Process Technologies

BioButterfly™ Project

BioButterfly™ pools the strengths and skills of three key research and industry players covering the whole value chain: R&D and pilot tests, catalyst screening and formulation, process development and scale-up and petrochemicals expertise.

Once ready for commercialization, BioButterfly™ will bring a solution for:

• Producing economically competitive bio-butadiene
• Manufacturing high-performance synthetic rubber and adapting the process to all uses of bio-butadiene.
• Reducing environmental impacts, especially greenhouse gas emissions, across the entire life cycle compared with fossil fuels.

Atol®

Atol® technology is the result of a solid partnership bringing together the best experts in their fields:

• Modelling & Extrapolation to Industrial Scale
• Catalyst Development and Industrialization
• Process Development
• Ethanol Expertise and Pilot Testing

Atol® technology takes the production of bio-ethylene to an outstanding level of performance with a maximum profitability to get the business case in full fly. This is a simple & reliable process scheme featuring a variety of fully proven technology solutions.

Futurol®

Futurol^® Technology aims at producing advanced bioethanol and biobased monomers from lignocellulosic biomass (forest and agricultural residues, energy crops).

As the outcome of a 10 years R&D project, with extensive operation of our pre-commercial and industrial scale plants, Futurol^® offers a unique and reliable 4-step conversion process: Biomass Pretreatment, Biocatalysts production, Hydrolysis & Fermentation and Products Recovery.

Gasel®

Axens’ Gasel® Technology aims at producing ultra-clean liquid products, notably SAF, diesel and petrochemicals feedstock (naphtha, waxes), through the conversion of synthesis gas.

The synthesis gas (also called syngas) shall be obtained from several sources such as for instance biomass, wastes, etc.

This Fischer-Tropsch (FT) route is commonly accepted as one of the most promising mid-term solutions for the production of alternative fuels and petrochemicals, including Biomass-To-Liquids (BTL), Wastes-To-Liquids (WTL) and Power-To-Liquids (PTL) pathways.

BioTfueL®

BioTfueL® technology suite is a flexible solution for producing advanced biofuels (renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel) as well as valuable coproducts (renewable naphtha, biolubes basis, biogas, bioLPG, green power & heat etc.) through a thermochemical pathway. This technology is the result of more than 10 years of R&D including the operation of two demonstration plants, which allowed to develop and validate a complete and fully integrated 4-step Biomass To Liquids (BTL) chain: pretreatment, gasification, syngas conditioning, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and upgrading.

Vegan®

Vegan® technology is a flexible solution for producing SAF and renewable diesel through the hydrotreatment of a wide range of lipid feedstocks from vegetable oil to waste based oils.

Standalone, integrated or revamped units: Vegan® technology fits perfectly both in standalone and integrated refinery environment. Axens’ experience and customized approach help to evaluate the potential of the project.

Vegan® can be easily tuned to match the required boiling range and cold flow properties of the desired product. Producers can thus balance production from 0 to 100% between diesel or jet fuel to meet market demand.

Sulfrex™

The extractive Sulfrex™ process eliminates mercaptans and reduces the total sulfur concentration.

With its mild operating conditions of pressure and ambient temperature, this continuous process is ideal for C₃, C₄, LPG, light gasoline and NGL feeds.

The light mercaptans are extracted (Extractor) by caustic solution forming water and sodium mercaptide salts (NaSR).

These salts are oxidized (Oxidizer) by air injection in the presence of Axens' LCPS 30 catalyst, producing an organic disulfide (RSSR) phase that separates by gravity (separator) from the aqueous solution.

IFPEXOL™

IFPEXOL™ consists in using a portion of the water-saturated feed gas to recover the methanol contained in the methanol-water aqueous mixture collected in the cold process.

The methanol is stripped off and recovered as vapor in the overhead gas stream leaving the stripper, while nearly pure liquid water is drawn off from this column. The wet feed gas, containing the recovered methanol, is chilled to the required dewpoint temperature by any appropriate means (JT expansion, turbo-expander or external refrigeration).

A dry and HC-dewpointed sales gas and a HC liquid stream (NGL) are produced while the methanol-water mixture is collected separately and recycled to the IFPEXOL™ stripper.

No flash gas or low pressure off-gases are generated. Any freezing issues are avoided in the cold process thanks to the presence of the methanol that is recirculated into the cold process to inhibit the formation of hydrates or ice. A small amount of pure methanol is injected under automatic control to maintain the correct methanol concentration in the process.

IFPEXOL™

IFPEXOL™ is a simple, highly flexible and environmentally friendly process that uses recoverable methanol to allow water and HC dewpointing in a single cooling step. This technology virtually removes the complete dehydration unit from the processing plant. It provides CAPEX and OPEX savings while eliminating the on-site atmospheric emissions (CO₂, BTEX) associated with TEG Unit off-gas disposal.

IFPEXOL™ consists in using a portion of the water-saturated feed gas to recover the methanol contained in the methanol-water aqueous mixture collected in the cold process.

The methanol is stripped off and recovered as vapor in the overhead gas stream leaving the stripper, while nearly pure liquid water is drawn off from this column. The wet feed gas, containing the recovered methanol, is chilled to the required dewpoint temperature by any appropriate means (JT expansion, turbo-expander or external refrigeration).

A dry and HC-dewpointed sales gas and a HC liquid stream (NGL) are produced while the methanol-water mixture is collected separately and recycled to the IFPEXOL™ stripper.

No flash gas or low pressure off-gases are generated. Any freezing issues are avoided in the cold process thanks to the presence of the methanol that is recirculated into the cold process to inhibit the formation of hydrates or ice. A small amount of pure methanol is injected under automatic control to maintain the correct methanol concentration in the process.