Eight Steps to Specify a Catalyst Bed

Catalysts are essential in oil refining and in the production of petrochemicals. In a typical refinery, each crude oil fraction passes though two to six different catalyst beds in the transformation to gasoline, diesel, or petrochemical feedstock. At least one of these catalyst beds contains hydrogenation catalyst. Additional catalyst is required to convert hydrocarbon feedstocks to refined petrochemicals. Specifying the right catalyst bed can mean the difference between years of profitable, trouble-free operation and continuously dealing with “issues” and “opportunities for improvement.”

This presentation outlines the eight basic steps in specifying a hydrogenation catalyst bed: performance specification, process configuration, catalyst selection, mass balance, heat balance, catalyst volume, reactor diameter, and estimating catalyst life.