Refinery petrochemistry

Organic High organic pollution, not easily biodegradable Refinery Petrochemistry Biological adapted... 

Structured (peaks) Refinery Petrochemistry Chemistry (organic synthesis) Major pollutant(s)... 

A large number of key industrial processes in oil refinery, petrochemistry, and chemistry are acid-catalyzed. Despite the large use of AlClj, there is an evident evolution to greener solid acid catalysts. The reasons for this evolution are a combination of economic and environmental factors. Indeed, the use ofAICI3 results in a high level of waste catalyst streams, the inability to recycle used catalyst, and the economic impact of treatment of waste catalyst streams associated with a negative environmental image. 

A number of key industrial processes in oil refinery, petrochemistry and chemistry are acid catalysed. The industrial use of cheap and strong acids, such as aluminium(III) chloride or sulfuric acid, in typical workup protocols involves complete catalyst hydrolysis for product isolation. This results in high levels of corrosive waste water, which has to be treated in sophisticated downstream processes due to the presence of organic product residues. For obvious reasons, product isolation involving hydrolysis leads to a complete loss of the catalyst acidity in these conventional technologies. 

Catalytic cracking is probably the most important conversion unit in modem refineries. Essentially, catalytic cracking involves the C-C bond rupture of hydrocarbons contained in the feedstock (typically a vacuum gasoil) to produce more valuable low molecular weight hydrocarbons including light olefins for petrochemistry, gasoline, and diesel. 

This point evidences the slow turnover in changing technologies to more sustainable ones, even in the case of evident economic advantages. When these aspects are less relevant, such as in the case of the process cited above of isobutane alkylation, the turnover is even lower. In the field of fine and spedalty chemicals production, where the fixed costs are much lower, the rate of introduction of the novel, more sustainable processes, could be faster, but it is contrasted with the lower economic incentives, due to lower production volumes. In refinery/base petrochemistry, the product volumes justify the introduction of new processes, but the problem instead is the large cost of construction (and sometimes also revamping) of the plants in a period where uncertain economics, due to a global market, disincentives new investments. This is the dilemma for sustainable chemical processes. 

The interaction between reactor miniaturization and catalyst nanotailoring to achieve an effective PI has been emphasized by Charpentier [28] and Dautzen-berg [29]. The role of membranes in PI has been discussed by Drioli ef al. [30]. This short overview of the recent state-of-the-art, although limited to reviews published in the last few years, evidences the intense research effort and broad-range type of applications for PI, from refinery and petrochemistry to biotechnology, fine and specialty chemical production. 

A. Riisager, R. Fehrmann, M. Haumann, M. Jakuttis, J. Joni, P. Wasserscheid, DGMK Tagungsbericht, 2007, Preprints of the DGMKiSCI-Conference Opportunities and Challenges at the Interface between Petrochemistry and Refinery , 2007, 2, 139. 

For the production of hydrogen (ammonia, refinery purposes, petrochemistry, metallurgy, fuel cells), the carbon monoxide contained in the effluent stream is converted to additional hydrogen in high and low temperature shift reactors. The water gas-shift reaction (WGS) is ... 

Many examples of acid-mediated reactions are described using ILs. Some of them are described in recent reviews. The most important transformations that find applications in industrial chemistry, refinery, or petrochemistry are described below. 

Zeolite catalysts are mainly used in refinery technology and petrochemistry [3] ... 

Over the past ten years, remarkable and rapid progress has been made in the use of zeolites, particularly pentasil zeolites in the organic synthesis of intermediates and fine chemicals [14 - 24]. This new area represents a second promising development in zeolite catalysis in addition to refinery technology and petrochemistry, which continues to be of great economic importance. 

University of Bucharest, Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Chemical Technology and Catalysis, B-dul Carol I, 13, Bucharest 70031, Romania Institute of Physical Chemistry, Splaiul Independentei 202, Bucharest, Romania Institute of Physics of Materials, Magurele-Bucharest, Romania Institute of Refinery and Petrochemistry, B-dul CSmpinei 176, Pbie ti, Romania... 

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