Diesel (desulfurised gas oil), Desulfurised gas oil (diesel blendstock, about 10 mg/kg S)

Activity Gas oil hydrodesulfurisation to ultra-low-sulfur diesel (fixed-bed CoMo hydrotreater), RER: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedhydrotreating-1:gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation:product:dieselPreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset

Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Per 1 t of desulfurised gas oil, gate-to-gate, EU refinery hydrotreaters of the REF BREF. Feed, hydrogen and H2S from model formulas fitted to the feed sulfur of the crude assay that refinery-distillation-1 uses, the make-up hydrogen of one operating diesel hydrotreater and PRELIM's hydrogen content of hydrotreated diesel; utilities and heater emissions from sourced ranges and two installations.

Reference product: 1 kilogram of Diesel (desulfurised gas oil), Desulfurised gas oil (diesel blendstock, about 10 mg/kg S)
Chemical: diesel
CAS: not available
Code: hydrotreating-1:gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation:product:diesel
Dataset: gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation version 0.1.0 · UUID ac2a825d-3efd-55c8-8901-e082b5f9cf06
Activity UUID: not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database: cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4 (version preview-a3c52e4)
Process: Gas oil hydrodesulfurisation to ultra-low-sulfur diesel (fixed-bed CoMo hydrotreater)
Geography: RER · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period: 1991 · valid until 2015
Technology: fixed-bed CoMo/alumina hydrodesulfurisation of straight-run gas oil at about 40 to 70 barg and 330 to 390 degC with recycle gas, stripping and drying (REF BREF 2.13) · level current
Boundary: gate-to-gate: feed heater, fixed-bed reactor, high- and low-pressure separators, recycle gas, stripper and drier; hydrogen, steam and power from outside; sour gas and sour water leave for treatment
Classification: ISIC Rev.4 1920 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model: attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation: mass, 100 % of the dataset to this product (rule single-output, from default)
one product: nothing to allocate
Rights: CC-BY-4.0

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Diesel (desulfurised gas oil), Desulfurised gas oil (diesel blendstock, about 10 mg/kg S)

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 3 calculated, 10 given, 3 assumed. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary3 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.

Input	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree	Linked to
Straight-run gas oil, about 0.5 wt-% sulfur feed:gas-oil carbon balance of the model formulas C470H848S -> C470H897: the liquid yield is 100 % by carbon (light ends and wild naphtha excluded, see system_boundary)	0.9974	kilogram	calculated	3 4 5 3 3	Atlas (pinned): Crude oil distillation, atmospheric and vacuum (crude and high vacuum units) (Gas oil (straight-run), Gas oil (240 to 360 degC, light and heavy), RER) compatible: grade the input names gas-oil only; gas-oil (Gas oil (straight-run), Gas oil (240 to 360 degC, light and heavy)) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation energy (physical-energy); boundary plant gate (pinned): no distribution or losses; the consumer's dataset counts its delivery
Hydrogen make-up feed:hydrogen model reaction C470H848S + 25.5 H2 -> C470H897 + H2S: 7.87 kg per t feed, one operating diesel hydrotreater's make-up hydrogen (Tian et al. 2022, see parameter nu_H2)	0.007849	kilogram	calculated	3 4 5 3 3	Atlas (pinned): Hydrogen by natural-gas steam methane reforming with PSA (100 000 Nm3/h, steam export) (Hydrogen product 99.9 mol% to battery limit, GLO) compatible: grade the input names hydrogen only; hydrogen (Hydrogen product 99.9 mol% to battery limit) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation exergy (deviation); boundary plant gate (pinned): no distribution or losses; the consumer's dataset counts its delivery
Wash water injected into the reactor effluent feed:water EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.13.1, Table 3.63, p. 192	0.03491	kilogram	given	3 4 5 3 3	market for water, deionised (water, deionised, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Fuel to the reactor feed heater (refinery fuel gas, taken as methane) feed:natural-gas heater fuel of Table 3.63 (midpoint, see parameter fuel) over the LHV of methane fuel, LHV 50.01 MJ/kg	0.007977	kilogram	assumed	4 4 5 4 4	Atlas: natural gas, per kg, as methane (Atlas unit proxy) (natural gas, by mass, GLO)
Electricity feed:electricity EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.13.1, Table 3.63, p. 192 electricity	0.01496	kilowatt hour	given	3 4 5 3 3	market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Steam (stripping and heating), by mass feed:steam EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.13.1, Table 3.63, p. 192; pressure not stated by the source	0.1047	kilogram	given	3 4 5 3 3	Atlas: steam, saturated, 11 bar(a), per kg, as heat from steam (Atlas unit proxy) (steam, saturated, 11 bar(a), GLO)
CoMo/alumina hydrodesulfurisation catalyst input:catalyst EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.13.1, Table 3.64, p. 193 (average consumption, taken as the make-up); mass outside the element balance; contains cobalt and molybdenum, so it is never cut	4.588e-5	kilogram	given	3 4 5 3 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Spent CoMo catalyst, to regeneration or metal recovery off site output:spent-catalyst EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.13.1, pp. 193-194 (spent catalyst taken back by suppliers for regeneration or recycling); equal to the make-up (ASSUMED); mass outside the element balance	4.588e-5	kilogram	given	3 4 5 3 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Hydrogen sulfide in the sour gas, to amine treatment and sulfur recovery output:hydrogen-sulfide all feed sulfur as H2S (model formulas); the off-gas goes to sour gas treatment and the sulfur recovery unit (REF BREF 3.13.1, p. 193). TODO the H2S that leaves dissolved in the sour water	0.005203	kilogram	calculated	3 4 5 3 3	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (chemical 'hydrogen-sulfide'); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Sour water, to the sour water stripper and wastewater treatment output:wastewater EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.13.1, p. 194 (30 to 55 l/t; contains H2S, NH3, phenols, hydrocarbons)	0.03491	kilogram	given	3 4 5 3 3	Atlas (plant): wastewater to treatment, per kg (Atlas unit proxy) (wastewater, by mass, GLO) compatible: grade the input names wastewater only; wastewater (Wastewater treated) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)
Heat rejected to cooling water output:cooling-water EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.13.1, Table 3.63, p. 192, converted to heat (see parameter cw)	0.02899	kilowatt hour	given	3 4 5 3 3	Atlas (plant): cooling water service, per kWh heat rejected (Atlas screening proxy) (heat rejected to cooling water, GLO) compatible: grade the input names cooling-water only; cooling-water (Heat rejected to cooling water, 25/35 degC) is taken; unit kilowatt hour; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)

Elementary flows

Flow	Direction	Compartment	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree
Carbon dioxide, fossil 349b29d1-3e58-4c66-98b9-9d1a076efd2e	emission	air	0.02188	kilogram	assumed	4 4 5 4 4
Water 075e433b-4be4-448e-9510-9a5029c1ce94	emission	air	1.792e-5	cubic meter	assumed	4 4 5 4 4
Nitrogen oxides 77357947-ccc5-438e-9996-95e65e1e1bce	emission	air / non-urban air or from high stacks	1.297e-5	kilogram	given	3 4 4 4 3
Sulfur dioxide 78c3efe4-421c-4d30-82e4-b97ac5124993	emission	air / non-urban air or from high stacks	3.491e-6	kilogram	given	3 4 4 4 3
Carbon monoxide, fossil 099b36ab-4c03-4587-87f4-2f81e337afb8	emission	air / non-urban air or from high stacks	3.491e-6	kilogram	given	3 4 4 4 3

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/hydrotreating-1/lca/datasets/gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation.yaml in library version a3c52e4.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review: Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality: not available
Mass and carbon closure: Not available: a hand-written dataset: no lca/manifest.json records its balance
Change report: Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

KPI	Value	Reference range	Position
Electricity per t of distillate feed hydrotreated No open per-tonne range independent of the dataset found (2026-11-05). The REF BREF range (Table 3.63, 10 to 20 kWh/t) is the dataset's own source. Tian et al. (2022, Table 4) give the three main drives of one unit only, 18.7 kWh/t (file comment); US DOE (1998) and LBNL-56183 give per-barrel figures for all hydrotreaters together.	– kWh/t	not available	not evaluated
Heater CO2 per t of middle distillate feed hydrotreated	– kg/t	13 to 15 kg/t Barthe, P., Chaugny, M., Roudier, S., Delgado Sancho, L. (2015) Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Refining of Mineral Oil and Gas. JRC Science and Policy Report EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758 (bref)	not evaluated
Hydrogen consumption per t of distillate feed hydrotreated	– kg/t	1 to 15 kg/t Barthe, P., Chaugny, M., Roudier, S., Delgado Sancho, L. (2015) Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Refining of Mineral Oil and Gas. JRC Science and Policy Report EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758 (bref)	not evaluated

How to use it

Downloads

cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx · bw2io ExcelImporter workbook (bw2io 0.9 Excel layout) · the whole database
code hydrotreating-1:gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation:product:diesel
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4-olca-jsonld.zip · openLCA JSON-LD (olca-schema) (2) · the whole database
process ac2a825d-3efd-55c8-8901-e082b5f9cf06 (processes/ac2a825d-3efd-55c8-8901-e082b5f9cf06.json)
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4-multifunctional.json · Brightway 2.5 multifunctional database (JSON, for the multifunctional package) (cheme-as-code/lci-multifunctional/v1) · the whole database
code hydrotreating-1:gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation:product:diesel
cheme_as_code_lci-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl · the installer

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4", "hydrotreating-1:gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation:product:diesel"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Diesel (desulfurised gas oil), Desulfurised gas oil (diesel blendstock, about 10 mg/kg S), from Gas oil hydrodesulfurisation to ultra-low-sulfur diesel (fixed-bed CoMo hydrotreater) (dataset gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-a3c52e4, activity hydrotreating-1:gas-oil-hydrodesulfurisation:product:diesel. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-a3c52e4.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX

@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering. arXiv:2611.07947. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947

BibTeX

@misc{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering}},
  year = {2026},
  eprint = {2611.07947},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07947}
}