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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.

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
HPC

Related People

Related Publications

Influence of the Support on the Deactivation of Bifunctional Catalysts (Pt-Pd/Support) in the Hydrocracking of LCO

by Gutierrez, Arandes, Castaño, Aguayo, Bilbao
Chem. Eng. Trans. Year: 2011

Abstract

The deactivation of bifunctional catalysts (Pt-Pd/support) has been studied on the hydrocracking of LCO (light cycle oil, which is a highly aromatic byproduct in the FCC unit). The reactions were performed in a fixed bed reactor using a Pt-Pd catalyst prepared with supports of different acidity and pore structure: B (H-beta zeolite), Y5 , Y 12 (H-USY zeolites with SiO 2 /Al 2 O3 =5 and 12), F (commercial FCC catalyst) and A (γ-Al 2O 3). The operating conditions were: 350 ºC, 50 bar, WHSV= 4 h -1 , H 2 /LCO ratio (n H2) =8.9 and time on stream (TOS) = 300 min. The results show that, once the initial deactivation has been elapsed, the catalyst reach a pseudo-stable state subsequent to TOS = 250 min, with a considerable residual activity that is maintained constant. This residual activity increases as catalyst acidity is increased.

Keywords

W2C HCE HPC