Catalytic Treatment of Petroleum Asphalts

Catalytic Sulphurization of residual asphalts obtained from Nigeria;i crudes has been investigated at 210 - 250 °C for a period of 1 hour. The overall effect of the reaction was the manifold increase in the asphaltene content of the sulphurized asphalt. The growth of asphaltenes however decreases with temperature which is in sharp contrast to the non-catalytic reaction reported in the literature. Kinetic analysis shows that the apparent reaction order varied from 1.75 to 3.60 while the rate constant follows a decreasing trend with temperature. These results indicate that the role of the catalyst in the sulphurization reaction is to lower the temperature of the reaction.