Slurry oil upgrading while preserving aromatic content

摘要

Methods relating to methods for producing a needle coke precursor from slurry oil having low levels of nitrogen and sulfur. Nitrogen-containing compounds are removed by chromatography, followed by hydrotreating at relatively mild conditions that focus on the more easily-removed sulfur-containing compounds while largely preserving aromatic content of the slurry oil. The resulting needle coke precursor can be converted to a premium needle coke in a delayed coking system.

主权项

1. A process for producing needle coke from slurry oil, comprising:
a) providing a slurry oil comprising aromatic compounds, nitrogen containing compounds and sulfur-containing compounds; b) contacting the slurry oil with a chromatography substrate that retains at least a portion of the nitrogen-containing compounds, thereby producing an upgraded slurry oil; c) hydrotreating the upgraded slurry oil at a pressure in the range from 1 to 350 psig with a hydrodesulfurization catalyst to remove sulfur-containing compounds from the upgraded slurry oil, thereby producing a needle coke precursor comprising less than about 0.5 percent (by weight) sulfur-containing compounds, wherein the hydrotreating is performed at a temperature that preserves at least 70 percent of the aromatic compounds comprising at least three aromatic rings that were originally present in the slurry oil feedstock; d) converting the needle coke precursor to needle coke in a coking system.