12-03-2018

Honeywell UOP launches ULTIMet™ catalyst

Honeywell UOP today introduced a new catalyst that can more efficiently remove sulfur and nitrogen from lower-value diesel blending components, allowing them to meet Euro V clean fuels specifications.

Honeywell UOP’s ULTIMet™ catalyst, the newest addition to its Unity hydrotreating portfolio, has more active sites for chemical reactions and can be used as a drop-in reload to “debottleneck” a unit, resulting in increased plant capacity with no additional capital expense. The new catalyst also can be loaded in combination with conventional hydrotreating catalysts to further improve their performance.

“The ULTIMet catalyst enables refiners facing stricter fuel requirements to achieve higher quality product specifications and greater profitability,” said Jose Carrazza, Vice President and General Manager of Honeywell UOP’s Catalysts, Adsorbents & Specialties business. “This new catalyst also delivers greater operating flexibility than conventional catalysts in hydrotreaters, so it can handle more challenging, lower-priced feedstocks.”

The ULTIMet catalyst also has the high strength and attrition resistance necessary to prevent breaking, which ensures a more reliable operation and helps extend the operating cycle by as much as 50 to 75 percent.

Hydrotreating is a critical step in the refining process where hydrogen and a proprietary catalyst are used to remove sulfur and other contaminants before conversion into transportation fuels. The process produces a cleaner-burning diesel fuel product that meets new fuel regulations such as the Euro V standard, which specifies sulfur content of less than 10 parts per million in transportation fuels.

Honeywell UOP’s line of Unity catalysts includes more than two dozen hydrotreating catalysts for hydrocracking and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) pre-treat, and diesel, kerosene and coker naphtha hydrotreating. Honeywell UOP also offers catalysts for naphtha hydrotreating and FCC gasoline desulfurization.

Honeywell UOP inaugurated the use of catalysts in the refining industry in 1931, beginning with solid phosphoric acid. This and subsequent processes significantly raised the yield of high-octane transportation fuels. Today, Honeywell UOP is recognized as a leading developer of advanced catalysts for the refining industry.