09-04-2019

PTT Global Chemical selects hte to evaluate hydroprocessing catalysts

hte – the high throughput experimentation company has been selected by PTT Global Chemical Public Company Limited (GC), a leading Asian integrated petrochemical and refining company, to evaluate hydroprocessing commercial catalysts under commercially relevant conditions for a catalyst change-out in its refinery in Rayong, Thailand. For this catalyst benchmarking, hte has used its latest 24-fold high throughput technology.

GC selected hte for the evaluation study in order to benchmark five commercial hydroprocessing catalyst systems using a 24-fold high throughput reactor system optimized for first-stage hydrocracking under commercially relevant conditions. The project was completed in 2018 with the overall aim of measuring catalyst performance (activity, selectivity, and stability) and determining key fractional product properties. The testing program at hte has provided GC with the relevant data to make the best decisions for the upcoming hydroprocessing catalyst change-out in 2020.

High throughput testing technology has become the industry standard for benchmarking several commercially available multistacked catalyst systems head to head under unit operating conditions and using the refinery’s typical feedstocks. It is the ideal way to properly identify the optimal catalyst system for a refinery’s specific process. Given the high stakes involved in the choice of catalyst for an operation cycle, selecting the appropriate testing technology for conversion units is pivotal, as it has a dramatic and lasting impact on the profitability of a refinery.

Wolfram Stichert, CEO at hte, comments: “We were pleased to have been selected by GC, a leading Asian integrated petrochemical and refining company, for such a crucial catalyst selection for their refinery. hte has always strived through innovative solutions to provide the most valuable services to its customers. Our latest 24-fold technology is the perfect illustration of this.”