services to decarbonise processes and utilities. In addition, increasing the capability to use bio- and waste feeds and green blending components will further decarbonise fuels production. Finally, increasing the percentage of chemicals production will significantly increase refinery margin and reduce Scope 3 emissions associated with how products are used. Consequently, decarbonisation has the potential to be a strong value driver for the oil refining industry. Acknowledgement The authors thank Johnson Matthey colleagues for their help and suggestions, and for providing a wide range of examples, and project details available in the public domain. KATALCO, CANS, PURASPEC, and DAVY are trademarks of the Johnson Matthey group of companies. LP-Oxo is a trademark of The Dow Chemical Company. LCH, PURAVOC, References 1 https://hynet.co.uk/ (accessed Dec 2021). 2 https://refhyne.eu/ (accessed Dec 2021). 3 https://www.valero.com/renewables/ ethanol (accessed December 2021). 4 https://www.parkland.ca/en/investors/ news-releases/details/2021-02-18-Parkland- sets-new- low-carbon- fuel -product ion- record-at-its-Burnaby-Refinery-and-targets- 125-percent-annual-production-growth-i- n-2021/609#close 5 https://www.hydrocarbonprocessing. com/news/2021/09/honeywell-and-preem- conduct-commercial-co-processing-trial-to- produce-renewable-fuel Marie Goret-Rana works as a Market Manager for Johnson Matthey’s Catalyst and Technologies Fuels & Energy business. She is responsible for advising JM’s additives business on the market dynamics and future trends as well as supporting the development of future solutions and technologies. She holds a Master of Chemistry (MChem) from Chimie ParisTech and an MBA from Paris Sorbonne Business School. Carl Keeley is Head of Commercial Sales Chemicals (Europe & FSU) at Johnson Matthey. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the industry and prior to Johnson Matthey worked for BASF, Honeywell UOP, and bp. Most of his career has been dedicated to transforming natural resources into fuels and products. He is a Chartered Chemical Engineer.
Methanol make-up
Hyd r ogen
Intermediate recycle
THF Co-product BDO Product GBL Co-product (optional)
Maleic anhydride or Succinic acid
Esteri cation
Hydrogenolysis
Re ning
Water
Methanol recycle
Figure 4 Davy BDO process upgrades the value of butane
value intermediate product that is obtained from various refinery units or from LNG sources. As fuels demand decreases, butane can be used to produce maleic anhydride, which in turn can be converted into butanediol (BDO), tetrahydrofuran (THF), and gamma butyrolactone (GBL) using our Davy BDO process. See Figure 4 for a process flowsheet. The end applications are engineer- ing plastics, elastomer fibres, and solvents. BDO is currently in high demand in China, where it is being used to make bio-degradable plas- tics, such as polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) and polybuty - lene succinate (PBS). Alternatively,
ple, methanol as a gasoline blend- ing component, methanol to power ships. Another option to reduce Scope 3 emissions is to grow chemicals production. This transition reposi- tions the oil refinery and makes it fit for the future. For example, FCC units use ZSM-5-based additives to convert gasoline range molecules into propylene and C 4 s. There are several outlets for these high-value olefins, including conversion to clean burning fuels, chemical-grade olefins, and polymer-grade ole - fins. To improve the quality and value of the refinery olefins, cata - lysts and absorbents can be used. Catalysts and absorbents are used to remove contaminants such as carbonyl sulphide, hydrogen sul - phide, chlorides, arsine, phosphine, and mercury. After contaminant removal, these olefins are suitable for chemicals production. Johnson Matthey provides purification cata - lyst and technology for gas and liq - uid stream purification, and services designed to take care of all aspects of operation, maintenance, and spent absorbent reprocessing. Our PuraSpec adsorbents are in opera- tion in many locations. Other technologies also exist to allow oil refineries to maxim - ise high-value chemicals produc- tion. For example, the LP Oxo Technology, licensed in collabora - tion with Dow, is used to produce alcohols from propylene, butenes, or higher olefins. Incorporating this technology into the refinery flow - sheet can deliver significant value. End products are plasticiser alco- hols, acrylates, acetates, and sol - vents, as illustrated in Figure 3 . It is also possible to improve the value of the oil refinery butane streams. Presently, butane is a low-
Increasing the capability to use
the process can be designed to pro- duce bio-BDO from succinic acid, which can be obtained from sug- ar-based sources. This opens the door to produce ‘green’ PBS. Conclusion To fight climate change, and make the world cleaner and healthier today and for future generations, oil refineries must adapt. Carbon taxes are being implemented, and thesewill significantly erode refinery margins. This creates urgency for action. An obvious first step is to use available expertise, catalysts, technologies, and bio- and waste feeds and green blending components will further decarbonise fuels production
26 Catalysis 2022
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