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Upgrading renewables, secondary, and waste streams through innovative hydroprocessing catalysts and reaction pathways


    Problem Statement

    Hydroprocessing is a well-implemented and versatile refinery conversion strategy, comprising a wide array of reaction routes such as: (i) hydrotreating, aiming for the hydrogenation of unsaturated hydrocarbons and the removal (hydrogenolysis) of heteroatoms such as sulfur or nitrogen; (ii) hydrocracking, for promoting C–C bond scission and the partial saturation of aromatics; or (iii) hydrodeoxygenation, for the specific removal of oxygen moieties. In this project, we investigate the conversion of highly polyaromatic feedstock like heavy fuel oil (HFO), pyrolysis fuel oil (PFO), or bio-oils from different biomass sources (i.e., agricultural waste, algae) for quality improvement and obtaining products with higher added value.

    We seek new (thermo-) catalytic strategies and improved heterogeneous catalysts with increased activity and stability. We put advanced analytical characterization techniques (i.e., nuclear magnetic resonance, high-res mass spectrometry) to work and combine their results with modeling and statistical tools.

    HPC

    Goals

    • Develop a quantitative analytical workflow to analyze and interpret these complex reacting environments
    • Explore novel renewable and waste resources to obtain chemicals and fuels
    • Deploy ad-hoc catalysts and process conditions to incorporate these wastes in the refinery (bio- and waste-refinery)
    • Analyze process dynamics and kinetics

    Related People

    Related Publications

    Hydrocracking mechanisms of oxygenated plastics and vacuum gasoil blends

    by Trueba, Zambrano, Hita, Palos, Azkoiti, Gutierrez, Castaño
    Fuel Process. Technol. Year: 2023 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2023.107822

    Abstract

    We explore the reaction pathways during the hydrocracking of oxygen-containing waste plastics (polymethylmethacrylate or polyethylene terephthalate) blended with vacuum gasoil (VGO). Reactions are performed in a semi-batch reactor at 400–420 °C, 80 bar, for 300 min, 10 wt% polymer/VGO, 0.1 catalyst/feed weight ratio and using a Pt-Pd/HY catalyst. The gas, liquid and solid product compositions are resolved using bidimensional chromatography (GC × GC), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS). The results reveal a synergistic transformation of VGO and polymer blends, with >60% fuel selectivity, > 90% plastic conversion and > 70% heavier fraction removal. The obtained naphtha contains 35–40 wt% isoparaffins and 20–25 wt% monoaromatics, ideal for gasoline blending. We provide a detailed molecular-level description of the product fractions leading to the global reaction mechanisms of these complex reactions.

    Keywords

    HPC W2C ANW