Hydrocarbon Processing - December 2022 - 40

Catalysts
Refiner
TABLE 3. Examples of how independent diesel hydrotreating catalyst testing help improve refining margins
Performance benefit
Catalyst decision
North American
refinery
North American
refinery
North American
refinery
North American
refinery
North American
refinery
European refinery
North American supplier
replaced European supplier
European supplier replaced
European supplier
European supplier replaced
European supplier
European supplier replaced
European supplier
European supplier replaced
European supplier
North American supplier
replaced European supplier
Notes: 1) 1-tier improvement = 5°C reduction in start-of-run temperature
Another popular excuse is the actual
feed quality, which is never exactly the
same as what is in the bid tender-catalyst
vendors can always argue that the performance
gaps are from deviations in feed
qualities. Any deviations in product properties
(e.g., diesel density) will be disputed.
In many cases, it is difficult for refiners
to claim any penalties (usually not worth
it, compared with potential damages) due
to a failed unit test run. The authors have
seen a catalyst vendor that failed every
performance test run over 6 yr that was
selected repeatedly just because its customer
relied on a paper-based evaluation
to choose diesel hydrotreating catalysts.
For the described reasons, diesel hydrotreating
catalyst selection is no less
critical than other refining catalysts; it
is difficult to distinguish the best catalyst
package from the average/poor ones
without pilot plant testing due to different
kinetic models used in performance predictions
and the potential for the catalyst
vendor sales team to over-exaggerate the
performance of their catalysts. Rather
than differentiating the performances of
various catalysts, refiners may potentially
be wasting their time trying to identify
frequently unmeasurable/debatable gaps
in the operating environment.
According to Hoekstra Trading LLC, a
one-tier improvement in performance or
a 5°C reduction in the start-of-run temperature
is worth $1 MM/yr-$5 MM/yr
in a typical ULSD unit (TABLE 3). A lower
start-of-run temperature means a higher
federate, the ability to use more difficult
(cheaper) feeds in the ULSD unit, and
lower light gas yields from less severe thermal
cracking. The benefits of a better diesel
hydrotreating catalyst package, especially
40 DECEMBER 2022 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
for a larger unit, easily outweigh the service
fee of an independent pilot plant testing
program. Generally, the service fee for diesel
hydrotreating applications is only half
of that for hydrocracking catalyst testing.
Naphtha reforming is a monopoly
business. The authors have seen one
company have repeated success in pilot
plant testing, so it could be assumed that
pilot plant testing is unnecessary since every
benchmarking campaign the authors
have seen by this company had the same
result. This might indicate that this company
is ahead of its competitors regarding
naphtha reforming catalyst development,
but an expert in refinery catalyst testing detailed
cases where other naphtha reforming
catalyst suppliers also had successful
pilot plant testing campaigns. Naphtha reforming
catalysts perform differently with
varying feeds, operating conditions and
product specification requirements.
Importantly, all catalyst suppliers continue
to develop their products, and there
is no guarantee that today's prominent
market leaders will retain their position.
Pilot plant testing is still highly recommended
for the evaluation and selection
of the best naphtha reforming catalyst to
suit refiners' applications.
Takeaways. While both conventional
and high-throughput approaches can be
used to distinguish the best-performing
refinery catalyst from average ones, the
high-throughput technique offers some
great advantages over the conventional
method in several circumstances.3
The author's company's high-throughwith
16 parallel reactors
Issue
Short cycle undiagnosed
by incumbent
Catalyst testing showed
opportunities
Catalyst testing showed
opportunities
Short cycle undiagnosed
by incumbent
Catalyst testing showed
opportunities
Short cycle undiagnosed
by incumbent
6-mos cycle
to 2-yr cycle
3-tier
improvement
2-tier
improvement
2-tier
improvement
1- tier
improvement
1-tier
improvement
Source: Hoekstra Trading LLC
terms of repeatability, reproducibility, scalability
and mass balance quality, thanks
to the company's patented gas distribution
technology, active liquid distribution
(ALD) system and single-pellet string reactor
(SPSR) catalyst loading approach.
Additionally, the required catalyst volume
is less than 1 mL. As such, the required
catalyst and feed sample volumes are minimal,
making the platforma
one of the most
cost-effective commercial catalyst testing
platforms available.
NOTES
a
Avantium's Flowrence® platform
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Tiago Vilela from
Avantium and George Hoekstra from Hoekstra Trading
LLC for useful insight and information; Shaun Dyke
from PetroQuantum for editing and helpful comments;
Kurt du Mong from Zeopore Technologies for an
image; and Kongphop Boonwong from GlobalR&D
for final editing.
LITERATURE CITED
Complete literature cited available online at
www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com.
NATTAPONG PONGBOOT is an experienced Chemical
Engineer with hands-on experience in refining and
petrochemical technologies as both licensor and
refiner. He is a project leader in the refinery catalyst
testing group at Avantium, delivering high-quality
catalyst testing services for customers worldwide.
He holds an M.Eng degree in chemical engineering
from Kasetsart University.
put platforma
produces consistently high data quality in
THANAWAT UPIENPONG is a Senior Refinery
Process Engineer at PTT Global Chemical Plc. with
more than 10 yr of experience in the refining industry.
He specializes in refinery operation, troubleshooting,
optimization, startup/shutdown and catalyst selection
with broad exposure to various refining processes,
such as thermal conversion, diesel hydrotreating and
hydrocracking. Upienpong earned his M.Eng degree in
chemical engineering from King Mongkut's University
of Technology Thonburi in Thailand. The author
can be reached at Thanawat.U@pttgcgroup.com or
tai.thanawat@gmail.com.
Catalyst cost savings
$2 MM
$1 MM
$200,000 plus price cuts
on other catalysts
$330,000 plus price cuts
on other catalysts
$600,000
$500,000
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