silicon dioxide catalyst where sulfur is converted into hydrogen sulfide. The hydrogen sulfide is separated in the final stage using a distillation column to produce the ultralow-sulfur diesel product.