Process to manufacture lube oil products

Abstract

The instant invention relates to a process to produce lube oil products through the hydrotreating of lube oil boiling range feedstreams in the presence of a bulk metal hydrotreating catalyst.

1 . A process for producing low sulfur liquid products from a lube oil boiling range feedstream comprising: 
 a) contacting a lube oil boiling range boiling range feedstream containing nitrogen and organically bound sulfur contaminants in a reaction stage with a bulk metal hydrotreating catalyst in the presence of hydrogen-containing treat gas thereby producing a reaction product comprising at least a vapor product and a liquid lube oil boiling range product, wherein said lube oil boiling range feedstream is contacted with said bulk metal catalyst under effective hydrotreating conditions and said bulk metal hydrotreating catalyst comprises: 
 i) a Group VIB metal component selected from molybdenum, tungsten, and mixtures thereof;  
 ii) a Group V metal component selected from vanadium, niobium, tantalum, and mixtures thereof; and  
 iii) a Group VIII metal component selected from nickel, cobalt, iron, and mixtures thereof, wherein the metal components (calculated as oxides) comprise at least 50 wt. % of the catalyst, wherein the molar ratio between the metal components satisfies the formula (Group VIB+Group V):(Group VIII)=0.35-2:1.  
   
   
   
       2 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said lube oil boiling range feedstream is a wax-containing feedstream that has a 10% distillation point greater than 650° F. (343° C.), measured by ASTM D 86 or ASTM 2887, and is derived from mineral sources, synthetic sources, or a mixture of the two.  
   
   
       3 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said reaction stage comprises one or more reactors or reaction zones each of which can comprise one or more catalyst beds selected from the group consisting of fluidized beds, ebullating beds, slurry beds, fixed beds, and moving beds wherein each of said one or more catalyst beds contains a catalyst suitable for the reaction zone in which the catalyst bed is located.  
   
   
       4 . The process according to  claim 3  wherein said reaction stage comprises one or more fixed catalyst beds.  
   
   
       5 . The process according to  claim 3  wherein said process further comprises cooling between catalyst beds, reactors, or reaction zones in said reaction stage.  
   
   
       6 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said lube oil boiling range feedstream is selected from those derived from sources such as oils derived from solvent refining processes such as raffinates, partially solvent dewaxed oils, deasphalted oils, distillates, vacuum gas oils, coker gas oils, slack waxes, foots oils and the like, dewaxed oils, automatic transmission fluid feedstocks, and Fischer-Tropsch waxes.  
   
   
       7 . The process according to  claim 6  wherein said lube oil boiling range feedstream is a selected from raffinates and dewaxed oils.  
   
   
       8 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said bulk metal hydrotreating catalyst has a ratio between the total molar amount of Group VIB and Group V metal and the molar amount of Group VIII metal of at least 0.6:1.  
   
   
       9 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein the metal components of said bulk metal hydrotreating catalyst make up at least 70 wt. % of the catalyst composition, calculated as oxides.  
   
   
       10 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein the metal components of said bulk metal hydrotreating catalyst make up at least 90 wt. % of the catalyst composition, calculated as oxides.  
   
   
       11 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein vanadium and/or niobium make up at least 50 mole % of the total of Group V metal components.  
   
   
       12 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein vanadium and/or niobium make up at least 70 mole % of the total of Group V metal components.  
   
   
       13 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein vanadium and/or niobium make up at least 90 mole % of the total of Group V metal components.  
   
   
       14 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein vanadium and/or niobium make up substantially all of the Group V metal components.  
   
   
       15 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein cobalt and nickel make up at least 50 mole % of the total of Group VIII metal components.  
   
   
       16 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein cobalt and nickel make up at least 70 mole % of the total of Group VIII metal components.  
   
   
       17 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein cobalt and nickel make up at least 90 mole % of the total of Group VIII metal components.  
   
   
       18 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein cobalt and nickel make up substantially all of the Group VIII metal components.  
   
   
       19 . The process according to  claim 15 , wherein nickel makes up substantially all of the Group VIII metal components.  
   
   
       20 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said bulk metal hydrotreating catalyst is formed by a process which comprises combining, sequentially, or simultaneously, a Group VIB metal component selected from molybdenum, tungsten, and mixtures thereof, a Group V metal component selected from vanadium, niobium, tantalum, and mixtures thereof, a Group VIII metal component selected from nickel, cobalt, iron, or mixtures thereof, and a sulfur compound.  
   
   
       21 . The process according to  claim 20  wherein said catalyst forming process involves combining, in a first step, a Group VIB metal component, a Group V metal component and a Group VIII metal component to form an oxygen-stable product and said oxygen stable product is combined with a sulfur compound in a second step.  
   
   
       22 . The process according to  claim 21  wherein said catalyst forming process wherein the second step of combining the resulting oxygen-stable product with a sulfur compound further includes a sulfidation step wherein at least part of the metal components of the bulk metal hydrotreating catalyst are converted into their respective sulfides.  
   
   
       23 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said process further comprises: 
 b) separating said vapor product from said liquid lube oil boiling range product; and    c) recovering said liquid distillate boiling range product.    
   
   
       24 . The process according to  claim 23  wherein said lube oil distillate boiling range product has a sulfur concentration lower than said distillate boiling range feedstream.  
   
   
       25 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said effective hydrotreating conditions comprise temperatures ranging from about 150° C. to about 425° C., weight hourly space velocities range from about 0.1 to about 20 hr −1 , and pressures ranging from about 4 to about 70 atmospheres.  
   
   
       26 . The process according to  claim 25  wherein said effective hydrotreating conditions are selected in such a manner that at least a portion of said organically bound sulfur contaminants are removed from said lube oil boiling range feedstream.  
   
   
       27 . The process according to  claim 25  wherein said effective hydrotreating conditions are selected in such a manner that at least a portion of said nitrogen and organically bound sulfur contaminants are removed from said lube oil boiling range feedstream.  
   
   
       28 . The process according to  claim 2  wherein the nitrogen content of said lube oil boiling range feedstream contains up to 0.2 wt. % of nitrogen and up to 3.0 wt. % of sulfur, all based on the lube oil boiling range feedstream.  
   
   
       29 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said bulk metal hydroprocessing catalyst has a ratio between the total molar amount of Group VIB and Group V metals and the molar amount of Group VIII metal of at least 0.75:1.  
   
   
       30 . The process according to  claim 1  wherein said bulk metal hydroprocessing catalyst has a ratio between the total molar amount of Group VIB and Group V metals and the molar amount of Group VIII metal of at most 1.5:1.