Amirhossein Khalili-Garakani - Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Process Engineering Department, Niroo Research Institute, Tehran, Iran
Mostafa Jafari - Ph.D Student, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

In Iran, power plants use liquid fuels such as heavy fuel oil (HFO) or mazut to prevent disruption in power generation. The high percentage of sulfur compounds in HFO and the lack of efforts to remove it, causing significant damage to the environment. The purpose of this research is performing a techno-economic analysis on the Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process of HFO. The results showed that for removing ۸۵% of sulfur compounds from HFO with a volume flow rate of ۲۵۰ m۳/h that includes ۳.۵% wt sulfur compounds, the total capital investment and the net production cost are ۳۰۸.۹ million US and ۱۱۴.۵ million US/year, respectively. Besides, the sensitivity analysis indicates that with a ۱۰۰% increase in the catalyst loading, the mass percentage of sulfur compounds in the HFO will be decreased by ۱۵% more. Also, ۶.۴% and ۳۲% will add to the total capital investment and net production cost, respectively. With a ۱۰۰% increase in the gas to oil ratio, the mass percentage of sulfur compounds in the HFO will be decreased by ۱۵.۳% more. Also, ۴۳.۸% and ۶% will be added to the total capital investment and net production cost, respectively. With a ۱۰۰% increase in the pressure of the HDS process, the mass percentage of sulfur compounds in the HFO will be reduced by ۲۰.۷۵% more. Also, ۴۳% and ۶.۷۵% will be added to the total capital investment and net production cost, respectively. Ultimately, with a ۱۰۰% increase in the inlet temperature of beds, the mass percentage of sulfur compounds in the HFO will be reduced by ۵% more. Among the effective operational parameters, hydrogen consumption has the greatest impact on net production cost and payback period, and the pressure of the Hydrodesulfurization process has the greatest impact on increasing the total capital investment of the process.

Power plant, heavy fuel oil, Hydrodesulfurization, Net Production Cost, Payback Period