Petroleum Engineering and Natural Gas Recovery

Petroleum Desulphurization Techniques

Sulphur exists in crude petroleum as a non-hydrocarbon constituent in different concentrations. Among the distillate fractions obtained from crude oil, the distribution of sulphur compounds is not uniform, rather it vary from fraction to fraction depending upon their boiling points. The concentration as well as the complexity in the structure of the sulphur compounds increases in various distillate fractions with the increase in boiling points. In petroleum its presence is undesirable due to corrosion problems, deactivating catalysts in various refining processes and contributing to environmental pollution. So the regulation authorities are imposing strict regulations to limit the amount of sulphur in petroleum based liquid fuels.

Concerning the detrimental effects of sulphur compounds in the form of environmental pollutant, health effect and hurdling in the refining processes, it is important to remove sulphur from petroleum derived fuels prior to their usage for energy. Sulphur compounds are removed from petroleum and petroleum derived products through the process as desulphurization process. Today hydrodesulphurization (HDS) is the only process used by refineries worldwide for desulphurization of petroleum, but researchers are introducing new techniques which are more efficient and cost effectives than HDS.