Mathematical Modelling Of Diesel Fuel Hydrodesulfurization kinetics For Reduction Of Environmental health impacts

Abstract

Diesel is one of the most widely used fuels globally, particularly in the transportation industry. Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is a critical petroleum refining process aimed at producing cleaner transportation fuels. The significance of HDS has grown in recent years due to stricter regulations on vehicular emissions and fuel quality, as well as the increasing need to process lower-quality crude oils containing higher sulfur concentrations. Sulfur compounds in fuels have severe environmental and health impacts; during combustion, they form sulfur oxides (SOx), which contribute to acid rain and degrade the efficiency of catalytic converters used to reduce CO and NOx emissions. HDS operates by converting organosulfur compounds into hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and hydrocarbons, typically in fixed- and trickle-bed reactors using (Co-Mo/γ-Al₂O₃) catalysts at elevated temperatures (300–425°C) and pressures (1–20 MPa). This study investigates the kinetics of HDS reactions using model sulfur compounds—thiophene, benzothiophene, and dibenzothiophene—based on Libyan crude diesel. The kinetic parameters, which vary depending on reaction conditions and catalyst properties, were derived using actual plant data from a refinery processing 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Reaction modeling was conducted using Polymath and Excel to simulate the catalytic HDS process.