Oil Refining

For the post-treatment of FCC gasoline, fixed-bed HDT is by far the most trusted solution because of its low capex, its ease of operation, and its flexibility.

To understand this phenomenon, it is required to remind how a desalter is designed. The water gravity separation is driven by the Hadamard–Rybczynski equation that gives the terminal velocity of a slowly moving spherical bubble through a fluid.

Hydrogen consumption in a hydrotreater comes from hydrotreatment reactions but also from losses within the process.

When it comes to selecting the right catalyst for the hydrotreatment of a middle distillates fraction at low pressure, a distinction has to be made between light (kerosene) and heavy (diesel) cuts.

Shutdown operations of the sour water stripper unit should maximise the removal of H2S and NH3 from water, especially for long duration shutdowns, to minimise the safety concerns and corrosion issues during maintenance. If the sulphur recovery unit is not available, the sour gas should be routed to flare, then start the shutdown by decreasing the sour water feed to the unit manually and slowly.

Catalytic systems towards better coke and/or dry gas selectivities will certainly help, especially to face contaminant metals which catalyse side reactions. If not limited by catalyst circulation, low delta coke catalysts will increase cat/oil but coke yield should stay constant.

There is certainly an advantage in challenging the catalyst formulation in order to better suit your needs. This could result in a better conversion at same operating conditions or, as suggested, similar conversion at reduced riser outlet temperature (ROT).

With the fall of pump prices, US consumers have responded relatively quickly by increasing gasoline demand, which has led to increased gasoline crack spreads and incentives for refiners to switch from middle distillates to gasoline in the short term. This phenomenon has been especially true in markets affected by unexpected outages.

Organochlorides are typically formed in the catalytic reformer when hydrogen chloride (HCl) reacts with olefins downstream of the reaction system.

Refiners will address the upcoming January 2020 regulatory shift to lower sulphur marine fuels primarily utilising one of four strategies: (1) crude acquisition, (2) technology investment to produce compliant, low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO), (3) reliance on the persistence of an attractive market for high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO), or (4) conversion of HSFO to lighter products with the goal of either reducing their fuel oil production or exiting the market altogether.