Electroremediation of deactivated catalysts from fluidised catalytic cracking for vanadium removal - the effect of a dual cathode chamber reactor

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the quantity of vanadium removed through electrokinetic remediation applied to catalyst waste used in a fluid catalytic cracking process. In excess, vanadium affects process efficiency by reducing the catalyst’s activity, causing deactivation and reducing its useful life in petroleum cracking during refining. The electrochemical reactor used was composed of an extra cathode chamber coupled with an ion-selective cation exchange membrane, Nafion ®. The function of the cathode chamber was to increase the overpotential for a hydrogen reduction reaction (HRR) and the electric field to favour metal ion removal. Sodium citrate was used for electrolyte remediation (complexing vanadium) at 0.5 mol/L with an 11.0 V (ε =0.5 V/cm) potential applied. The treatment efficiency was analysed based on the vanadium ion concentration in the electrolyte collected. The results show that electrokinetic remediation using the dual cathode chamber yielded more metal removal and lower energy consumption.