As time passes, refineries need to plan their catalyst change outs. The increased demand can lead to delays in production, which puts pressure on suppliers as well as retailers throughout North America.
But there are ways you can help avoid hiccups by ensuring that all parts run smoothly at your plant during this busy period:
1) Begin planning ahead early;
2) Talk directly with downstream customers who may purchase fuel from multiple sources (such as branded companies or retailers with multiple locations) to communicate your plant's planned turnaround schedule;
3) Manage expectations for seasonal turnarounds by setting up meetings in the spring, before summer driving season is at its peak, with your customers who are more price-sensitive.
Frequent catalyst changes can result in significant economy of scale savings when run back-to-back. A case study in the April issue of Hydrocarbon Processing showed how one refinery benefited from recycling its catalyst during two turnarounds in consecutive years, saving $1 million in costs plus 600 tons of platinum group metals (pgm).
Recycling can also help improve process reliability and uptime for the refinery itself. The targeted approach of recycling only the necessary units and beds means that less time is spent on maintenance and/or cleaning, which can lead to higher production levels and fewer shutdowns for maintenance than refineries without recycling capability.
Hydroprocessing catalysts are essential tools used in refining operations to clean up and improve the quality of crude oil and other hydrocarbon feedstocks. They act like powerful agents that facilitate chemical reactions with hydrogen, helping to remove impurities from the crude oil.
Just like how soap helps clean dirt from objects, these catalysts, combined with hydrogen, cleanse the crude oil by getting rid of unwanted substances such as sulfur, nitrogen, and other contaminants. This process is crucial to meet strict environmental regulations and produce cleaner and more valuable products like low-sulfur fuels and higher-quality hydrocarbons.
In summary, hydroprocessing catalysts are a refinery's valuable allies in transforming crude oil into cleaner and more valuable products through the use of hydrogen and chemical reactions.
Hydroprocessing includes various catalyst-driven processes like hydrotreating and hydrocracking. These processes are crucial in refining because they help remove harmful elements such as sulfur, oxygen, nitrogen, and metals from crude oil and other hydrocarbon materials.
The goal is to produce low-sulfur fuels that reduce emissions, as lowering sulfur levels means fewer harmful sulfur oxides released when the fuels are burned. Additionally, removing sulfur is vital to protect downstream noble metal reformer catalysts, which can be damaged by sulfur. Meeting strict specifications, like keeping naphtha feed sulfur levels below 0.5 parts per million, is essential.
In this "clean-up" process, the hydrocarbon chains are treated in the presence of abundant hydrogen over a fixed bed of catalyst. The hydrogen replaces sulfur or nitrogen contaminants, effectively saturating the hydrocarbon chains. This creates more manageable intermediates for further processing.
Maintaining the efficiency of the hydrotreating process over the long term is critical, and that involves protecting the catalyst beds from fouling or getting clogged. After treatment, the products are heated to remove hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and light components. Direct steam injection, especially for diesel, is commonly used in this step.
This year, consider these recommendations when scheduling your seasonal turnarounds for the recycling of your hydroprocessing catalysts:
1) Implement standard operating procedures for catalyst recovery and recycling;
2) Improve communication with stakeholders on your catalyst recovery and recycling processes;
3) Invest in technology that facilitates catalyst recovery and recycling, so you can improve reliability and uptime without increasing maintenance time.
4) Conduct a root cause analysis on the causes of inefficiencies and problems associated with catalyst recovery and recycling;
5) Schedule your seasonal turnaround during off-peak seasons when possible.
Large amounts of waste spent catalysts are produced in the complex petroleum refineries, which include a high amount of metals and precious alumina. As a result, refineries search for recycling methods that allow them to re-use recovered metals or valuable alumina in the catalyst preparation process or in the metal industries.
Recycled catalysts result in metals that can be sold to generate income for refineries.
In addition, reducing downtime by improving catalyst recovery and recycling processes saves money for end users in the form of lower feedstock prices. For example, a plant that is down for a long period of time can see the price of feedstock increase, as it will be part of a smaller supply.
Recycling catalysts can help offset some expenses associated with catalyst changes. For example, recycling 1 ton of deactivated catalyst (DAC) could lead to an additional 60 pounds of pgm that can be sold; making up approximately 2.5 percent of the total pgm cost required by the plant per year.
A refinery can take these factors into account when scheduling turnarounds to make the most efficient operations possible and avoid any unforeseen issues.
The concept for a recycling approach to minimize industrial spent catalyst waste has been applied for the recovery of metals. The recycling of a spent catalyst involves various steps such as de-oiling, drying, grinding, sieving and decoking.
The most effective way to have a successful seasonal turnaround is by recycling catalysts.
Contact us for more information on how to set up a successful catalyst recovery, and recycling program at your refinery.