Advent of Nanocatalysts in Hydrotreating Process: Benefits and Developments

Nowadays, hydroprocessing is one of the most significant methods in refining petroleum and plays a pivotal role in petroleum industry. Hydrocracking is used to remove feed contaminants (nitrogen, sulfur, metals) and to convert low value gas oils to valuable products. However, being so expensive, the method was disregarded until recent years. Creating units of catalytic conversions and producing hydrogen as a by-product, the method of hydrogenation developed gradually especially in sulfur reduction units. Today, most refineries use the process of removing oil contaminants by hydrotreating process. The advent of nanotechnology, created a big change in this field. The use of nanocatalysts by increasing the effective surface of reactions to a visible extent caused a technical progress in the whole industry. This article tries to analyze catalytic hydrotreating and later, the new generations of catalysts known as nanocatalysts that are used in this process are elaborated. It will be declared that how nanocatalysts created an eye catching progress both economically and environmentally with their higher activity, higher selectivity and longer life. Eventually, applied nanocatalysts in hydrotreating are classified and their benefits are elaborated.