Removal of arsenic and mercury from crude oils by surface organo-metallic chemistry on metals; mechanism of AsPh3 and HgPh2 interaction with Ni/Al2O3 and NiS/Al2O3.

The RAM II (removal of arsine and mercury) process, was developed by IFP for simultaneous removal of arsenic mercury and lead if any, from contaminated feedstocks upstream of aromatics-complexes or steam-cracking units. For this purpose, the contaminated hydrocarbon is passed trough nickel based solid bed at about 443 K under hydrogen pressure. The results are excellent since less than 3 ppb of each contaminant remains in the process effluent. The mechanism of the reaction is studied using diphenylmercury and triphenylarsine as models for contaminants and alumina supported nickel as catalytic solid.