Latest Advances in Hydrocracking Catalysts: Exceed Your Hydrocracker Potential

In the current challenging economic climate, refiners must maximize the value from their existing assets. Where the hydrocracker continues to be an excellent source of profit, it is also there that the best opportunities for extracting more value lie – and using the best catalysts is a crucial part of maximizing value. This paper outlines a series of hydrocracking catalyst innovations that have enabled step improvements in selectivity and cracking catalyst hydrogenation activity and also presents a set of case studies that demonstrate the benefits and flexibility achieved.

In hydrocracking, new catalyst technologies allow Refineries to get still higher middle distillate selectivity and improved liquid product properties. Key factors are zeolite technology, and catalyst shape. State of the art zeolite technology allows optimal metals emplacement, and catalysts that have both high selectivity and superior product quality. In addition, specific catalyst components also allow improvement of the cold flow properties of the heavier product fractions.

Catalyst shape has proven to be an effective tool for performance improvements in hydrocrackers by reducing catalyst weight and bed pressure drop. The new shapes assist refiners in combating operational limitations by fouling of catalyst beds due to the entrainment of particulates entering the reactor with the hydrocracker feed and allowing increase in flow rates through the reactors. A side benefit of the new shapes is better selectivity to liquid products by reducing the overcracking and maximizing catalyst utilization.

The application of the latest catalyst innovations outlined above is presented with comparative data on yields and hydrogenations performance versus existing commercial applications in case studies.