Cracking of Heavy Hydrocarbon Feedstocks in the Presence of Cobalt

More than 70% of the world’s reserves of hydrocarbons is in the form of heavy petroleum feedstocks. Increasing the efficiency and depth of processing of such feedstocks is an important problem of petroleum refining. Cobalt powders and their catalysts prepared in a single stage are tested for the first time in the cracking process at the Novokuibyshevsk petroleum refinery. The composition and properties of the samples are studied via X-ray phase analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and temperature-programmed reduction. Surfaces of cobalt contains oxygen in Co3O4 and CoO inside layers, while mechanoactivation redistributes some of these oxides and alters the composition of products of tar cracking. Cobalt has more catalytic activity in the cracking of tar after mechanoactivation than the original powder. The yield of light fractions is 70% with mechanically activated cobalt, 10 wt % higher than without mechanoactivation, and 25% higher than with no cobalt powders.