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What opportunities do you see for the integration of biorefineries with steam crackers?

Jun-2024

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Hans-Christoph Schwarzer, Clariant Catalysts,

Although we do not foresee the true integration of biorefineries with steam crackers, bio-based oil could be co-fed into a steam cracker after purification and stabilisation, like what is currently being established in chemical plastic recycling. Instead of being incinerated or ending up in landfills, mixed plastic waste can be converted to pyrolysis oils, which can be used as feedstock for the sustainable production of chemicals.

In this emerging field, producers are faced with continuously changing contaminants and contaminant levels in a feed that originates from diverse types of plastics. The previously noted HDMax catalysts and Clarit adsorbents answer the need for flexible and economical solutions to remove a wide range of impurities, regardless of process configuration or plastic waste feedstock, allowing plastic recyclers to achieve pyrolysis oil compatible with steam crackers. For bio-based oils, we see similar challenges also resulting from continuously changing contaminant levels that originate from diverse and varying sources of biomass. As for plastics-based pyrolysis oils, these challenges can be overcome, for example, by adaptable oil upgrading technologies.

Clarit is a mark of Clariant Catalysts.

Jul-2024
Yoeugourthen Hamlaoui, Axens, Yoeugourthen.HAMLAOUI@axens.net

By integrating refineries and steam crackers, it becomes possible to take advantage of several sources of feedstock and increase the plants’ profitability.

Refinery off-gases (ROGs) are used as feedstocks in the steam cracker after being treated in the different steps required to remove contaminants and maximise olefins recovery. Such a configuration allows for enhancing ethylene and propylene yield by valorising low-value byproducts.

On the same principle, naphtha produced by the refinery can be used in the steam cracker as a feedstock. This naphtha maximises profitability. The hydrogen produced by the steam cracker can be valorised on the refinery side by any unit consuming it.

On the one hand, for any existing integrated refinery with steam cracking, it could be relevant to consider switching from fossil naphtha to bio-naphtha, as the integrated scheme is already in place. The main counterpart standing in the way is economics, as currently the cost of bio-naphtha does not look attractive without appropriate regulation.
On the other hand, the biorefinery is mainly oriented towards sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production. Bio-naphtha is then a byproduct, which could be valorised but produced at quite low quantities. However, opportunities for integration of biorefineries with steam crackers seem quite limited.

Jul-2024