麻豆传媒

Evaluating residue upgrading technologies

A business case for a residue upgrading unit revamp

At Pernis refinery in the Netherlands, a low capital expenditure revamp that converted a residue hydrodesulphurisation unit into a deasphalted oil (DAO) hydrocracker helped to achieve a return on investment above 15%, which is a factor of two higher than the industry-standard solution, a delayed coker.

In addition, the combination of SDA and DAO hydrocracking, or SDA and thermal conversion, which is another moderate-capital-expenditure response option, has another important advantage: it retains high levels of crude flexibility. This is becoming an increasingly important profitability driver for refiners. There are large opportunities for refiners to increase margins by including lower-priced, opportunity or niche crudes in their diet, so we always suggest that customers should evaluate the effect that their investments will have here.

Another crucial consideration is the refinery鈥檚 back end. When increasing the level of residue conversion, by either revamping process units or installing new ones, the treating and utility systems and logistics infrastructure can often be key constraints. Additional capacity is likely to be required for sour water strippers, wastewater treatment plants and, particularly, sulphur recovery units. Fortunately, with the development of Shell鈥檚 next-generation tail gas treating process, Shell Claus off-gas treating (SCOT¹) ULTRA, a performance step change is now attainable with minimal capital investment.

It is important to first develop a robust investment plan tailored to your specific circumstances. You can only identify the optimal solution by taking into account your specific constraints, such as refinery configuration, local factors and available capital and by using tools such as scenario planning to help you take a view of the future market in which you will be operating.

Advanced ebullated-bed residue hydrocracking catalysts

Refiners around the world are already operating ebullated-bed residue hydrocracking units and benefiting from very high conversion levels. For many, sediment-induced fouling has been a key constraint limiting cycle lengths and feed processing flexibility, but Shell Catalysts & Technologies has commercialised a series of ebullated-bed residue hydrocracking catalysts that exhibit enhanced sediment control and higher conversion activity.

¹_{SCOT is a trademark owned by the Shell group of companies.}

Understanding the Importance of zeolite catalysts development

We鈥檙e working on developments in zeolite catalysis for hydrocracking, Dewaxing and other custom petrochemicals applications (e.g. aromatics). We鈥檝e collaborated with Zeolyst on zeolite materials to turn these highly engineered materials to advanced catalysts, permitting the most active and efficient conversion of molecules into the desired fuels, lubricants, and petrochemical products.

Shell Catalysts & Technologies works continuously with Shell sites to improve catalyst and process technology for each cycle in their units. We can deploy, validate, improve, and optimise these technologies, making them available to the wider market in a much shorter product cycle than typical in the marketplace. We also bring greater assurance for success with these new products given the operating experience in Shell units.