PTQ Q2 2025 Issue

performance, ensuring refiners can make informed deci - sions based on accurate and unbiased results. As refineries seek to justify their catalyst selection decisions, there is an increasing demand for side-by-side testing and third-party evaluations. Such independent assessments serve as vital quality control mechanisms, ensuring that refineries select cata - lysts that align with their operational goals and economic criteria.7 This trend mitigates the risks associated with supplier changes, new feedstocks, co-processing, and new catalyst developments. Selecting the optimal catalyst can significantly enhance refinery profitability by improving product yields, reduc - ing utility consumption, and enabling the processing of cheaper feedstocks. High-throughput screening technol- ogies allow for the simultaneous testing of multiple cata- lysts under identical conditions. This approach accelerates the evaluation process and provides statistically signif- icant results, enabling faster and more reliable catalyst selection. References 1 Vilela, T., Refinery Catalyst Testing: Selecting the best catalyst for a unit demands thorough evaluation of the available options, PTQ, March 2019, pp.25-31. 2 Pongboot, N., Vilela, T., Common Pitfalls in Refinery Catalyst Selection. Industry Perspective, The Catalyst Review, October 2022. 3 Pongboot, N., Upienpong, T., Karunkeyoon, W., Hydroprocessing catalyst selection: Considerations and best practices for catalyst test- ing, Hydrocarbon Processing, June 2022. 4 Vilela, T., Popoff, N., Moser, M., Refinery’s performance confirms cat - alyst testing, PTQ Catalysis 2021, pp.39-42 . 5 Vilela, T., Pongboot, N., Optimising diesel hydrotreating catalyst loading scheme, PTQ Catalysis 2023 , pp.51-57. 6 Pongboot, N., Vilela, T., Vrijburg, W., Dokania, A., Sensible diesel hydrotreating catalyst selection. Hydrocarbon Processing, 2025 . 7 Hoekstra, G., Economics of refining catalysts, PTQ, Nov 2022, pp.87-91. 8 Vilela, T., Data quality obtained in refinery catalyst testing. PTQ Catalysis 2022 , pp.54-61. 9 Jan C. van der Waal, E.-J. R., Realistic Catalyst Testing in High- Throughput Parallel Small-Scale Reactor Systems. In A. F. Alfred Hagemeyer, Modern Applications of High Throughput R&D in Heterogeneous Catalysis, Bentham Science, 2014, pp.193-223. Tiago Vilela is Director Contract R&D at Avantium, leading the Contract R&D team of project leaders, scientists, and technologists. He has more than 20 years of experience in engineering, project man- agement, management consultancy, and business development. Vilela holds an MSc in chemical engineering from the University of Aveiro, Portugal, and a Professional Doctorate in Engineering degree from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Email: Tiago.Vilela@avantium.com Nattapong Pongboot is a Project Manager in the Refinery Catalyst Testing group at Avantium, delivering high-quality catalyst testing services for customers worldwide. He has hands-on experience in refining and petrochemical technologies as both a licensor and refiner. Pongboot holds an MEng in chemical engineering from Kasetsart University. Email: Nattapong.Pongboot@avantium.com

margins. For example, a 0.5% shift from C 1 -C 4 to C 5 + can result in an annual gain of about €1M. Test results from the micro-pilot plant were consistent with the commercial steam reforming (SR) reformer data, with a small difference of 0.65 wt% in C 5 + yield and 0.10 wt% in hydrogen production. The high data quality and reproducibility of the pilot plant tests provide refineries with confidence in selecting the best-performing catalysts. DHT catalyst loading to process more LCO This case study highlighted the value of independent test- ing for the optimisation of DHT catalyst loading schemes. 5 Light cycle oil (LCO) has a lower cetane number and higher aromatics content compared to straight-run middle distillates, making it challenging to process. Processing LCO requires higher hydrogen consumption and more severe hydrotreating conditions to meet ultra-low sulphur diesel (ULSD) specifications. The previously mentioned high-throughput unit with 16 parallel reactors was used to evaluate different catalyst configurations (CoMo, NiMo, and stacked beds) with vary - ing LCO blending ratios. The testing focused on hydrogen consumption, cycle length, and aromatics content to deter- mine the optimal catalyst loading scheme, with the follow- ing results: • NiMo catalysts showed higher hydrogen consumption due to their superior hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) and hydrodearomatisation (HDA) activities. • The CoMo/NiMo/CoMo scheme provided a good balance between catalyst activity and hydrogen consumption, achieving ULSD specifications with a relatively low start- of-run (SOR) temperature. • The optimal catalyst loading scheme ensured compliance with aromatics content and product density limits, enhanc- ing overall diesel quality. DHT catalyst selection The DHT case study provides further insights into the importance of independent catalyst testing.6 DHT is com - plex due to low net conversion rates, minimal hydrogen consumption differences, and varying product properties. Selecting the best DHT catalyst is a challenging task due to small differences in product yield, hydrogen consumption, and product properties. The level of catalyst activity can only be determined through testing. The testing programme involves scaling down commer- cial operations to lab-scale experiments, ensuring accu- rate representation of reactor conditions. In this effort, the Flowrence system allows for efficient testing of multiple catalyst systems, providing high-quality data for economic evaluation. The study highlights the importance of selecting the right catalyst configuration (CoMo, NiMo, or stacked beds) to balance hydrogen consumption and maintain product specifications. However, no catalyst option can meet the unit cycle length target. Key takeaways Independent testing provides reliable data on catalyst

PTQ Q2 2025