Naphtha Catalysts
Shell Catalysts & Technologies Naphtha cracking catalysts have many uses for sulphur and nitrogen removal and are adopted by over 100 customers worldwide.
Naphtha Hydrotreating Catalyst Systems
Naphtha hydrotreating catalyst systems are the key to the effective and reliable removal of sulphur and nitrogen compounds from valuable refinery streams. Shell Catalysts & Technologies supplies a large fraction of all the naphtha hydrotreating catalysts purchased globally and about two-thirds of all the catalyst used by refiners operating higher-severity units.
Design complexity can increase significantly for units that process high amounts of cracked feeds often incorporating separate diolefin and silicon guard reactors in addition to the main-bed reactors. Shell Catalysts & Technologies focuses on these challenging applications, developing optimal catalyst system designs that can include complex heat integration to manage the high exotherms and permutable reactor designs to manage silicon removal management while achieving high on-line times.
Success in this segment of this application comes with leveraging both the proven capability of our ASCENT portfolio in the removal of sulfur and nitrogen from cracked feeds, and the high silicon removal and uptake that can be achieved with DN-240, and the added protection provided with the SENTRY Optitrap & MaxTrap portfolio.
| Catalyst | Type/Applications | Description |
|---|---|---|
| SENTRY MaxTrap[As] | NiMo - Naphtha Hydrotreating | Trilobe catalyst on a high surface area alumina extrudate specially formulated to trap Arsenic (As) present in a wide range of petroleum feedstocks. Protects high activity catalysts for significantly longer periods from arsenic poisoning. Demonstrates exceptional stability in this severe environment. |
| SENTRY MaxTrap[Si] | NiMo - Naphtha Hydrotreating | Alumina extrudate specifically designed to trap silica often present in naphtha feeds. Exhibits excellent stability. |
| DN-240 | Naphtha Hydrotreating/Si Protection | Enhanced silicon removal catalyst with high activity sulphur and nitrogen removal applied to coker naphtha. |
| DN-3532 | NiMo - Naphtha Hydrotreating | ASCENT catalyst designed for use in naphtha units processing cracked stocks from coker or tar sands derived naphthas where maximum denitrification activity is desired. |
| DC-2535 | CoMo - Naphtha Hydrotreating | ASCENT catalyst designed for use in naphtha units processing straight run stocks for pre or post-treat derived naphthas where maximum desulfurisation activity is desired. |
| DC-2532 | CoMo - Naphtha Hydrotreating | ASCENT catalyst designed for use in naphtha units processing straight run stocks for pre or post-treat derived naphthas where moderate desulfurisation activity is desired and contaminants shorten cycle life. |
Shell Catalysts & Technologies provides about one-third by weight of all the naphtha hydrotreating catalysts purchased globally.
The real strength of naphtha catalysts is sulphur and nitrogen removal with an emphasis on the nitrogen interaction. Getting rid of nitrogen prevents the formation of ammonium chloride in the downstream section, protects chloride balance, and promotes isomerisation and ring closure.
Naphtha is catalytically reformed to produce a high-octane gasoline blending component. Catalytic reforming is also a very important refinery process for another reason: the reformer is a significant source of the hydrogen required by various critical processes across the refinery and is often in short supply. The performance and reliability of the reformer are heavily dependent on the quality of the naphtha feedstock. Sulphur and nitrogen compounds must be removed from the naphtha to protect the sensitive noble metal catalysts (usually platinum but also rhenium) used in the reforming process.
