Technology Description

The technology is for the production of catalyst Thoxcat ES useful in extractive sweetening of LPG and liquid-liquid sweetening of lighter petroleum fractions viz, light straight run naphtha(LSRN), light thermally/catalytically cracked gasoline.

Thoxcat ES catalyst produced by this technology is in liquid form containing catalyst active matter in dilute aqueous alkaline solution. This catalyze the oxidation of bad smelling mercaptans present in lighter petroleum fractions to less deleterious disulfides. This is superior to commercial catalyst being used globally in terms of activity and catalyst consumption rate.

Applications

The presence of mercaptans in petroleum products like LPG, naphtha, gasoline, ATF and kerosene is undesirable due to their foul odour and highly corrosive nature. In commercial practice, the low molecular weight mercaptans present in LPG and light straight run naphtha (LSRN) are first extracted with alkali and subsequently catalytically oxidized to disulfides with air. This process is termed as extractive sweetening. In this process regenerated caustic is reused and disulfides are separated out. The slightly heavier mercaptans present in LSRN, light thermally/catalytically cracked naphtha/gasoline are removed by liquid-liquid sweetening process where both extraction and oxidation takes place in same vessel and disulfides remains in the oil. This process is called liquid-liquid sweetening. The catalyst Thoxcat ES is applicable for the above two sweetening processes. These processes are used by petroleum refinery industries throughout the world.

Benefits

• Cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonamide showed better catalytic activity for extractive sweetening of LPG than conventional cobalt phthalocyanine disulphonate catalyst.
  
• Unlike conventional catalyst cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonamide catalyst is not dusty and does not create handling problem.
  
• The consumption of this catalyst is less than conventional LPG extractive sweetening catalyst for similar conversion.
  
• Cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonamide catalyst slurry is extremely stable and does not get viscous or form gel after long storage.
  
• Preparation of this catalyst does not involve oleum which is extremely difficult in handling.
  
• As cobalt phthalocyanine sulphonamide is insoluble in acidic medium its isolation is easier than cobalt phthalocyanines sulphonate.
  

Contact details:

Information Manager
Email: timeis@ficci.com