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This paper describes the identification of nitrogen-containing compounds in a typical feed for diesel oil hydrotreating and how their individual concentrations change upon hydrotreating over a conventional sulfided CoMo/Al2O3 catalyst at commercial conditions. A preconcentration procedure followed by gas chromatographic (GC) analysis utilizing a highly sensitive nitrogen-specific detector (atomic emission detector) allowed the quantitative analysis of individual nitrogen-containing compounds (N compounds) at levels as low as 0.05 μg N/mL. The nitrogen compounds in the feed and products were identified by comparison with reference compounds as well as by high-resolution GC/mass spectrometric characterization. The relative reactivities of individual compounds in the diesel fuel feed were determined and the most refractory compounds identified. Alkyl-substituted carbazoles were found to be the major compound class in the feed and to be among the least reactive N compounds in the feed. Just as in the case of alkyldibenzothiophene hydrodesulfurization, carbazoles having alkyl substituents at positions adjacent to the nitrogen atom were found to be the least reactive N compounds in the diesel fuel feed for hydrodenitrogenation.

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There is currently a growing need to hydroprocess heavier and tougher crude oils with increased nitrogen content. Therefore, hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) has become a critical hydroprocessing reaction, making it essential to gain insight into which nitrogen-containing compounds are the most difficult to treat. In the present article, we describe the identification of nitrogen compounds in severely pretreated feed for hydrocracking (HC). The nitrogen compounds in the N-slip to the hydrocracker are isolated and concentrated on solid-phase extraction (SPE) columns and identified by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography with atomic emission detection (GC-AED), and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations support the structural identification and are further used to investigate the reactivity. We find that the most refractory organic nitrogen compounds in the N-slip belong to the family of 4,8,9,10-tetrahydrocyclohepta[def]carbazoles. These molecules are slightly more basic than other carbazoles and thus are likely to have an impact on the performance of the downstream catalysts; however, their very low reactivities make them extremely difficult to remove under normal hydrotreating conditions.