Question
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What are the benefits of bulk metal catalyst in hydrotreating?
Mar-2021
Answers
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Steven Zink, Honeywell UOP, Steven.Zink@honeywell.com
The benefits of bulk metal catalysts in hydrotreating are determined by their degree of success to achieve certain, economics-driven objectives. Bulk metal catalysts, known for their superior hydrogenation activity, have enabled some refiners to produce ULSD with assets that would otherwise have been unable to produce ULSD, avoiding the capital expense of reactor addition or the requirement for an extra turnaround or reload. They have allowed some refiners to process a wider array of price-advantaged feedstocks, also without requiring an extra turnaround or reload. Where hydrogen is relatively cheap, refiners make use of bulk metal catalysts with price-advantaged, hydrogen-deficient feedstocks (for instance, light cycle oil) to maximise volume swell and cetane, toward greater ULSD volume production and for improved yields of light and heavy distillates from hydrocracking conducted downstream. Bulk metal catalysts may likewise be applied to improve hydrocracking yields of relatively high viscosity index base oils, due to the superior aromatics hydrogenation activity.
On the other hand, bulk metal catalysts may not be particularly advantageous from the perspective of a refiner with no access or otherwise very limited access to hydrogen-deficient, price-advantaged feeds and with hydrotreating capacity and capability to achieve near-maximum volume swell with conventional, supported catalysts in any typical cycle.
Mar-2021
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