A Nuclear Microprobe Examination of Catalysts Used in Hydrotreating and Hydroconversion of Petroleum Fractions

Nuclear microprobe methods have been developed to measure light element and metallic poison distributions in used catalysts. The methods are based on the irradiation of sectioned catalyst pellets with microbeams of energetic (MeV) charged particles. Irradiation with deuterons allows the determination of carbon and nitrogen by nuclear reactions, and vanadium, nickel, and other elements with atomic number >12 by particle-induced X-ray emissions. Hydrogen can be determined by an elastic recoil analysis method based on irradiation with helium ions. The development of the methods for catalyst applications is described. All elements can be determined at concentrations of