A master thesis was discussed in Dept. of Chemical Engineering at the UOT entitled (Preparation and Development of Iraqi Clays for Removing Sulfur from Heavy Petroleum) by student Khuloud Salem.

The aim of this study is to prepare a low-cost economic catalyst using Iraqi kaolin clay (meta kaalene materials with high porosity prepared from natural clays in Iraq) and activating it using the ion exchange process. In the process of desulfurization (HDS) of heavy oil (gas oil) and loading of the prepared substance (AMK) using a group of active metals such as nickel ((Ni, cobalt (Co)) and molybdenum (Mo).

A comparative study was conducted in a reactor and for the best conditions achieved for the removal activity of sulfur compounds between the cofactor prepared with the optimum mineral ratio (5% Co / 10% Mo / AMK) and the commercial cofactor CoMo / Al2O3 and the desulfurization percentage was 80.5% and 72.3% for CoMoAMK and CoMo / Al2O3 respectively.

The research also included a study of the mechanism of the reaction, as it was found that the reaction is of the first degree. The activation energy required for the sulfur reaction was calculated, as it was (26.9 kg / mol) at the residence time (2 hours / 1) and the rate constant of the reaction was (2.58 hours / 1) at a degree 300 x 5.

 The discussion committee consisted of:

1- Asst. Prof. Dr.  Khaled A. Sakkar/ Head

2- Asst. Prof. Dr. Amer Aziz/ Member

3- Dr. Ayed J. Omran / Member

4- Dr. Zaidoun Mohse/ Supervisor

5- Dr. Bashir Youssef/ Supervisor