Removal of Naphthenic Acids from Sudanese Crude oils by Zeolites and Clays

Abstract

The goal of this study was to remove naphthenic acids from some Sudanese crude oils by zeolites and clays (catalysts). Clay samples were collected from Red sea state in east of Sudan, Hatanakhour in Khartoum and thesynthetic zeolites were provided by Khartoum refinery. Thesecatalysts were processed with thirteen portions of high aciditycrude oil for acid removal purpose.The reaction took place in the temperature range 200-220 ºC for five hours in the atmospheric pressure. Naphthenic acids in crude oils (NAs) were expressed in this research as Total Acid Number (TAN), measured by potentiometric titration instrument before and after processing with catalysts. Onesample of clay, Enstatite 30.6, was characterized by Infrared (IR) before and after treatment with crude for mechanism investigation purpose. Physical and chemical characteristics of some crude samples were tested before and after treatment to study the effect of acid treatment on them. According to the resultsobtained, it was evident that the ten types of catalysts( three zeolites, six clays and MgO salt )succeeded in removing Naphthenic Acids from crude oil samples, acid removal percentage was between 99.35% to 17.12%, and no considerable negative effect on the physical and chemical propertiesof thecrude oil samples.