PTQ Q4 2022 Issue

101

Fresh 1 Fresh 2 Fresh 3 Excel 1 Excel 2 Excel 3

100.5

100

99.5

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 TOS [day]

Figure 9 C 5 + yield for catalyst configurations tested at 80 barg

Figure 10 C 5 + yield for catalyst configurations tested at 120 barg

between 99.5% and 99.6% for both pressures tested at 375°C. Differences in hydrogen consumption Hydrogen consumption did not exhibit large differences when comparing the Excel rejuvenated material side-by- side against their fresh parent. The hydrogen consumption for both fresh and Excel rejuvenated did increase when the pressure increased from 80 to 120 barg: between 560- 600 scf/bbl at 80 barg/375°C and 640-700 scf/bbl at 120 barg/375°C. This can be explained mainly by the higher ASAT and HDN activities for all catalyst configurations when there is a higher partial pressure of H₂. Conclusions Excel rejuvenated catalysts demonstrated equivalent hydrogenation activities (HDS, HDN, and HDA) compared to their parent fresh catalysts under high severity CFH con - ditions operating with 90% VGO and 10% HCGO (against a backdrop where typical CFH unit operating conditions involve H₂ partial pressure of 40-100 barg, LHSV at 0.5- 2.0 h -1 and a H₂/oil ratio of 200-500 Nm 3 /m 3 ). This study strongly demonstrates that Excel rejuvenated catalysts can offer a valuable alternative to fresh catalysts by loading them as a full reactor or as stacked beds with fresh, thus effectively reducing the fill costs without impair - ing the performance of the unit. Excel rejuvenated catalysts demonstrated similar activity and stability performances with respect to fresh catalyst for CFH commercial applications. Substantial cost savings during changeout operations may be achieved using Excel instead of fresh catalyst. The hte high throughput reactor unit proves to be an invaluable tool for refiners. It allows the selection of the catalyst exhibiting the best performance for a given unit operation, hence minimising the risk involved in the pur- chase of a catalyst. Excel rejuvenated catalysts behaved similarly to their parent fresh catalysts in CFH applica - tions, leading to: • Maximal HDS activity to reduce the sulphur level in LCO and gasoline streams as well as meet FCC SOx emissions • Maximal HDN activity to reduce the nitrogen level prior

to the FCC unit to avoid inhibition of the FCC zeolite-based catalyst • Maximal ASAT to avoid coking of the FCC catalyst • Increase conversion of heavy feeds (VGO and HCGO) into more valuable products.

Excel is a mark of Evonik.

References 1 Handbook of Spent Hydroprocessing Catalysts, 2010, Ch 7, 191, Elsevier ISBN 978-0-444-53556-6. 2 Optimising refinery margins with rejuvenated catalysts, PTQ Q4 2021, 47-49. 3 Rejuvenated catalyst cuts changeout costs, PTQ Q4 2019, 114-115. 4 Rejuvenated catalysts optimize refinery margins in high severity ULSD applications, PTQ Q2 2022, 49-55. 5 I T Trotus, J C Adelbrecht, F Huber, N Pongboot, T Upienpong, PTQ Q4 2019, 79-83. Ioan-Teodor Trotus is the Segment Lead for Hydroprocessing at hte GmbH in Heidelberg, Germany with over five years of experience in high throughput catalyst testing in both conventional refinery hydro - processing applications as well as applications covering the conversion of renewable feedstocks. He earned a PhD in chemistry from the Max- Planck-Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. Email: Ioan-Teodor.Trotus@hte-company.de Jean-Claude Adelbrecht , Executive Business Development Manager at hte GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany,has been working in the field of high throughput experimentation for almost two decades in various positions and companies. He holds a PhD in chemistry from Imperial College London. Email: Jean-Claude.Adelbrecht@hte-company.de Michael Martinez is the Technical Manager with Evonik, providing support to refineries and chemical plants in catalyst and adsorbent applications spanning light naphtha through vacuum gas oil. He has more than 23 years of experience in catalyst manufacturing and com - mercial applications. He holds a degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M College Station. Email: michael.martinez@evonik.com. Guillaume Vincent is the Business Segment Manager for hydropro - cessing solutions at Evonik Operations GmbH. He has over 14 years of experience in hydroprocessing services and solutions for refining and petrochemical applications and holds a PhD in chemical engineering from ENSIC, Nancy, France. Email: guillaume.vincent@evonik.com.

PTQ Q4 2022