AM-96-67 Hydrotreating Technology Improvements for Low-Emissions Fuels

Description:

Hydrotreating continues to play a key role in meeting the stricter fuel specifications required by environmental regulations. With continuing tight refinery margins and limited funds for capital investment, improvements in both catalyst and process technology are needed to reduce the capital and operating costs of refinery projects that are required to meet these tighter specifications. This paper discusses recent hydrotreating catalyst and process improvements designed to meet these challenges in the areas of distillate upgrading and FCC gasoline desulfurization. A new high-activity aromatics-saturation catalyst is being commercialized to produce diesel with high cetane and low aromatics content from low-value feedstocks. The AS*-250 Unisar* catalyst is 150°F (83°C) more active than its predecessor, the AS-100 catalyst, and has a higher tolerance to sulfur and nitrogen. This paper also discusses the lower capital investment and operating costs of the integrated Unionfining*-Unisar process and describes a case study on the upgrading of light cycle oil (LCO).