Russian Catalysts for Refining – The Latest Achievements and Trends

In October 2019, the 3rd annual PRO Catalysis Forum dedicated to refining catalysts was held in St. Petersburg, Russia. The conference was organized by Gazprom Neft, one of the largest Russian refiners, and its subsidiary Gazpromneft – Catalytic Systems, which is implementing a new catalyst production project in Omsk.

Euro Petroleum Consultants (EPC) was invited to the event to present an overview of current trends in the market of refining catalysts. In 2018, the total global oil refining catalyst demand was valued at $ 4.5 billion, and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts represent the largest portion. The demand for refining catalysts is forecasted to grow 6% per year to $ 6.8 billion in 2025, and the key drivers of this growth are increasing petroleum products output in Asia Pacific and Middle East, growing motor fuel consumption and implementation of stronger fuel regulations on emerging markets and increasing refining and petrochemicals integration.

In parallel with the forum, at a distance of over 3,000 km from St. Petersburg, a symbolic ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the catalyst plant was held in Omsk. It is planned that the new production will be commissioned in the 4th quarter of 2021. The capacity of the plant will be 15,000 tpa of FCC catalysts, 4,000 tpa of hydrotreating catalysts, 2,000 tpa of hydrocracking catalysts. The plant will also include catalysts reactivation capacity of 2,000 tpa and production of catalysts for diesel dewaxing and for butene oligomerization.

Teleconference St. Petersburg – Omsk to mark the laying the foundation stone of the catalyst plant

In addition to the production of catalysts, Gazprom Neft pays close attention to technical service for its clients, which includes monitoring data on unit operation, performing a full range of catalyst analyses, developing recommendations for improving efficiency, preparing and conducting test runs, pilot testing of catalysts and feed, as well as using operation experience of catalysts at the company's own facilities. Technical service collaboration with Gazprom Neft for FCC catalysts is already available.

Back in 2016, the Catalyst Engineering Test Center was commissioned at Omsk refinery, and in the 3rd quarter of 2020, the Center plans to commission new capacities, including a deactivation unit for FCC catalysts with a capacity of 2.5 kg/h, research stands for hydrotreatment and hydrocracking and for preparation of catalyst test batches.

The Omsk refinery also successfully cooperates with domestic R&D centers. For instance, the refinery in conjunction with the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis developed and tested the technology for restoring the activity of hydrotreating catalysts. Industrial operation of a diesel hydrotreatment unit at the refinery showed that the technology allowed the catalyst activity to be restored by more than 95%.

2019 was also important for the development of the catalyst business of another Russian refining company – oil and gas giant Rosneft. This year, the company strengthened its position in the catalyst market becoming the majority shareholder of RN-Kat LLC. The plant is located in Sterlitamak, Republic of Bashkortostan, and specializes in the production of hydrotreating catalysts with a capacity of 4,000 tpa. In October 2019, the company reported successful industrial tests of the first batch of hydrotreating catalysts, which allow the production of Euro-5 diesel fuel.

Also, this year, the Novokuibyshevsk Catalyst Plant, which is part of Rosneft, launched a pilot production of hydroprocessing catalysts. During the operations, technologies were worked out and test batches of eight new brands of catalysts for various purposes were produced; the batch size ranged from 10 to 500 kg. For 2020-2022, production of various catalysts by proven technologies is planned, these batches will be loaded into the reactors of commercial units at Rosneft's refineries.

The issue of developing domestic production of catalysts for hydroprocesses continues to remain relevant, and Russian R&D centers are working in this direction. For instance, the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis presented its developments for hydrocracking, including protective and demetallization catalysts for feed pre-hydrotreatment and hydrocracking catalysts for various purposes (production of middle distillates, base oils, for mild hydrocracking, for the second stage of hydrocracking).

This year, the organizers significantly expanded the representation of service and engineering companies in the conference program.

Honeywell UOP presented its solutions to increase production of light olefins at refineries through the use of FCC units, including the modernization of existing units, which can be carried out with moderate capital investments.

Johnson Matthey shared examples of the use of FCC additives that allow continuous control of catalyst selectivity, optimizing the operation of the plant depending on the quality of the processed feed and economic conditions, which can significantly increase the profitability of the refineries.

Crystaphase spoke about its CatTrap? and ActiPhase? products, the use of which reduces pressure drop in fixed-bed reactors, and thereby increase the cycle lengths. Examples of cracked naphtha hydrotreatment, VGO hydrotreatment and hydrocracking unit were presented.

Dr. Austin W. Schneider, Crystaphase was considered the best speaker of the Forum

Xytel India shared its experience in the design and manufacture of pilot plants for FCC unit, residue FCC unit, deactivation of FCC catalysts, delayed coking unit, hydrotreatment, hydrocracking unit, steam reforming unit, as well as for petrochemical plants.

AspenTech was responsible for the industry’s digitalization issues, which nowadays no conference can do without. Representatives of the company presented solutions for the modeling of processes, the use of which allows to increase the profitability and shared the best practices of catalytic processes modelling using examples of CEPSA’s FCC unit and BP’s hydrocracking complex.

 To find out more about modern refining catalysts, please don't miss out on attending EPC’s specialized events: Russia & CIS Catalyst Technology Conference taking place in April 2020 in Ufa, Russia and Middle East Catalyst Technology Conference taking place in December 2020 in Manama, Bahrain. For more details, please visit https://europetro.com/