GB711259A - Improved heating oil blends - Google Patents

Abstract

A process for the preparation of a heating oil blend comprises subjecting a cracked heating oil to a mild hydrofining operation wherein the fraction is contacted with hydrogen and a hydrofining catalyst at a temperature between 500 and 650 DEG F. so that the consumption of hydrogen does not exceed 60 cubic feet per barrel, and thereafter blending the mildly hydrofined cracked fraction with a virgin heating oil fraction. A crude oil stock is distilled and virgin heating oil and gas oil fractions removed. The virgin heating oil fraction may be caustic washed and may be sweetened by a doctor treat, a bauxite treat or by a Unisol process. The gas oil fraction is cracked, for example by a fluid catalytic cracking operation, distilled, and a fraction boiling in the heating oil range removed. The cracked heating oil fraction may be first caustic washed, and is then mildly hydrofined at a temperature of 500 DEG to 650 DEG F., and at a pressure of 50 to 250 lbs. per sq. in., preferably 100 to 200 lbs. per sq. in. The feed rate is in the range 1 to 16 volumes of liquid per volume of catalyst per hour, preferably in the range 4 to 12 v/v/Hr. The hydrogen in the gas to the hydrofining operation may be from 50 to 100 per cent. The catalyst may be cobalt molybdate, but is preferably molybdenum oxide on an alumina carrier in an amount between 5 and 13 per cent by weight based on the weight of the alumina. The hydrogen consumption is preferably less than 40 SCF/B. The extent of sulphur reduction does not exceed 35 per cent, and is preferably below 20 per cent. The mildly hydrofined cracked heating oil is blended with the virgin heating oil to give a blend containing more than 10 per cent, preferably 15 per cent to 60 per cent, by volume of the cracked material.