Presulfiding of NiMo in H2 plant

[tipsi]

Dear,

I received the question whether the (pre)sulfiding of a NiMo bed as part of a Hydrogen production plant (SMR) is always needed.
Some vendors say that it is common practice all the time, while other refineries are just activating the catalyst while running on the S inlet feed..

Could someone advice me on the need of this sulfiding in this application- also seen the fact that typical in H2 plant operation this catalyst sees lot less sulfur compared with refinery HDT

 

[MattR001]

Hello,

We recently started up a new SMR at our refinery and used the feed only sulphiding method. The feed was natural gas, which is relatively clean (<6ppm(wt) (normally spiked with mercaptan for smell)). The gas was passed over the bed for a few hours and was regularly checked for H2S <0.1ppm (w). I can come back with more details if required.