Catalysis 2022 issue

±0.2

5 ppm

±0.3

1˚C

±0.4

345.30 +/-0.78 ˚C

±0.2

10 ppm

340.17 +/-0.66 ˚C

Catalyst A

Catalyst B

Catalyst C

Catalyst D

Figure 14 Four ULSD catalysts tested in quadruplicate reactor

334.49 +/-0.54 ˚C

VGO pretreating – reference cata- lyst compared for both runs. Note the results where there is almost no difference in sulphur, nitrogen, and gas make for the reference catalyst in the duplicate runs. Some difference is observed in the first temperature condition for product density results, with the results for the other two condi- tions once again very close for both duplicate runs. These results show the excellent run-to-run reproduc- ibility of our 16 parallel reactors micro-pilot plant. Obtaining similar results when testing the same cata- lyst in different runs increases confi - dence in the test results.

Scalability An accurate testing technology needs to be scalable. Here are two reference comparisons with larger reactor’s pilot plants. The first example compares Albemarle’s bench-scale unit (225mL reactor vol- ume) (see Figure 21 ). The second is for an even larger pilot plant with a reactor volume between 0.5L and 1L from Ergon (see Figures 22 and 23 ). Small-scale parallel trickle-bed reactors were used to evaluate the performance of a commercial hydrodesulphurisation ULSD cat- alyst under industrially relevant conditions. Catalyst extrudates were loaded as a single string in reac-

20 ppm

Target sulphur level

Figure 13 Temperature required for 16 replica catalysts at 3 target sulphur levels

As it can be observed, there is an excellent reactor-to-reactor repeata- bility, with the net conversion well within 0.2 wt% for the duplicate reactors. Run-to-run reproducibility This is an equally important quality criterion. Figures 16 and 17 show the excellent run-to-run reproducibility for the reference catalyst tested in different runs. At a fixed temperature, a dif - ference of less than 1 wt% can be observed in net conversion and less than 0.2 wt% in diesel yield. In another example for VGO pre- treat (CFH), Figures 18-20 show the results from two separate runs for

Sulphur content and kHDS for 16 replica catalysts at three target sulphur

Temperature

S content

k HDS

345°C 335°C

5.18 +/- 0.56 ppm 20.07 +/- 1.31 ppm

6.52 +/- 0.11 5.16 +/- 0.07 4.17+/-0.04

Table 1: Sulfur content and kHDS for 54.30 +/ 1.87 ppm 325°C

Table 1

HYDROCRACKING

Run 01 Run 02 Run 03

HYDROCRACKING

80.0

100.0

Outstanding precision in the results for duplicated reactors

<0.1% dierence run to run reproducability

Outstanding accuracy between runs; Results you can trust

<0.2% dierence for replicate reactors

30.0

50.0

Temperature

Figure 15 Net conversion for 2 hydrocracking catalysts tested in duplicate reactors

Figure 16 Net conversion of the same reference catalyst in three different runs

Catalysis 2022 59