“The average
politician goes through a sentence like a man exploring a disused mine
shaft-blind, groping, timorous and in imminent danger of cracking his shins on a subordinate clause or a nasty bit of
subjunctive.” -- Robertson Davies (Canadian Journalist and Author.
1913-1995)
An email in my inbox alerted me to the latest issue of Hydrocarbon Engineering (http://www.energyglobal.com/magazines/latestissue/hydrocarbon-engineering.aspx). September’s issue features an article by
authors affiliated with SAMREF …
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Hydrocarbon Engineering
September 2016
Cracking the catalyst code
Abdullah T. Al-Raddadi, Sivaprasad P. Pacheeri and Abdallah S.
Al-Yasi, SAMREF, Saudi Arabia, and Ankit Apoorv, Carl Keeley, Stefano Riva and
Vasilis Komvokis, BASF, Refining Catalysts, explore how an improved fluid
catalytic cracking unit's product yield structure and operating flexibility,
using a new resid catalyst, resulted in economic advantages for Saudi Arabia's
SAMREF.
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TIP #1:
Google® the title CRACKING THE CATALYST CODE. Browsing the results, you will
find, among other things …
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Cracking the code: How advanced catalysts enhance hydrocracking processes, showing
that profits can be advanced by platinum group metals recovery and refining
Digital Refining (ePTQ)
December 2012
Kevin M Beirne, Sabin Metal Corporation
It is now more than seven decades since the practical introduction of
large-scale catalytic cracking for the processing of crude oil. The technology
has advanced significantly since then (it was first developed in Germany circa
1915 to provide coal-based liquid fuels), according to a recent article1 by
Russell Heinen, a director at INS Chemical. Catalytic cracking of crude oil led
to “an important process breakthrough” (the Houdry process, Figure 1) that
“coupled the endothermic cracking reaction with the exothermic reaction of
catalyst regeneration in a cyclic, continuous operation,” Heinen added.
“Significant developments since the 1940s, however, have made catalytic
processes even more important to the modern petroleum refining and
petrochemical/chemical processing industries,” he continued. In his article.
Heinen cited the global value of process catalysts as a $13 billion business,
with resultant products produced with the aid of catalysts valued at $500–600
billion.
Development of modern hydrocracking
However, it was not until the early
19605 that “modern” hydrocracking became even more cost effective for many
practical processing applications. This was because of the introduction of
zeolite-based catalysts, which offered significantly better performance than
previous catalysts, including lower pressure operation that helps lower costs
of building and operating hydrocrackers, according to Heinen. As would be
expected, concurrent with production economies and advancements in catalytic
cracking over this period, feedstock refiners have continually sought improved
catalysts to help speed up processing. lower costs, reduce pollution and
produce higher-quality end products from lower-quality feedstock. In addition,
as catalyst technologies have become more sophisticated, more beneficial uses
for catalysts have also kept up with improvements; namely, uses for catalysts
in many new hydrocarbon processing applications as well as for chemical and
petrochemical products.
However, as the Heinen article points
out, “petroleum refining...is the source for the largest share of industrial
products. Upgrading crude oil technology consists almost entirely of catalytic
processes...[with the] largest catalyst segment in terms of value being
catalytic cracking”. New catalyst materials being developed are not only geared
towards enhanced processing throughput and use of lower-quality feedstocks, but
environmental pressures have also “become the major driving forces in catalysis
and process design,” Heinen adds.
As new catalyst developments improve the
technology, in part driven by environmental regulation pressures,
large-scalehydrocracking has been able to help increase production throughput
significantly. Efficiency of scale now makes it possible for a hydrocracking
plant to easily produce 100 000 bpd of cleaner distillates from “increasingly
difficult feedstocks such as FCC light cycle oil (LCO), heavy vacuum gas oils
(HVGO), and heavy coke gas oils (HCGO)”.2 Since there is a direct correlation
between economy, lower-quality (more difficult) feedstocks and process steps to
produce a variety of end products, improved catalysts have also been a key
factor in enhancing profitability. Essentially, today’s sophisticated catalysts
have made great strides by allowing lower-grade feedstocks to be used for
producing higher-grade distillates, as well as minimising pollution problems
through the production of cleaner fuels. In fact, modern catalysts are critical
for this process.
One article2 pointed out that: “Typical
hydrocracking feedstocks include heavy atmospheric and vacuum gasoils, and
catalytically or thermally cracked gas oils. These products are converted to
lower molecular weight products, mainly naphtha or distillates. Sulphur,
nitrogen and oxygen removal and olefin saturation occurs simultaneously with
the hydrocracking reaction; because of the high reaction temperatures and
pressures (in the region of 475°C and 215 bar) more “highly developed
catalysts” have been introduced into the hydrocracking process over the past
few decades”. The trend indicates that this will continue for some time.
Essentially, the hydrocracking process
removes various feed contaminants (which typically include sulphur and nitrogen
along with other unwanted materials) in order to convert low-quality feedstocks
into more commercially useful end products. The hydrogenation occurs in fixed
hydrotreating catalyst beds to improve hydrocracking ratios and to remove
unwanted contaminants. From there, the process continues into reactors
containing fixed hydrocracking catalyst beds that dealkylate aromatic rings,
open napthene rings and hydrocrack paraffin chains.
Catalyst design
The article went on to point out that:
“Increased environmental regulations on gasoline and diesel have made
hydrocracking an essential process, resulting in ever greater increases in
worldwide capacity.” Its authors also stressed the importance of “optimum
catalyst design” (to extend catalyst lifecycles by improving reactor
operation). This coincides with many catalyst suppliers’ efforts to continually
improve their products and offer users “longer cycles, higher throughput, and
faster turnarounds, all with minimal capital investment”. Because hydrocracking
allows refiners to process lower-grade feedstocks, there has been widespread
attention in the catalyst market for development of advanced catalysts to
ultimately improve profit margins. In fact, because of these advances, there
have been nearly 100 new hydrocracking systems put online around the world in
the past 10 years. Many of these “new refineries and refinery expansions are
targeting operating capacities of 400 000 bpd or higher,” the article concluded.
Despite the global recession, there is
still significant demand for gasoline and diesel fuels, especially in
developing nations. Some estimates put the growth rate in China and India alone
at approximately 40% over the next two decades. On the other hand, the demand
for less refined products such as fuel oil is declining. This is one reason why
many refiners are employing more sophisticated hydrocracking processes with
more sophisticated catalyst materials. This trend is likely to continue.
Catalyst composition
Modern hydrocracking technology employs
complex catalysts composed of one or more platinum group metals (PGMs),
including platinum, palladium, ruthenium and rhodium, and occasionally rhenium,
gold, silver or other precious metals, depending upon application. Catalyst
compositions typically include soluble or insoluble alumina, silica/alumina or
zeolites in configurations that include monolithic structures, beads, pellets,
powders or extrudates, depending upon application (Figure 2). As a result of a
continuous hydrocracking process (generally over a number of years), these
catalysts lose their efficacy (mainly because of process contaminants) and must
be replaced by “fresh” catalysts. When that occurs, their precious metals
content must be recycled (recovered, refined and returned to their owners,
either in the form of new metals or dollars) so as to acquire fresh catalysts
to start the process over.
source: http://www.digitalrefining.com/article/1000669,Cracking_the_code.html#.V8hdIuT6srw
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TIP #2:
Google® SAMREF and browse. You will
find, among other things …
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Samref Clean Fuels Project
Office: Arcadia,
Beijing
Customer: Saudi Aramco Mobil Refinery Company Ltd.
Location: Yanbu, Saudi Arabia
Timeframe: 2009 – 2015
SAMREF will undertake modifications to its Yanbu refinery in the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia to comply with the 2013 mandatory specifications for gasoline with
10 ppm sulphur, 1% benzene and diesel with 50 ppm. In addition, diesel with 10 ppm of sulphur
will be mandatory by 2016.
source: http://www.worleyparsons.com/Projects/Pages/SAMREFCleanFuelsProject2.aspx
SAMREF is an equally owned joint venture between Saudi Arabian Oil Company
(Saudi Aramco) and Mobil Yanbu Refining Company Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary
of Exxon Mobil Corporation).
source: SAMREF Corporate Site (http://www.samref.com.sa/)
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