Fischer–Tropsch product as a co-feed for refinery hydrocracking unit

A flow bench scale fix-bed reactor was used for hydrocracking experiments, which were carried out over a commercial Ni–W/alumina catalyst under hydrogen pressure of 18 MPa. Two feeds were separately processed at temperature levels of 390, 410 and 430 °C: vacuum distillate containing 10 wt.% of Fischer–Tropsch (FT) product prepared in separate experiments and neat vacuum distillate used as a reference material. The hydrocracking products were fractionated by distillation into naphtha, diesel oil and residue. All samples were then analyzed using several analytical methods in order to compare properties of the products obtained from different feeds. All products obtained from the feed containing FT product had lower or comparable density and sulfur content to products obtained from neat vacuum distillate. Differences in hydrocarbon group-type composition were observed in both naphtha and diesel fractions. The impact of modification of vacuum distillate by FT product on the properties of its hydrocracking products is discussed in detail.