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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

Kinetic Modelling of Hydrotreating for Enhanced Upgrading of Light Cycle Oil (LCO)

by Palos, Gutierrez, Hita, Castaño, Thybaut, Arandes, Bilbao
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. Year: 2019

Abstract

The hydrotreating of light cycle oil (LCO) into high-quality fuels has been investigated experimentally and kinetically, developing a model that accounts for the main and simultaneous reaction pathways: hydrodesulfurization (HDS), hydrodearomatization (HDA), and hydrocracking (HC). The experiments have been carried out in a fixed-bed reactor, NiMo/SiO2–Al2O3 commercial catalyst, 320–400 °C; 80 bar; space time, 0–0.5 gcat h gLCO–1; and H2/LCO volumetric ratio of 1000 Ncm3 cm–3. The proposed kinetic model contains multiple lumps, species, and pathways, leading to the faithful prediction of hydrotreatment products from different viewpoints. The computed kinetic parameters have allowed for simulating the process and seeking the optimal operating conditions. This way, the maximum values obtained for the conversions of HDS, HDA, and HC have been of 90%, 20%, and 65%, respectively; whereas a good compromise between the different hydrotreating goals has been obtained in the 385–400 °C range for a space time of 0.2 gcat h gLCO–1. Finally, the obtained optimal operating conditions have been compared with those optimized in the literature.

Keywords

HPC W2C MKM