Catalysis refinery processes

Zeolites 300-600 refinery processing, bifunctional catalysis, oiganic syntheses... 

At present, the major applications of zeolites in catalysis are in the oil refinery. They find increasing application in petrochemical processes. When considering the enormous success of the application of zeolites in bulk chemistry, it is to be expected that the same trend will be seen in fine chemicals production. For this sector, it is fortunate that in bulk chemistry so much development work is being done in catalysis and in particular in zeolite synthesis and application. 

Catalysis is a core technology of the current fossil fuel based economy. Over 90% of industrial chemical processes involve catalytic steps and, also, several processes in current refineries are catalytic ones. Without continuous progress and innovation in catalysis, the current pervasive oil-based economy is not possible. Similarly, catalysis technology will also have a key role in the transition to a biobased economy. The possibility of realizing this transition and to develop effective bio-refineries will depend on the progress made in developing new catalytic processes and concepts. 

Indirect hydration, the traditional route, took advantage of readily available refinery grade propylene and cheap sulfuric acid in a quick two-step to isopropyl alcohol. Persistent catalysis research has now resulted in a direct route involving a small amount of an arcane catalyst, less energy intensity, high conversion rate, and an overall cheaper process. 

Most oil streams in a refinery must be hydrotreated consequently, hydrotreating is the largest application in industrial catalysis based on the amount of material processed per year. On the basis of the amount of catalyst sold per year, hydrotreating catalysts rank third after exhaust gas catalysts and fluid cracking catalysts. 

Oil refineries are complex plants. Besides physical processes such as distillation and extraction, a large number of different chemical conversion processes are applied. Catalysis plays a crucial role in these processes. The most important ones are ... 

N. Y. Chen (Mobil Research Development Corp., Princeton, N. J. 08540) It might be of interest to the audience, particularly to those who are not familiar with the application of zeolites in industrial catalytic processes, to mention that since the discovery of catalysis over shape-selective zeolite first published by Weisz and Frilette in I960, a commercial process based on selective hydrocracking reactions similar to that reported in this paper has been in operation on a large scale in more than four of our refineries since 1967. A technical paper describing this process, known as the Selectoforming process, was published in 1968. 

The understanding of the interaction of S with bimetallic surfaces is a critical issue in two important areas of heterogeneous catalysis. On one hand, hydrocarbon reforming catalysts that combine noble and late-transition metals are very sensitive to sulphur poisoning [6,7]. For commercial reasons, there is a clear need to increase the lifetime of this type of catalysts. On the other hand. Mo- and W-based bimetallic catalysts are frequently used for hydrodesulphurization (HDS) processes in oil refineries [4,5,7,8]. In order to improve the quality of fuels and oil-derived feedstocks there is a general desire to enhance the activity of HDS catalysts. These facts have motivated many studies investigating the adsorption of S on well-defined bimetallic surfaces prepared by the deposition of a metal (Co, Ni, Cu, Ag, Au, Zn, A1 or Sn) onto a single-crystal face of anodier metal (Mo, Ru, Pt, W or Re) [9-29]. 

Ito, E. and van Veen, J.A.R. On novel processes for removing sulphur from refinery streams. Catalysis Today, 2006, 116, 446. 

Many industrial processes are based on acid/base catalysis (over 130). Examples include alkylation, etherification, cracking, dehydration, condensation, hydration, oligomerizations, esterification, isomerization and disproportionation. The dimensions of the processes range from very large scale in the field of refinery (thousand tons per day) to very small productions in fine and specialty chemical industries. In the latter case, adds and bases are often used in stoichiometric quantities, leading thus to large amounts of waste. 

Over the past 60 years catalysis has transformed the refinery from a distillation plant to a sophisticated chemical-processing plant. One major challenge... 

Scientists and engineers connected with the oil industry have endeavored with great success to make the most of our oil resources by increasing the quahty and quantity of products obtained from each barrel of oil. They have found that catalytic methods rather than straight thermal reactions are much more satisfactory for control of selectivity. As a result, all modern refineries are largely plants where catalysis predominates and is used on a very large scale. The supplanting of thermal methods by catalysis will continue in the future and newer catalytic processes will replace older catalytic ones as we develop more efficient methods. 

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