AM-99-40 LOW COST PRODUCTION OF CLEAN FUELS WITH STARS CATALYST TECHNOLOGY

Description:

Refiners are challenged to produce better quality products with minimum investment in new equipment. In this paper we will focus on low cost production of road diesel, and low sulfur gasoline. Lower sulfur and higher hydrogen content (lower aromatics, higher Cetane) is required in the future. The severity of the diesel HDS unit will increase and more feed will be routed to the hydrocracker, resulting in shorter cycles and higher operating costs for both units. While gasoline demand is not expected to increase at the same rate as diesel, the quality issues, especially sulfur control, will become important. Last year, Nippon Ketjen and Akzo Nobel introduced a new concept in hydroprocessing catalysis, called STARS Technology to overcome these limitations. STARS maximizes the accessibility and number of Super Type II Active Reaction Sites in the catalyst. Two catalysts have been commercialized on the basis of this concept. Ketjenfine 757 for the Ultra Deep Desulfurization of diesel and Ketjenfine 848 for hydrocracker feed pretreatment service. Both catalysts show up to 60% higher activity compared to other state-of-the-art catalysts, and greatly improve the ability to produce clean fuels in existing units, without major revamp or investment in grassroots units. In this paper we will show the impact of future changes in diesel and gasoline specifications on the operation of existing units. Effective strategies for reducing diesel and gasoline pool sulfur will be discussed. Examples will be given of the benefits of switching to newer higher activity catalysts.