Case Studies

Session Chair

• Chris Rentsch, Origin Materials

Session Description

This session will feature case studies highlighting the symposium theme of Applying New Technologies in Process Development.

*All session and speaker information is subject to change pending finalization

Confirmed Speakers

Schedule:

Abstracts:

Process Development for Production of Tier 3 Ultra-Low Sulfur Gasoline

George Hoekstra, Hoekstra Trading

United States has been gradually moving toward implementation of a 10-ppm sulfur specification on gasoline. The 10-ppm standard was adopted by EPA in 2014 for full implementation on Jan 1, 2020. To meet this specification, US refineries will rely heavily on a process called FCC gasoline post-treating. The process has been around since the 1970’s, it began to increase in importance in the late 1990’s, and has now become critical for reliable manufacture of on-spec gasoline in North America. During the last 3 years, Hoekstra Trading LLC led a group of North American refiners and catalyst suppliers in a program of pilot plant, laboratory, and process model development to help refiners better understand the basic chemistry of the process to enable better decisions concerning use of the process for gasoline production. This presentation gives an overview of the business case, the pilot plant work, the laboratory work, and the field testing that was done to help refiners respond to this now- urgent need.

Scale-Up Challenges For Liquid-Liquid Extraction

Don Glatz, Koch Modular

Often times a simple liquid-liquid extraction process (single counter current solvent) will not work effectively for certain separations due to mutual extraction of a number of components into the solvent phase. Many of these separations are ideal candidates for an under utilized technique known as fractional extraction. Like simple extraction, the best method for designing an extraction column for a fractional extraction process is via pilot plant testing followed by scale up from the pilot data. This report demonstrates this method of design using two different separation applications. One application involves the separation of a mixed polymer feed.  The second one is a heavy naphtha feed that is separated into polar aromatics and non-aromatic impurities. Pilot plant equipment set-ups are presented along with the test procedures used to optimize the performance for both applications. Scale up to the production columns are discussed.

Successful Scale-Up and Commercialization of a Breakthrough Solid Acid Alkylation Technology: The AlkyClean® Process

Jackeline Medina, CB&I

AlkyClean® gasoline alkylation technology is an advanced solid catalyst alkylation process for the production of motor gasoline alkylate. The novelty and success of the AlkyClean technology is the ability for refiners to completely eliminate the use of liquid acids, and their associated hazards and operational complexity, for the manufacture of gasoline alkylate.  AlkyClean technology produces an alkylate product whose quality is at least on par with currently available conventional technologies employing liquid acids, while being economically attractive for the refiner to operate. These innovative breakthroughs are attributable to both the catalyst formulation, and the process, which makes it possible to fully recover catalyst activity and enable the unit to operate five (5)+ years without a catalyst change out. AlkyClean process is the world’s first and only proven solid catalyst alkylation technology to be commercialized and to be successfully scaled-up. AlkyClean process provides a unique opportunity for refiners to replace liquid acid technologies with a safer and more environmentally friendly solid catalyst technology.