Effects of water on the hydrotreating catalyst?

[Nasir Hussain]

What are the effects on the diesel hydrotreating reactor if the water passes with the feed to the reactor?
1. During normal operation, if water present in the feed of hydrotreating will convert to steam at reaction conditions and will reduce the hydrogen partial pressure, and hence the catalyst activity may affect.
2. If the water stays at the catalyst at shutdown conditions, then it will convert to steam causing physical damage to the catalyst called as pop corn effect.
3. If the water contains chlorides then it will cause corrosion or stress corrosion cracking in the reactor as well as stripping section.
4. For freshly loaded catalyst;
the catalyst at normal ambient conditions can contain a moisture content of about 2~5% because of its hygroscopic nature. If this is still more than 1 %, it will restrict the sulfiding reaction.
Further, at high temperatures it will convert into steam, causing physical damage to the catalyst. So, ensure that the maximum amount of water has been removed before sulfiding.

Sulfiding of Hydrotreating Catalysts and its Troubleshooting

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