Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2021 - 43

Clean Fuels
generally lower than HSFO. Compared
to available information on competitive
technologies, the proprietary upgrading
process is the fastest to market-as either a fully modular or stick-built unit-
because it has a lower capital expenditure and operational expenditure and is
rooted in process technologies broadly
understood and accepted by refiners.
As shown in FIG. 1, feeding the proprietary upgrading process is ISO
8217-compliant HSFO, which is mixed
with hydrogen and heated against the
reactor effluent. It is then heated to the
reactor inlet temperature in a furnace
and fed to the reactor system. The reactor system utilizes commercially available hydrotreating catalysts in its design.
Effluent from the reactor system flows
through the feed/effluent exchanger and
to a series of vessels to separate liquid
product from recycled vapor. Recycled
hydrogen is contacted against amine to
remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and is recycled to the reactor system via a recycle
hydrogen compressor. Liquid effluents
from the separator drums feed the prod-

uct stabilizer. Hydrogen, H2S and light
components are stripped from the liquid
effluents to produce ISO 8217-compliant VLSFO or ultra-low-sulfur fuel oil
(ULSFO).
The proprietary upgrading process
was successfully piloted at two separate
pilot plant facilities, using three different
commercial marine fuel oils (not laboratory blends): two RMG-380 feeds with
2.5 wt% and 2.9 wt% sulfur, and an RMK500 feed with 3.3 wt% sulfur, to produce
an ISO 8217-compliant VLSFO with 0.5
wt% sulfur. Production of an ULSFO
with 0.1 wt% sulfur, which is a compliant
fuel for MARPOL Annex VI designated
emissions control areas, was also demonstrated during the pilot testing.
Proprietary fuelb properties. The proprietary fuel has been well received by the
shipping industry and engine manufacturers, as it maintains energy density and
remains compliant on all ISO 8217 specifications. As shown in TABLE 1, the ISO
8217 properties of the RMG-380 HSFO
(i.e., the feed to the proprietary upgrad-

ing process) are compared to those of the
proprietary VLSFO and to the two other
widely available alternative bunker fuels
used for compliance with IMO 2020 requirements: a marine gasoil and a blended
VLSFO (80:20 blend). Of the three IMO
2020-compliant fuels, the properties of
the proprietary fuel most closely align
with HSFO, the fuel for which most ship
engines were designed to use. In addition
to producing an ISO 8217-compliant fuel
with lower sulfur content, metals, catalyst
fines and other environmental contaminants are nearly completely removed by
the proprietary upgrading process. Metals reduction of 80%-90% is achieved in
the proprietary upgrading process, and
catalyst fines (aluminum and silicon) are
reduced by more than 90%.
Compatibility and miscibility. The
author's position is that blending HSFO
with distillates is not a commercially acceptable and sustainable solution to the
IMO 2020 regulatory requirements. In
the short term, blending a VLSFO requires the use of higher-value (and there-

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Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2021

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