ABSTRACT. Catalytic hydrogenation has become an important refining technique in upgrading low quality petroleum distillates to premium fuels. Prior to 1955, only a small proportion of the by-product hydrogen available from catalytic reforming was used for hydrogenation. The most common use wasand still is-pretreatment of reformer charge stocks to remove Sulfur, nitrogen, olefins and other constituents which affect the performance of platinum catalysts. The increasing demand for high octane motor gasolines has forced petroleum refiners to increase catalytic reforming capacity and to exercise less xelectivity in choosing reformer charge stocks. This has resulted in rapid expansion of hydrotreating for feedstocks preparation. Paralleling the trends in naphtha fuels, the quality requirements for midbarrel fuels are increasing, while the qualities of available crude oils are decreasing. Consequently, many refiners are now using excess reformer hydrogen to upgrade midbarrel distillates to premium fuels for internal combustion engines and to high quality burner oils. Others are employing hydrogenation to improve the qualities of catalytic cracker feeds, lube oils and waxes. The rapid growth of hydrogenation to upgrade petroleum fractions of all boiling ranges is expected to continue and to result in wider use of manufactured hydrogen to supplement by-product reformer hydrogen. Along with increased quality demands, the petroleum refiner faces an urgent need to convert residual fractions to distillate fuels. Hydrocracking appears to offer the best solution to this problem.
Considerable effort is being directed toward the development of economically attractive hydrocracking processes. Commercial use of such processes in the United States is expected in the near future. Hydrogenation has become an essential part of petroleum refining technology. Whether or not engine designs of the future cause shifts in emphasis on the fuel types desired, hydrogenation will continue to play a key role in the maniifacture of premium products.
RESUME. L'hydrogénation catalytique est devenue une importante technique de raffinage valorisant des pétroles de qualité inférieure en essences de première qualité. Avant 1955, une faible portion seulement de l'hydrogène de sous-produit disponible était utilisée pour l'hydrogénation. On a employé, et on le fait toujours, le traitement préliminaire des charges de stocks re réformants pour éliminer le soufre, l'azote, les oléfines et autres constituants qui affectent l'action des catalysateurs de platine.
La demande croissante d'essences à haut octane a obligé les raffineurs de pétrole à augmenter la capacité de réformation catalytique et à exercer une moindre sélectivité dans le choix des charges de stocks de Sformants. I1 en est résulté une rapide expansion