PTQ Q4 2025 Issue

Economic and environmental versatile technologies in refining

Case study on the dewaxing of fuels and lubes using porous zeolites reveals the merits of efficient chemical conversions and reduced energy consumption

Danny Verboekend Zeopore Technologies

I nnovation in the refining and chemical industries has enormous potential to overcome the environmental challenges of today’s society. Yet, innovation can only be widely adopted once both environmental benefits and economic merit can be achieved. The chances of achiev - ing such a win-win in this sector may be maximised when focusing on versatile technologies; that is, those that find application independent of the feedstock. Versatile innovations often have a higher technology readiness level, find a wider and more secure market, and do not face supply and demand complications, which may make them faster to commercialise. In addition, whereas the need for energy conservation is widely embraced, the potential environmental impact of improving the efficiency of chemical conversions and the more efficient use of chem - icals is less widely recognised. Herein, we highlight the value of an economic and environmental win-win through a case study on the dewaxing of fuels and lubricants using advanced porous zeolites. Innovation in today’s society An impressive amount of game-changing and environ - mentally driven technology does not make it to fruition, often due to excessive costs. Today, in order to bring an innovative product/service to the market, it must follow the governing principles of this market. This implies that the company adopting the innovation should, ultimately, be able to generate a profit. For example, say a typical refinery may combust 10 wt% of its crude to form CO₂. The technology to capture the emit - ted fossil-derived CO₂ sounds attractive for both funding and allocating subsidies. Yet, even if an impressive 30% of the emitted CO₂ can be reduced, the capture and utilisation of the CO₂ will in most countries today pose an inhibitive cost. In contrast, as illustrated in the following case study, investing in more efficient hydrocracking or dewaxing may instigate the same reduction in CO₂ emissions, while also presenting an attractive business case. Yet, such innova - tions are often passed over for investment or subsidies due to the fossil origin of the feedstock. Accordingly, when investing in innovation for combat - ing the environmental crisis, the underlying challenge may not just be technological, but also economic, political, and

societal, which begs the question: How can we make envi - ronmental benign technologies profitable? Will this be pos - sible under the current macroeconomic markets? Should we still invest in technologies suitable for fossil-derived streams? Should we continue to strive for more growth and positive compound annual growth rates (CAGRs)? Answering such quasi-philosophical questions is obvi - ously beyond the scope of the article. Yet, herein, an inno - vative trajectory to enable the environmental and economic win-win is highlighted for the refining and chemical indus - try, regardless of the nature of the feedstock used. Versatile innovations A significant part of innovations in the refining and chem - ical industry steer towards replacing fossil-based oil feed - stock with those derived from biomass or CO₂. Yet, in most projections, the majority of fuels and chemicals remain derived from petroleum for decades to come due to a vari - ety of challenges. For example, the conversion of CO₂ to fuels and chem - icals requires an order of magnitude more energy than refining petroleum. Moreover, the availability of suitable amounts and forms (such as concentration and pressure) of CO₂ feedstock is not trivial. Similarly, for biomass-derived feedstocks, numerous challenges emerge, including availa - ble locations to cultivate them, the potential for accelerated deforestation, and competition with food-based agricul - ture. It is easy to imagine that for a Capex-driven industry such as the refining and chemical industries, many of these risks pose a serious liability, making investing in innovations in specific-feedstock technologies risky. Instead, a versatile technology in the refining and chem - ical industry implies that it can be exploited independently of the feedstock used and accordingly poses a much safer investment. This relates to processes after the initial con - version of the feedstock, on the way towards the fuels, base chemicals, or fine chemicals. Importantly, the relative amount of versatile technology increases as we move fur - ther upstream from refining towards base chemicals and finally fine chemicals (see Figure 1 ). Additionally, when the switch from fossil towards circular feedstocks occurs, these versatile technologies can be readily applied and will be even more advanced by that time.

PTQ Q4 2025