Hydrogenation process for hydrocarbon resins

Abstract

This invention provides a process for hydrotreating hydrocarbon resins, which process comprises contacting a feedstock comprising a hydrocarbon resin or rosin, under suitable hydrotreating conditions, with a bulk multimetallic catalyst comprised of at least one Group VIII non-noble metal and at least two Group VIB metals and wherein the ratio of Group VIB metal to Group VIII non-noble metal is from about 10:1 to about 1:10. The process accord invention can achieve increased hydrocarbon resin productivity through increase in throughput volumes and effective catalyst lifetimes. The process of the invention is desirably practiced with a bulk catalyst consisting of only the combination of the metal species with the active metal components. The absence of carrier substrates largely removes the possibility of halogen accumulation on substrate surfaces that, in turn, can acidify metal catalysts such that additional, progressive cracking of the hydrocarbon resin molecules occurs.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.