GB1580855A - Reducing metal poison content of metal contaminated catalysts - Google Patents

Description

(54) REDUCING METAL POISON CONTENT OF METAL CONTAIMINATED CATALYSTS (71) We, ATLANTIC RICHFIELD COMPANY, a corporation organised under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania, United States of America, of Arco Plaza, 515 Flower Street, Los Angeles, California, United States of America, do hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to a process for the removal of metal poisons from a hydrocarbon conversion catalyst which has been contaminated with one or more poisoning metals by use in a high temperature catalytic conversion of hydrocarbon feedstocks containing these metals to more valuable, lower boiling products. The invention may be used as part of an overall metals-removal process employing a plurality of processing steps to remove a significant amount of one or more of nickel, vanadium and iron contained in the poisoned catalyst. This invention also relates to the recovery of valuable metals, particularly vanadium, from hydrocarbon feedstocks such as crude or reduced crude in a form suitable for metallurgical refining.

Catalytically promoted methods for the chemical conversion of hydrocarbons include cracking, hydrocracking, reforming, hydrodenitrogenation, hydrodesulfurization, etc. Such reactions generally are performed at elevated temperatures, for example, about 300 to 12000 F., more often 600 to 10000 F. Feedstocks to these processes comprise normally liquid and solid hydrocarbons which, at the temperature of the conversion reaction, are generally in the fluid, i.e., liquid or vapor state, and the products of the conversion usually are more valuable, lower boiling materials.

In particular, cracking of hydrocarbon feedstocks to produce hydrocarbons of preferred octane rating boiling in the gasoline range is widely practised and uses a variety of solid oxide catalysts to give end products od fairly uniform composition.

Cracking is ordinarily effected to produce gasoline as the most valuable product and is generally conducted at temperatures of about 750 to 11000 F., preferably about 850 to 950" F., at pressures up to 2000 psig., preferably about atmospheric to 100 psig.

and without substantial addition of free hydrogen to the system. In cracking, the feedstock is usually a petroleum hydrocarbon fraction such as straight run or recycle gas oils or other normally liquid hydrocarbons boiling above the gasoline range. Recently, low severity cracking conditions have been employed for heavily contaminated feedstocks such as crude or reduced crude where the conversion is not made directly to the most valuable, lower boiling products, i.e. gasoline boiling range products, but to intermediate type hydrocarbon conversion products which may be later refined to the more desirable, lower boiling, gasoline or fuel oil fractions. High severity cracking has also been practised for the conversion of such feeditocks to light, normally gaseous hydrocarbons, such as ethane, propane or butane.

The present invention relates to the improvement of catalyst performance in hydrocarbon conversion where metal poisoning occurs. Although referred to as "metals", these catalyst contaminants may be present in the hydrocarbon feed in the form of free metals or relatively non-volatile metal compounds. It is, therefore, to be understood that the term " metal" as used herein refers to either form. Various petroleum stocks have been known to contain at least traces of many metals. For example, Middle Eastern crudes contain relatively high amounts of several metal components, while Venezuelan crudes are noteworthy for their vanadium content and are relatively low in other contaminating metals such as nickel. In addition to metals naturally present in petroleum stocks, including some iron, petroleum stocks also have a tendency to pick up tramp iron from transportation, storage and processing equipment. Most of these metals, when present in a stock, deposit in a relatively non-volatile form on the catalyst during the conversion processes so that regeneration of the catalyst to remove deposited coke does not also remove these contaminants.

With the increased importance of gasoline in the world today and the shortages of crude oils and increased prices, it is becoming more and more important to process any type or portion of the crude, including the highly metal contaminated crudes, to more valuable products.

Typical crudes which are contaminated with metals and some average amounts by weight of metal are: North Slope, 11 ppm nickel, 33 ppm vanadium; Lagomedio (Venezuelan), 12 ppm nickel, 116 ppm vanadium; light Iranian, 16 ppm nickel, 44 ppm vanadium; heavy Iranian, 30 ppm nickel, 22 ppm vanadium. In general, a crude oil can contain from about 5 to 500 ppm nickel and from about 5 to 1500 ppm vanadium. Moreover, since the metals tend to remain behind during processing, the bottoms of typical feeds will have an amount of metals two, three, four times or more than the original crude. For example, reduced crude or residual stocks can have vanadium levels as high as 1000-2000 ppm. Typical residual stocks and their vanadium level include: Sag River atmospheric residuum, 48 ppm vanadium; heavy Iranian atmospheric residuum, 289 ppm vanadium; Canadian tar sand bitumen, 299 ppm vanadium; Tia Juana Vacuum residuum, 570 ppm vanadium; Bachaquero Vacuum residuum, 754 ppm vanadium; and Orinoco Heavy Crude, 1200 ppm vanadium. The higher the metal level in the feed, the more quickly a given catalyst will be poisoned and consequently the more often or more effective the demetallization of that catalyst must be.

Of the various metals which are to be found in representative hydrocarbon feedstocks some, like the alkali metals, only deactivate the catalyst without changing the product distribution; therefore, they might be considered true poisons. Others such as iron, nickel, vanadium and copper markedly alter the selectivity and activity of cracking reactions if allowed to accumulate on the catalyst and, since they affect process performance, are also referred to as " poisons". A catalyst poisoned with these metals generally produces a higher yield of coke and hydrogen at the expense of desired products, such as gasoline and butanes. For instance, United States patent 3,417,228 reports that it has been shown that the yield of butanes, butylenes and gasoline, based on converting 60 volume percent of cracking feed to lighter materials and coke dropped from 58.5 to 49.6 volume percent when the amount of nickel on the catalyst increased from 55 ppm to 645 ppm and the amount of vanadium increased from 145 ppm to 1480 ppm in a fluid catalytic cracking of a feedstock containing some metal contaminated stocks. Since many cracking units are limited by coke burning or gas handling facilities, increased coke or gas yields require a reduction in conversion or throughput to stay within the unit capacity.

An alternative to letting catalyst metals level increase and activity and desired selectivity decrease is to diminish the overall metal content on the catalyst by raising catalyst replacement rates. Either approach, letting metals level increase, or increasing catalyst replacement rates, must be balanced against product value and operating costs to determine the most economic way of operating. The optimum metal level at which to operate any cracking unit will be a function of many factors including feedstock metal content, type and cost of catalyst, overall refinery balance, etc., and can be determined by a comprehensive study of the refinery's operations. With the high cost of both catalyst and the hydrocarbon feedstock today, it is increasingly disadvantageous to discard catalyst or convert hydrocarbon feedstock to coke or gas.

In contrast to its undesirability as a catalytic poison, vanadium is a desirable metal used in the production of steel, target material for X-rays, catalysts for the polymer industry and catalysts for sulfuric acid production. The U.S. vanadium outlook indicates that by 1980 a production shortage of from a minimum of 7,000 to a maximum of 13,000 tons per year can be expected. On the other hand, 7,000 tons per year of vanadium could be produced if all of the vanadium could be recovered from the 100,000 barrels per day of Orinoco crude. Accordingly, crude oils represent a potentially valuable source of vanadium if the vanadium could be recovered.

Some processes for metal removal from catalysts have been disclosed. Anderson, United States Patent 3,150,103 discloses a method of removing vanadium from catalyst by contacting a regenerated catalyst with a gas containing molecular oxygen at a temperature of at least about 11500 F., with preferred temperature ranges of from 1350 to 16000 F. In Anderson, United States Patent 3,173,882, a regenerated catalyst was subjected to a gas-containing molecular oxygen at a temperature of at least 10000 F., sulfided at from 750 to 16000 F., and then washed with an aqueous mineral acid solvent to remove contaminated metal sulfide. In Erickson, United States Patent 3,147,229, nickel was removed by sulfiding a catalyst at 500 to 15000 F. with a gaseous sulfiding agent, contacting with a molecular oxygen-containing gas, and washing with an aqueous medium. Erickson el al, United States Patent 3,147,309, disclosed a method for removing nickel from contaminated catalyst by sulfiding at 500 to 1600 F., contacting the sulfided catalyst with a specific mixture of steam and molecular oxygen-containing gas, and washing with an aqueous medium. In Disegna et al, United States Patent 3,252,918, a method for removing vanadium included regenerating the catalyst and then contacting with a gas consisting essentially of molecular oxygen in the presence of an oxide of nitrogen at a temperature of 600 to 13000 F.

A commercial catalyst demetallization process is disclosed in an article entitled " DeMet Improves FCC Yields " appearing in The Oil and Gas Journal of August 27, 1962, pp. 92-96 and in an article entitled "The Demetallization of Cracking Catalysts" appearing in I & E C Product Research and Development. Vol. 2, pp.

328332, December, 1963. This process, while successful in accomplishing its intended purpose with the catalysts described, encountered metal corrosion problems in conjunction with the chlorination reactions involved. In addition, this process utilizes a sulfidation pretreatment step which places in excess of 2.0 wt % sulfur on the catalyst. In subsequent steps, this sulfur as it is removed from the catalyst, can be converted to elemental sulfur which, in turn, can deposit in the reactor and transfer lines. These deposits can accumulate to excessive levels and lead to plugging of the reactor lines.

The instant invention provides an unexpected improvement in the removal of metals from metal contaminated catalysts, particularly catalysts used to process high metals-containing feeds by the utilization of a reductive wash system, optionally in conjunction with a subsequent oxidative wash system.

According to the present invention, there is provided a process for treating a metal contaminated catalyst which has been poisoned in a hydrocarbon conversion process by a feedstock containing metal poisons to remove at least a portion of the metal contaminants and to produce a catalyst with improved catalytic activity, said process comprising the steps of (i) removing at least a portion of the metal poison from said catalyst by contacting said catalyst with reductive wash medium selected from aqueous SO2; solutions of compounds capable of producing SO2; liquid media containing at least one reducing agent selected from hydrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrazine, hydrazine derivatives, diborane, borohydrides, metallic aluminium hydrides, thiosulfites, dithionites, hydrothionites, polythionites, and mixtures thereof; subsequently contacting the reductively washed catalyst with an oxidative wash medium; and (ii) recovering a catalyst of reduced metal poison content and improved catalyst activity.

The process may include alternating reductive and oxidative washes, the last wash comprising an oxidative wash. Preferably, the reductively washed catalyst is washed to remove at least a portion of the reductive wash medium prior to the oxidative wash.

Advantageously, at least a portion of the metals in the catalyst is converted to a dispersible form and then at least a portion of the dispersed metal poisons are removed from the catalyst by the above-described process.

The conversion of the metal in the metal-contaminated catalyst to a dispersible form may be effected by the process the subject of our copending application No.

00449/79, accepted as Serial No. 1,580,856. As used herein, "dispersible" is intended to mean minute particle size material, as well as soluble and colloidal size particles.

Briefly, the process of said copending application involves contacting at least a portion of the metal contaminated catalyst with at least one sulfur-containing compound to convert the contaminating metal(s) to compound(s) containing metal and sulfur and provide a - catalyst containing sulfur-containing metal compounds, and contacting said catalyst containing sulfur-containing metal compounds with an oxygencontaining gas at a temperature within the range of from 5500 F to 725" F.

The instant invention provides a means of removing a portion of one or more metals from a catalyst used in a hydrocarbon conversion process while at the same time maintaining the desired catalyst activity without requiring corrosive processing conditions and/or requiring high sulfur levels during pretreatment portions of the process. In addition, the instant invention can provide a basis for recovering vanadium for subsequent metallurgical use from crude oil or reduced crude oils while simultaneously converting the crude to make valuable hydrocarbon products.

While the invention will be described in connection with a preferred procedure (i.e., hydrocarbon cracking), it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to that procedure.

Commercially used hydrocarbon cracking catalysts are the result of years of study and research into the nature of cracking catalysts. The cost of these catalysts frequently makes highly poisoned hydrocarbon feedstocks, even though they may be in plentiful supply, less desirable to use in cracking operations because of their tendency to deactivate the valuable catalysts. These preferred catalysts, because of their composition, structure, porosity and other characteristics give optimum results in cracking. It is important, therefore that removing poisoning metals from the catalyst does not substantially adversely affect the desired chemical and physical constitution of the catalyst. Although methods have been suggested in the past for removing poisoning metals from a catalyst which has been used for high temperature hydrocarbon conversions, the process of this invention is particularly effective to remove nickel and/or vanadium and/or iron while substantially maintaining the effectiveness and composition of the catalyst.

Solid oxide catalysts have long been recognised as useful in catalytically promoting the conversion of hydrocarbons. For hydrocarbon cracking processes carried out in the substantial absence of added free molecular hydrogen, suitable catalysts can in dude amorphous silica alumina catalysts which are usually activated or calcined predominately silica or silica-based, e.g., silica-alumina, silica-magnesia or silica-zirconia, compositions in a state of slight hydration and containing small amounts of acidic oxide promoters in many instances. The oxide catalyst may contain a substantial amount of a gel or gelatinous precipitate comprising a major portion of silica and at least one other inorganic oxide material, such as alumina or zirconia. These oxides may also contain small amounts of other inorganic materials. The use of wholly or partially synthetic gel or gelatinous catalysts, which are uniform and little damaged by high temperatures in treatment and regeneration, is often preferable.

Also suitable are hydrocarbon cracking catalysts which include a catalytically effective amount of at least one natural or synthetic zeolite, e.g., crystalline aluminosilicate. A preferred catalyst is one that includes at least one zeolitic molecular sieve to provide a high activity catalyst. Suitable amounts of zeolite in the catalyst are in.

the range of 2-50% by weight. Preferred are zeolite amounts of 320% by weight of the total catalyst. Catalysts which can withstand the conditions of both hydrocarbon cracking and catalyst regeneration are suitable for use in the process of this invention.

For example, a phosphate silica-alumina silicate composition is shown in United States patent specification 3,867,279, chrysotile catalysts are shown in United States patent specification 3,868,316 and a zeolite beta type of catalyst is shown in United States re-issue patent specification 28,341. The catalyst may be only partially of synthetic material; for example, it may be made by the precipitation of silica-alumina on clay, such as kaolinite or halloysite. One such semi-synthetic catalyst contains about equal amounts of silica-alumina gel and clay.

The manufacture of synthetic gel catalyst is conventional, well known in the art and can be performed, for instance (1) by impregnating silica with aluminium salts; (2) by direct combination of precipitated (or gelated) hydrated alumina and silica in appropriate proportions; or (3) by joint preclpitation of alumina and silica from an aqueous solution of aluminium and silicon salts. Synthetic catalysts may be produced by a combination of hydrated silica with other hydrate bases as, for instance, zirconia, etc. These synthetic gel-type catalysts may be activated or calcined before use.

A particularly preferred catalyst contains a catalytically effective amount of a decationized zeolitic molecular sieve having less than 90% of the aluminium atoms associated with cations, a crystalline structure capable of internally absorbing benzene and a SiO2-to-AI203 molar ratio greater than 3. Such catalysts are illustrated in U.S. Patent 3,236,761.

The physical form of the catalyst is not critical to the present invention and may, for example, vary with the type of manipulative process in which it will be used.

The catalyst may be used as a fixed bed of in a circulating system. In a fixed-bed process, a single reaction zone or a series of catalytic reaction zones may be used. If a series of reactors are used, one is usually on stream and others are in the process of cleaning, regeneration, etc. In circulating catalyst systems, such as those of the fluid bed or moving bed catalytic processes, catalyst moves through a reaction zone and then through a regeneration zone. In a fluid bed cracking process, gases are used to convey the catalyst and to keep it in the form of a dense turbulent bed which has no definite upper interface between the dense (solid) phase and the suspended (gaseous)' phase mixture of catalyst and gas. This type of processing requires the catalyst to be in the form of a fine powder, e.g., a major amount by weight of which being in a size range of 20 to 150 microns. In other processes, e.g., moving bed catalytic cracking systems, the catalyst can be in the form of macrosize particles such as spherical beads which are conveyed between the reaction zone and the catalyst regeneration zone. These beads may range in size up to about 1/2" in diameter. When fresh, the minimum size bead is preferably about 1/8". Other physical forms of catalyst such as tablets and extruded pellets can be used.

In this invention the hydrocarbon petroleum oils utilized as feedstock for a given conversion process may be of any desired type normally utilized in such hydrocarbon conversion operations. The feedstock may contain nickel, iron and/or vanadium as well as other metals. As indicated, the catalyst may be used to promote the desired hydrocarbon conversion by employing at least one fixed bed, moving bed or fluidized bed (dense or dilute phase) of such catalyst. Bottoms from hydrocarbon processes, (i.e., reduced crude and residuum stocks) are particularly highly contaminated with these metals and therefore rapidly poison catalysts used in converting bottoms to more valuable products. For example, a bottom may contain about 100--1500 ppm Ni, about 100--2500 ppm V and about 100--3000 ppm Fe. For typical operations, the catalytic cracking of the hydrocarbon feed would often result in a conversion of about 10 to 80% by volume of the feed stock into lower boiling, more valuble products.

The present invention is particularly suitable for demetallizing catalysts utilized in the catalytic cracking of reduced or topped crude oils to more valuable products such as illustrated in U.S. Patents 3,092,568 and 3,164,542. Similarly, this invention is applicable to processing shale oils, tar sands oil, coal oils and the like where metal contamination of the processing, e.g., cracking catalyst, can occur.

A catalytic conversion process as described typically includes a regeneration pro cedure in which the catalyst is contacted periodically with free oxygen-containing gas in order to restore or maintain the activity of the catalyst by removing at least a portion of the carbonaceous deposits from the catalyst which form during hydroearbon conversion. However, in those processes not having a regeneration step, the catalyst can be subjected to a regenerating step after the removal of the catalyst from the process. It will be understood that " regeneration " involves a carbonaceous material burn-off procedure. Ordinarily, the catalysts are taken from the hydrocarbon conversion system and treated before the poisoning metals have reached an undesirably high level, for instance, above 0.5% by weight, on catalyst and preferably less than about 10% maximum, content of nickel, iron and vanadium. More preferably, the catalyst is removed when the nickel, iron and vanadium content is less than about 5% by weight and most preferably when the catalyst contains about 0.75% to about 2% by weight nickel, iron and vanadium. Generally speaking, with hydrocarbon conversion levels, i.e. more than about 50% by volume (of the feedstock) conversion, the amount of metals tolerated on the catalyst is less. On the other hand, low conversion levels, i.e. less than about 50% by volume conversion, tolerate higher amounts of metals on the catalyst.

The actual time or extent of the regeneration thus depends on various factors and is dependent on, for example, the extent of metals content in the feed, the level of conversion, unit tolerance for poison and the sensitivity of the particular catalyst toward the demetallization procedure used to remove metals from the catalyst.

Regeneration of a hydrocarbon cracking catalyst to remove carbonaceous deposit material is conventional and well known in the art. For example, in a typical fluidized bed cracking unit, a portion of catalyst is continually being removed from the reactor and sent to the regenerator for contact with an oxygen-containing gas at about 950 to about 12200 F., preferably about 1000 to about 11500 F. Combustion of carbonaceous deposits from the catalyst is rapid, and, for reasons of economy, air is used to supply the needed oxygen. Average residence time of a catalyst particle in the regenerator may be of the order of about three to one hundred minutes, preferably about three minutes to sixty minutes and the oxygen content of the effluent gases from the regenerator is desirably less than 0.5 weight %. When later oxygen treatment is employed, the regeneration of any particular quantity of catalyst is generally regulated to give a carbon content remaining on the catalyst of less than 0.5 weight %.

In accordance with the present invention at least a portion of the contaminating metals are removed from a hydrocarbon conversion catalyst containing catalytically contaminating metals by subjecting the contaminated catalyst to a reductive wash employing a specified reductive wash medium and the reductive wash is followed by a subsequent oxidative wash with a liquid oxidative wash medium.

The catalyst, prior to the reductive wash, is preferably first subjected to a pre treatment which removes at least a portion of the metals and/or promotes metals removal in the subsequent reductive wash by converting at least a portion of the contaminating metals to a dispersible form. The exact pretreatment method is a function of the metals level on the catalyst and the desired degree of metals removal sought. This pretreatment can comprise simply regenerating the metal contaminated hydrocarbon conversion catalyst. Additional metals removal can be obtained through additional activation steps such as those forming the process described in our copending appliction No 00449/79, accepted as Serial No. 1,580,856. This process involves first converting at least a portion of the metal(s) to sulfur-containing metal compound(s) and then oxidizing the regenerated catalyst. This oxidation can be effected in either a liquid, e.g., aqueous, or gaseous medium or by other means known to those trained in the art such as illustrated in Anderson, U.S. Patents 3,150,103 and 3,173,382, Erickson, U.S. Patents 3,147,309 and Disegna et al, U.S. Patent 3,252,918.

However, such pretreatment is not essential.

The reductive and oxidative washes may be given alternately or several reductive washes may be followed by several oxidative washes. When alternating washes are used, the final wash is preferably an oxidative wash to leave the catalyst in the best form for hydrocarbon conversion, e.g. cracking.

As used herein, "reductive" wash refers to a wash with a liquid, e.g. an aqueous solution, containing a reducing agent which term includes an agent which may give up electrons. Similarly, "oxidative" wash refers to a wash with a liquid, e.g. an aqueous solution, containing an oxidizing agent which term includes an agent which may accept electrons. Moreover, "wash" refers to a treatment with the liquid, e.g.

solution, which may be accomplished by contacting the catalyst with the wash liquid for a time sufficient to cause an interaction between the active component (reducing agent or oxidising agent) in the liquid and the catalyst thereby removing at least a portion of the metal poison. The contacting may be a batch operation, a semi-continuous operation or a continuous operation. Thus, a "wash" may include merely stirring in a batch vessel or a complex series of counter current contactors or continuous contactors.

A preferred reductive wash medium comprises a solution of sulfur dioxide or of a compound capable of producing sulfur dioxide such as bisulfite and/or sulfite salts in an acidic aqueous medium. Other reducing agents which may be used, however, include hydrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrazine and hydrazine derivatives, diborane, borohydrides, metallic aluminium hydrides, thiosulfites, dithionites, hydrothionites and polythionites. Mixtures of these reducing agents may also be used.

Sulfur dioxide is preferred since it provides sufficient temporary acidity without risking substantial alumina removal, it provides sufficient reducing power and it produces stable anions containing sulfur and oxygen to keep the removed metals in soluble form. Reductive washes with sulfur dioxide are preferably effected at conditions to inhibit oxidation of the SO2, e.g., in the essential absence of added free molecular oxygen. In addition, reductive washes with SO, provide for improved solubility of elemental sulfur which may have been deposited on the catalyst during contact with the sulfur-containing agent where the contaminated catalyst is pretreated by the process of the aforementioned copending application. Such elemental sulfur deposited on the catalyst can act to reduce the degree of demetallization produced from the present process. Therefore, solubilization of such sulfur is an additional benefit of a reductive wash with SO,. By way of example of a preferred reductive wash, an aqueous solution saturated with sulfur dioxide to form a sulfur oxide hydrate (i.e.

SO2. xH2O) is prepared at 0-200 C preferably 5--150 C., by bubbling SO, through water. An aqueous, e.g., 1050% and preferably <RTI ID=6 hydroperoxides, organic peroxides, organic peracids, inorganic peroxyacids such as peroxymonosulfuric and peroxydisulfuric acid, singlet oxygen, NO2, N2O4, N,O, and superoxides. Typical examples of organic oxidents are hydroxyheptyl peroxide, cyclohexanone peroxide, tertiary butyl peracetate, di-tertiary butyl diperphthalate, tertiary butyl perbenzoate, methyl ethyl ketone hydroperoxide, di-tertiary butyl peroxide, pmethyl benzene hydroperoxide, pinane hydroperoxide, 2,5-dimethylhexane-2,5-dihydroperoxide and cumene hydroperoxide, as well as organic peracids such as performic acid, peracetic acid, trichloroperacetic acid, perchloric acid, periodic acid, perbenzoic acid, perphthalic acid and salts thereof. Ambient oxidative wash temperatures can be used, but temperatures of 1500 F. to the boiling point of the aqueous solution in combination with agitation are helpful in increasing dispersibility or removability of the metal poisons. Preferred temperatures are 65 to 95" C. Pressure above atmospheric may be used by the results usually do not justify the additional equipment. Contact times similar to the contact times for the reductive wash such as from several seconds to half an hour are usually sufficient for poisoning metal removal.

As indicated, preferably the reductive wash is followed by a hydrogen peroxidewater oxidative wash. The hydrogen peroxide solution preferably containing 2 to 30 weight % hydrogen peroxide, can be added to an aqueous catalyst slurry as described earlier at 65--95" C., preferably 60-850 C. and allowed to react for a time sufficient to solubilize at least a portion of the metal, e.g. vanadium. Preferred wash times are 1-5 minutes. As a result, if contact times are unnecessarily prolonged, this species can decompose and redeposit vanadium on the catalyst. A concentration of H202 in the range of 5-50 lb., preferably 10-20' lb. of H2O2/ton of catalyst is preferably used. Additional oxidative washes can be used to ensure efficient removal of metal and the restoration of catalytic properties. In addition, the oxidative washing can be carried out either in the presence of or absence of a mineral acid such as HC1, HNO8 or H2SO4. Preferably the pH of the oxidative wash medium is 2 to 6.

Alternating catalyst washing using reductive and oxidative solutions can be used. If alternative washes are used, it is preferred that the last wash be an oxidative wash.

After the catalyst is washed, the catalyst slurry can be filtered to give a cake. The cake may be reslurried one or more times with water or rinsed in other ways, such as, for example, by a water wash of the filter cake.

After the washing and rinsing treatment which may be used in the catalyst demetallization procedure, the catalyst is transferred to a hydrocarbon conversion system, for instance to a catalyst regenerator. The catalyst may be returned as a slurry in the final aqueous wash medium, or it may be desirable first to dry the catalyst filter cake or filter cake slurry at, for example, 215 to 3200 F., under a vacuum. Also, prior to reusing the catalyst in the conversion operation it can be calcined, for example at temperatures usually in the range of 700" F. to 13000 F. The catalyst may also be slurried with hydrocarbons and added back to the reactor vessel, if desired.

A fluidized solids technique is preferred for the vapor contact processes used in any selected demetallization procedure as a way to shorten the time requirements.

If desired, additional metals removal may be obtained by repeating the demetallization sequence or using other known treatment processes. Inert gases frequently may be employed after contact with reactive vapors to remove any of these vapors entrained in the catalyst or to purge the catalyst of reaction products.

The catalyst to be treated may be removed from the hydrocarbon conversion system-that is, the stream of catalyst which, in most conventional procedures, is cycled between conversion and regenerating operations-before the poison content reaches 100,000 ppm, the poisoning metals, e.g., nickel, vanadium and iron, being calculated as elemental metals. Generally, 5,000 to 20,000 ppm. metals will be accumulated on the catalyst before demetallization is warranted. The treatment of this invention is effective despite the presence of a small amount of carbonaceous material on the treated catalyst, but preferably catalyst regeneration is continued until the catalyst contains not more than 0.5% carbonaceous material.

The amount of nickel, vanadium and/or iron removed in practising the procedures outlined or the proportions of each may be varied by proper choice of treating conditions. It may prove necessary, in the case of very severely poisoned catalyst, to repeat the treatment to reduce the metals to an acceptable level, perhaps with variations when one metal is greatly in excess. A further significant advantage of the process lies in the fact that the overall metals removal operation, even if repeated, does not unduly deleteriously affect the activity, selectivity, pore structure and other desirable characteristics of the catalyst. Any given step in the demetallization treatment is usually continued for a time sufficient to effect a meaningful conversion or removal of poisoning metal and ultimately results in a substantial increase in metals removal compared with that which would have been removed if the particular step had not been performed. Generally, a process with at least one of both a reductive and an oxidative wash will provide greater than a 50 weight % reduction in nickel 20 weight % reduction in vanadium and 30 weight % reduction in iron. Such processing preferably provides 70-90 weight /O reduction in nickel, 30-70 weight % reduction in vanadium and 30-75 weight % reduction in iron when the catalyst initially con tains as much as 0.1 to 0.5 weight % nickel, 0.3 to 1.0 weight % vanadium and 0.2 to 1.2 weight % of iron.

In practice, the process of the present invention can be applied by removing a portion of catalyst from the regenerator or regenerator standpipe of a hydrocarbon conversion unit, e.g., cracking system, after a standard regeneration treatment to remove at least a portion of the carbonaceous material from the catalyst, treating the catalyst by the method described in our aforementioned copending application No 00440/79 Serial no 1,580,856 to convert at least a portion of the metals in the metal contaminated catalyst to a dispersible form, slurrying the catalyst for a reductive wash, filtering, and reslurrying the catalyst for an oxidative wash, filtering and rinsing with water. The treated catalyst can be returned to the unit, for example to the regenerator, or slurried in hydrocarbons to be returned to the reactor.

The invention is now described in more detail with reference to one preferred embodiment thereof and with the aid of the accompanying drawing which is a schematic flow diagram illustrating a particularly preferred embodiment of this in vention.

Referring to the drawing, there is illustrated a preferred process flow according to the teachings of the present invention. A metals contaminated hydrocarbon feed stock containing large amounts of poisoning metals such as iron, nickel and vanadium enters a conventional fluid bed, catalytic cracking unit 1 via line 2. Within fluid catalytic cracking unit 1, the hydrocarbon feedstock is contacted at hydrocarbon crack ing conditions with a fluid hydrocarbon cracking catalyst entering via line 6. The resultant converted hydrocarbon products are removed from line 3 for further process ing. For example, when the feedstock entering line 2 is a reduced crude or residuum stock, the product removed via line 3 is frequently subjected to additional hydrocarbon conversion reactions to produce more valuable products, e.g. gasoline. Alternatively, hydrocarbon feedstock entering line 2 can be a gas oil stock, a substantial portion of which is converted directly to lower boiling products, e.g. gasoline, in catalytic cracking unit 1.

After the completion of the hydrocarbon cracking reaction, the catalyst is removed by a line 4 and passed to regeneration zone 5 wherein carbonaceous material deposited on the catalyst during the course of the hydrocarbon cracking reaction is removed by contact with oxygen at elevated temperatures. The majority of the regenerated catalyst is then removed from regeneration zone 5 by a line 6 and returned to fluid catalytic cracking unit 1 for further use in the hydrocarbon cracking reaction. At least a portion of the regenerated catalyst, e.g. less than 40%, preferably less than 20% and more preferably 0.1 to 10% by weight of the total catalyst inventory per day, is removed in line 7 for treatment in accordance with the present invention to remove contaminating metals from the catalyst and to produce a catalyst of increased cata lytic activity relative to the regenerated catalyst. The catalyst is first sulfided in sul fiding zone 8 by contact with a gaseous hydrogen sulfide stream 9. Spent gases from the sulfidation reaction are removed from sulfidation reaction zone 8 via line 10 and the resultant sulfided catalyst is removed via line 11 and passed to vapor phase oxidation zone 12. Within vapor phase oxidation zone 12, the catalyst is contacted with a gaseous stream containing oxygen entering line 13 to convert the poisoning metals present on the catalyst to a dispersible form. Small amounts of steam enter ing line 14 can be added to stream 13. The resultant off gases are removed from line 15 for further treatment.

After suitable cooling, the catalyst is removed from oxidation zone 12 via line 16 and passed to reductive wash zone 17 wherein the catalyst is contacted for 1-2 minutes with a saturated aqueous SO2 solution at a temperature of 65 to 80C C pro vided through line 18. This wash step removes a portion of the poisoning metals from the catalyst. The spent wash is removed from reductive wash zone 17 via line 19 for further treatment and recovery of valuable vanadium.

The resultant reductively washed catalyst is then removed from reductive wash zone 17 via line 20 and passed to water wash zone 21 wherein the catalyst is con tacted with an aqueous wash solution entering via line 22. This wash removes chenii- sorbed SO2 which can decompose the H202 in the subsequent oxidation wash zone if it is not removed. The resultant spent wash solution is removed via line 23 for further treatment in accordance with applicable pollution control standards. The thus water washed catalyst is then passed via line 24 to oxidation wash zone 25 wherein the catalyst is contacted with an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution entering line 26.

This oxidation wash removes additional amounts of contaminating metals from the catalyst and produces a spent wash solution which is removed via line 27 and is subsequently treated to recover valuable metal components such as vanadium. The oxidatively washed catalyst is then removed from oxidation wash zone 25 via line 28 and passed to a second water wash zone 35 wherein the catalyst is optionally washed with a water stream entering line 29. The spent water wash stream is removed from water wash zone 35 via line 30 for subsequent treatment. The water washed catalyst is then passed via line 31 to calcination zone 32 wherein the catalyst is dried prior to its being returned to catalyst cracking unit 1 via line 33. If desired, additional makeup catalyst can be added to the overall process flow via line 34.

The following Examples illustrate the invention.

EXAMPLE 1.

A Phillips Borger equilbrium silica-alumina zeolite-containing cracking catalyst was treated in accordance with the present invention. This catalyst includes about 5% by weight of crystalline alumino silicate effective to promote hydrocarbon cracking and has an initial catalytic activity as follows: Catalytic Activity MA CPF H2/CH4 Original catalyst 80 0.75 8 The catalyst as above was used in a fluid catalytic cracking conversion of hydrocarbon feedstock contaminated with iron, nickel and vanadium. The metal contaminated catalyst was removed from the hydrocarbon conversion stream with the following metal content (based on their common oxides): Contaminated Catalyst Nickel 2500 ppm.

Vanadium 7500 ppm.

Iron 6800 ppm.

and a catalytic activity of: Catalytic Activity MA. CPF H2/CH4 59.1 3.02 20.0 The contaminated catalyst was regenerated to remove carbon under normal conditions and had less than 0.5% by weight of carbon. The catalyst was then heated to 13500 F.

with an accompanying nitrogen purge. Hydrogen sulfide was then added at about 24 weight % of catalyst/min. A slight exotherm of 10-15" F. was noticed when hydro- gen sulfide with N2 as a diluent (100-20: 0-80 112S to N2 volume ratio) was first introduced to the catalyst. The hydrogen sulfide was held constant for four hours at a temperature of 1350 F. At the end of the fourth hour the addition of hydrogen sulfide was terminated and the catalyst allowed to cool under nitrogen flow to approximately 5000 F. Sulphur level on the catalyst at this point was between 1.0 and 1.3% by weight.

After the catalyst had cooled to approximately 5000 F. following sulfidation, it was heated to a stable temperature of 600" F. under nitrogen flow. After the tem perature had stabilized, nitrogen was turned off and air was introduced to the catalyst at a rate of 8.0 1/min/Kg of catalyst. An exotherm took place causing the temperature to rise from 600" F. to between 6300 F. and 680" F. The extent of the exotherm will vary depending upon the amount and type of sulfur left on catalyst after the sul fidation step. Oxidation with air was run for a total reaction time of about 25 minutes.

The catalyst was cooled under a nitrogen flow of about 3 l/min/Kg. Catalyst was transferred to a holding vessel when it had cooled to 250 F. Sulfur level on the catalyst at this stage was between 0.7 and 0.9%.

The catalyst was slurried with water to give about a 20 weight % solids slurry and sufficient sulfur dioxide was added to give an initial pH of 2.0. The temperature was maintained at about 700 C. for about three minutes. The catalyst was then filtered and the aqueous sulfur dioxide wash was repeated twice more to give a total of three reductive washes.

The catalyst was then slurried with water to give about a 20% solids slurry and hydrogen peroxide at the rate of 10-20 lb./ton of catalyst was added. The pH was initially 2.8-3.3 and the temperature was about 80" C. Again the wash was carried out for three minutes and the hydrogen peroxide wash was repeated once more to give a total of two oxidative washes. The catalyst was washed with water forming a 20% slurry, twice filtered and then dried under a vacuum at 100--1600 C.

Measurements of percent metal removal and catalytic activity were then taken and the results are as follows: Metal Removal % Catalytic Activity Ni Fe V MA CPF H2/CH, 82 40 45 75.6 1.24 8.60 EXAMPLES II to XI.

Table 1 shows the results obtained by subjecting a catalyst to various demetallizing methods to render dispersible or remove at least a portion of the contaminating metals thereon. This data shows that even after the catalyst had been exposed to demetallization conditions and activity was improved, measurable amounts of metals remain. Removal of these metals by the process of the present invention substantially improved the activity of the heretofore demetallized catalyst. The catalyst was a Phillips Borger FCC catalyst having the following properties: Catalytic Activity Metals Content (wt%) MA 59.1 Ni 0.29 CPF 3.01 Fe 0.78 H2/lCH4 20.2 V 0.73 The reductive aqueous SO2 wash was in accordance with the teachings of Example 1. The initial pH was 2.0, the wash time was 3 minutes at 700 C. and the catalyst was washed as a 20 wt % aqueous slurry. The oxidative H202 wash followed the reductive SO2 wash after an intermediate water wash and was also performed for 3 minutes at 700 C. with a 20% aqueous slurry utilizing peroxide in an amount of 10 lb. of peroxide per ton of catalyst.

The 03 mode od promotion was performed by passing 0, through an ozone generator at a rate of 100--200 ml/min to provide an 0, concentration of 15-20 mug/1. This ozone stream was passed through a sulfided catalyst slurry at 50-950 C.

for 10-60 minutes to provide an ozone concentration of 2-4 lb. of ozone per ton of catalyst.

The C12/CC14 vapor phase mode of promotion was performed by contacting Cl2 and a promoter such as CCl4 or S2C12 with the sulfided catalyst at 600" F. for one hour. The resultant catalyst was then contacted with water, controlled to a pH of 2.54.0 with ammonia.

The O,-H2S04 aqueous oxidation mode of promotion was performed by spurging 0, through an H2SO4 aqueous slurry maintained at 60--90" C. and a pH of 2.5 to 4.0 for 20-60 minutes.

The SO2 + 0, liquid phase oxidative mode of promotion was performed by constantly adding an aqueous solution of SO, to a sulfided catalyst slurry to maintain a pH of 2.5 to 4.0 and under an oxygen pressure of 1 atmosphere and a temperature of 60--90" C.

The results obtained are set forth below in the tables below: TABLE I Example Sample Process of % Metal Removal Catalytic Activity No. No. Demetallization Wash Ni Fe V MA CPF H2CH4 II A O3, aq. slurry HNO3 83 36 18 68.4 2.05 10.3 (20&num;/ton) III A Washing of SO2, H202 88 62 62 76.2 1.03 5.6 Sample A with aq.

IV B Cl2/CC14, non 79 36 37 76.6 1.06 7.7 Vapor phase V B Washing of SO2, H202 80 50 43 77.0 0.93 5.9 Sample B with aq.

VI C O2,H2SO4aq. none 74 56 43 66.3 1.94 18.3 VII Washing of SO2, H202 86 50 63 Sample C with aq.

VIII D SO2 + O2 H202 89 50 55 72.7 1.63 8.9 pH = 3.5+ I hr.

IX E SO2 + O2 H202 89 46 53 pH=3.5+2hr.

X Washing of SO2, H202 89 58 60 77.4 1.24 5.9 Sample E with aq.

XI SO2+O2 SO2, H202 89 61 60 73.7 1.22 7.5 pH = 4.0+ aq. I hr.

The data set forth in Table 1 clearly illustrates the increased catalytic properties and metals removal obtained by utilizing the reductive wash of the present invention.

Table 2 shows additional results obtained by subjecting a sulfided catalyst to various Vapor phase air oxidation conditions to render dispersible at least a portion of the contaminating metals thereon. The catalyst was the same as used in Examples II to XI.

TABLE II % S after % Removal Catalytic Activity Oxidation Ni Fe V S MA CPF H2/CH4 EXAMPLES XII-XIV Oxidation conditions for Sample E 6l06770F. 0.89% S - - - - - - Air + N2 25 min.

XII SO2 wash of Sample E 29 47 44 39 - - XIII SO2 + H202 wash of Sample E 86 45 54 55 72.9 1.21 12.68 TABLE II (cont.) % S after % Removal Catalytic Activity Oxidation Ni Fe V S MA CPF H2/CH4 EXAMPLES XV-XVI Oxidation conditions for Sample F 608-681 F. 0.59% - - - - - - - Air + N2 25 min.

XV SO2 wash of Sample F 50 56 31 - - - - XVI SO2 + H202 wash of Sample F 82 58 41 - 73.04 1.43 EXAMPLES XVII-XVIII Oxidation conditions of Sample G 555-587 F. Air + N2 25 min. 0.88% S - - - - - - XVII SO2 wash of Sample G 36 49 18 44 - - XVIII SO2 + 11202 wash of Sample G 89 59 31 62 73.97 1.66 6.28 EXAMPLES XIX-XX Oxidation conditions for Sample H 597-668 F. Air + N2 25 min. 0.57%S - - - - - - - XIX SO2 wash of Sample H 32 51 18 - - - - XX SO2 + H202 wash of Sample H 86 55 31 - 73.25 1.49 10.51 EXAMPLES XXI-XXII Oxidation conditions for Sample I 800-840 F. Air + N2 25 min.

XXI SO2 wash of Sample I 43 23 18 88 - - - XXII SO2 + H202 wash of Sample I 64 12 26 94 - - WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A process for treating a metal contaminated catalyst which has been poisoned in a hydrocarbon conversion process by a feedstock containing metal poisons to remove at least a portion of the metal contaminants and to produce a catalyst with improved catalytic activity, said process comprising the steps of

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (20)

1. **WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **.

   TABLE II (cont.) % S after % Removal Catalytic Activity Oxidation Ni Fe V S MA CPF H2/CH4 EXAMPLES XV-XVI Oxidation conditions for Sample F 608-681 F. 0.59% - - - - - - - Air + N2

   25 min.

   XV SO2 wash of Sample F 50 56 31 - - - - XVI SO2 + H202 wash of Sample F 82 58 41 - 73.04 1.43 EXAMPLES XVII-XVIII Oxidation conditions of Sample G 555-587 F. Air + N2 25 min. 0.88% S - - - - - - XVII SO2 wash of Sample G 36 49 18 44 - - XVIII SO2 + 11202 wash of Sample G 89 59 31 62 73.97 1.66 6.28 EXAMPLES XIX-XX Oxidation conditions for Sample H 597-668 F. Air + N2

   25 min. 0.57%S - - - - - - - XIX SO2 wash of Sample H 32 51 18 - - - - XX SO2 + H202 wash of Sample H 86 55 31 - 73.25 1.49 10.51 EXAMPLES XXI-XXII Oxidation conditions for Sample I 800-840 F. Air + N2

   25 min.

   XXI SO2 wash of Sample I 43 23 18 88 - - - XXII SO2 + H202 wash of Sample I 64 12 26 94 - - WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A process for treating a metal contaminated catalyst which has been poisoned in a hydrocarbon conversion process by a feedstock containing metal poisons to remove at least a portion of the metal contaminants and to produce a catalyst with improved catalytic activity, said process comprising the steps of

   (i) removing at least a portion of the metal poison from said catalyst by contact ing said catalyst with a reductive wash medium selected from aqueous SO,; solutions of compounds capable of producing SO,; liquid media containing one or more reducing agents selected from hydrogen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrazine, hydrazine derivatives, diborane, borohydrides, metallic aluminium hydrides, thiosulfites, dithionites, hydrothionites and polytluonites; and mixtures thereof; subsequently contacting said reductively washed catalyst with a liquid oxidative wash medium; and (ii) recovering a catalyst of reduced metal poison content and improved catalytic activity.
2. 2. A process as claimed in claim 1 wherein the oxidative wash medium is an aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide.
3. 3. A process as claimed in claim 2 wherein said aqueous hydrogen peroxide comprises 2 to 30 weight % hydrogen peroxide.
4. 4. A process as claimed in claim 2 or claim 3 wherein said oxidative wash is effected at a temperature of 60--850 C with a contact time of 1-5 minutes.
5. 5. A process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 which comprises alternating reductive and oxidative washes, the last wash comprising an oxidative wash.
6. 6. A process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein said reductively washed catalyst is washed to remove at least a portion of the reductive wash medium prior to the oxidative wash.
7. 7. A process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein the contaminated catalyst comprises a zeolitic molecular sive.
8. 8. A process as claimed in claim 7 wherein said zeolitic molecular sieve comprises a decationized zeolitic molecular sieve having less than 90% of the aluminium atoms associated with cations, a crystalline structure capable of internally absorbing benzene and a SiO2-to-A1203 molar ratio greater than 3.
9. 9. A process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8 wherein the aqueous SO2 medium comprises a solution of SO, in water.
10. 10. A process as claimed in claim 9 wherein the solution is a saturated SO2 solution.
11. 11. A process as claimed in claim 9 or claim 10 wherein the contacting with the aqueous SO, medium is effected at a temperature of 65--80" C with a contact time of 0.5-15 minutes.
12. 12. A process as in claim 13 wherein said contact time is 1-5 minutes.
13. 13. A process as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12 wherein the hydrocarbon conversion process is a catalytic cracking process.
14. 14. A process as claimed in claim 13 wherein said feedstock is a reduced or topped crude oil.
15. 15. A process as claimed in claim 1 for treating a metal-contaminated catalyst, substantially as hereinbefore described with particular reference to the Examples.
16. 16. A process as claimed in claim 1 for treating a metal-contaminated catalyst, substantially as hereinbefore described with particular reference to the accompanying drawing.
17. 17. A process as claimed in claim 1 for treating a metalcontaminated catalyst, substantially as described in any one of Examples, I, III, V, VII, X, XI, XIII, XVI, XVIII, XX and XXII.
18. 18. A metal-contaminated catalyst which has been treated by the process claimed in any one of claims 1 to 17.
19. 19. A method of recovering vanadium values from a vanadiumwcontaminated catalyst which has been poisoned in a hydrocarbon conversion process by a feedstock containing vanadium in which the catalyst is treated by the method claimed in any one of claims 1 to 17.
20. 20. Vanadium obtained by the method claimed in claim 19.