Performance Testing of Hydrodesulfurization Catalysts Using a Single‐Pellet‐String Reactor

Small‐scale parallel trickle‐bed reactors were used to evaluate the performance of a commercial hydrodesulfurization catalyst under industrially relevant conditions. Catalyst extrudates were loaded as a single string in reactor tubes. It is demonstrated that product sulfur levels and densities obtained with the single‐pellet‐string reactor are close to the results obtained in a bench‐scale fixed‐bed reactor operated under the same conditions. Moreover, parallel single‐pellet‐string reactors show high reproducibility. To study the hydrodynamic effects of the catalyst‐bed packing, the catalyst‐bed length was varied by loading different amounts of catalysts, and crushed catalyst was also loaded.