Catalysis 2025 Issue

Catalysts provide seamless integration

catalysis ptq

2025

T he refinery catalyst market is expected to maintain steady growth to meet demand for clean gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and petrochemical feed- stocks. High-compression, high-efficiency engines will increase catalyst demand for production of high-octane components such as butylene. Meanwhile, increased use of biomass feeds and pyrolysis oils co-processed with fossil feeds benefit from single- or two-stage hydrotreating and hydrocracking reactor con - figurations loaded with advanced catalyst formulations. Tailored catalysts promote specific reactions, increasing the yield of desired products while minimising unwanted byproducts like coke and light gases, and reducing carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions. Advanced catalyst formulations influence operating conditions, compressor operation, hydrogen requirements, pretreatment strategies, corrosion and fouling, cycle length, refractory feeds, tighter product specifications, and other emerging concerns, such as a wider array of contaminants affecting return on investment (ROI). Demand estimates vary among industry consultants. MarketsandMarkets estimated that the catalyst market was valued at approximately $5.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $6.8 billion by 2029, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4% during this period. Another estimate from Fortune Business Insights projects market growth from $5.01 billion in 2024 to $6.77 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 3.8% during the forecast period. The US Department of Energy (DOE) projects global gasoline market growth from more than $1.5 billion in 2024 to more than $1.8 billion by 2029. Regardless, gasoline consumption is expected to level off by 2033, but petrochemical demand ranging from olefins to aromatics will deliver higher mar - gins for hydrocarbon processors. For example, at the 2024 AFPM Annual Meeting, Keith Couch, Senior Director, Business Development at Honeywell UOP, spoke about certain refiners reposi - tioning their business towards petrochemicals. In those cases, Couch said: “There are five things you need to be talking about: benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylene, and propylene.” Petrochemical catalyst growth for these basic petrochemical building blocks is expected to accelerate. As discussed in this issue of Catalysis 2025, major areas benefitting from catalysts include alkylation, catalytic reform - ing, hydroprocessing, plastics ‘re-circularity,’ blue hydrogen, and an expanding range of olefins and aromatics. The process additives market, which includes chemicals formulated to enhance refinery operations and mitigate challenges, was valued at around $2.1 billion in 2022. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1%, reaching roughly $2.7 billion by 2027. Additional types of additives are used to remove poisons from catalyst active sites, ranging from metals and oxygen from biomass feeds to chloride contaminants affecting catalysts designed for hydrocracking plastics waste-derived pyrolysis oils. Increasing conversion unit run length and operating costs justify additive pro- grammes. For example, effective carbon disulphide (CS 2 ) removal in light naphtha or petrochemical naphtha (PCN: in the C 5 -C 6 range) is necessary to compete in the high-margins polymer chain market. Next to hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S), CS 2 has the second strongest catalyst poisoning effect, requiring a limit of less than 0.1 ppm CS 2 to protect catalysts loaded in reactors yielding C 5- based streams (such as isoprene and cyclopentadiene), which are building blocks for synthetic rubber production and a range of fine chemicals. These challenges and opportunities are captured in this issue’s articles supplied by catalyst and refinery reactor experts.

Editor Rene Gonzalez editor@petroleumtechnology.com tel: +1 713 449 5817 Managing Editor Rachel Storry rachel.storry@emap.com Editorial Assistant Lisa Harrison lisa.harrison@emap.com Graphics Peter Harper Business Development Director Paul Mason sales@petroleumtechnology.com tel: +44 7841 699431 Managing Director Richard Watts richard.watts@emap.com Circulation Fran Havard circulation@petroleumtechnology. com

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PTQ (Petroleum Technology Quarterly) (ISSN No: 1632-363X, USPS No: 014-781) is published quarterly plus annual Catalysis edition by EMAP and is distributed in the US by SP/Asendia, 17B South Middlesex Avenue, Monroe NJ 08831. Periodicals postage paid at New Brunswick, NJ. Postmaster: send address changes to PTQ (Petroleum Technology Quarterly), 17B South Middlesex Avenue, Monroe NJ 08831. Back numbers available from the Publisherat $30 per copy inc postage.

Rene Gonzalez

Catalysis 2025