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arket demand for middle distillate transportation fuels is expected to maintain steady growth in the future. Together with this increasing demand, there will be continuous pressure to lower sulphur content and improve burning quality by increasing the average cetane index of the gas oil pool. Many refiners have found it profitable in recent years to modify existing vacuum gas oil (VGO) hydrodesulphurisation (HDS) units for mild hydrocracking (MHC) service. This is accomplished through the use of specialised MHC catalysts together with changes in the operations strategy for the unit which involve running at near maximum reactor temperatures and accepting shorter catalyst cycles between regenerations. Mobil Technology Company has developed and commercialised a new technology called Moderate Pressure Hydrocracking (MPHC) which is now being offered for license to the refining industry through the Mobil-Akzo Nobel-Kellogg (MAK) hydrocracking alliance. This process overcomes several of the key limitations experienced with MHC type operations and has been applied to the revamp of a 28 000bpsd VGO HDS unit at Mobils joint venture Kyokuto Petroleum Industries (KPI) refinery in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Moderate pressure hydrocracking is a single-pass hydrocracking process for the partial conversion of vacuum gas oils to low-sulphur distillates and unconverted oil which is highly upgraded relative to the raw feed. Operating at lower pressure significantly reduces capital investment and results in lower operating costs and substantially less hydrogen consumption. Furthermore, the process requirements for MPHC are within the range of many existing VGO desulphurisation units. Typically, the operating conditions for MPHC range between 50 and 100 bar total pressure, 340425C reactor
Process description
MAK Moderate Pressure Hydrocracking is a single stage, single pass process configuration consisting of a reactor section and fractionation section designed to meet specific project objectives. The advanced Spider-Vortex reactor internals design technology allows the application of multi-bed reactors while maintaining stable operations and maximising catalyst utilisation. In most cases, catalyst requirements are such that only a single reactor vessel is needed. Both high temperature and low temperature high pressure separators are utilised in the reaction section to enhance operability and heat integration with the fractionation section. An amine contactor is utilised in the reactor section to remove hydrogen sulphide
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Liquid yields
vol% of feed
C5-166C, Naphtha 166-227C, Kerosene 227-343C, Lt gas oil 343-388C, Hvy gas oil 388C-plus, LSFO Hydrogen consumption
Table 1
design techniques to ensure the optimum performance of hydrotreating and hydrocracking process facilities. The commercially demonstrated improvements in temperature distribution and catalyst utilisation have translated into better yields, longer catalyst cycles and more efficient use of limited hydrogen resources throughout the refining system. A complete description of the Spider-Vortex development programme can be found elsewhere. Catalyst selection Another key feature of the process is the specification of an Akzo Nobel catalyst system. The system consists of a pretreat catalyst formulated for high hydrodenitrogenation activity followed by a hydrocracking catalyst with both activity and selectivity tailored to meet specific conversion objectives. Since organic nitrogen compounds are poisons to acidic hydrocracking catalysts, nitrogen must be substantially converted in order to achieve optimal hydrocracking activity. Hydrotreating catalysts are also significantly less expensive than hydrocracking catalysts and are less sensitive to temperature instability. Therefore, it is best to carry out the high heat release desulphurisation and denitrogenation reactions in the beds that contain only hydrotreating catalyst. A large family of catalysts are available to optimise pretreat performance, including highly specialised materials for metals and carbon residue conversion. Akzo Nobels hydrocracking catalysts exhibit a range of activity and selectivity response which can be used to optimise the desired hydrocracking performance on a case-by-case basis. In general, there is an inverse relationship between catalyst activity for conversion and the selectivity to heavier middledistillate products. Zeolite cracking catalysts with the highest activity for gas oil conversion tend to be less selective to the heaviest (middle distillate) products. The distribution of pretreating and cracking catalyst is an important MPHC design consideration. Generally, the percentage of pretreating catalyst in the total fill will range from 40 to 60 per cent. The optimal catalyst distribution will depend on many factors including feedstock properties and processing objectives. Lower overall catalyst requirements and the use of less expensive hydrotreating catalysts result in sub-
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Hydrocracking costs
The high installed cost for hydrocracking equipment is related to high hydrogen partial pressure requirements and process conditions requiring the use of exotic materials of construction. The required operating pressure level is determined by a complex relationship between feed properties, desired conversion level, catalyst life and product quality constraints. To operate at near 100 per cent total conversion with extinction recycle, high hydrogen pressures are required to limit catalyst deactivation to acceptable rates. In general, heavier, higher end point feedstocks will necessitate higher design pressures for a given conversion level and catalyst life. Also, the aromaticity of hydrocracked products will be directly proportional to hydrogen partial pressure. Designing a hydrocracker with the objective of producing high smoke point specification jet fuel requires very high pressure and can result in significant product quality give-away in the naphtha and diesel fractions and inefficient use of hydrogen resources. While moderate pressure hydrocracking will yield a
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Notes:Pricing per ARGUS Fundamentals, May 1995 Naphtha = $18.76/bbl, Kerosene = $22.2/bbl Gas oil = $21.74/bbl, LSFO = $18.53/bbl
Table 2
MPHC technology can be used to add reactor volume and achieve as much as 40 to 50 per cent conversion without sacrificing run length. A commercial example is presented here, illustrating the successful application of this concept at the joint venture KPI refinery. Case study Revamp of existing VGO HDS unit Kellogg has performed a simple case study to make a preliminary assessment of the economic value of a MAK-MPHC revamp of existing VGO HDS facilities at a European refinery site. A VGO hydrodesulphurisation unit is assumed to process 30 000bpsd (4400 tons/day) of VGO feedstocks derived from Middle Eastern crudes. The unit is revamped to MAK-MPHC technology with the installation of a new reactor vessel sized to achieve 45 per cent net conversion over a two-year operating cycle. The primary features of the revamp are illustrated in Figure 2. The existing reactors are converted to parallel instead of series flow and act as the lead pretreating catalyst bed. A new three-bed reactor is installed in series with the existing reactors and is loaded with the balance of the pretreating catalyst and all of the required zeolitic hydrocracking catalyst. Also, a new heat exchanger is added to preheat recycle gas against reactor effluent and bypass the existing combined feed heat exchangers and charge furnace. This scheme substantially reduces the recycle gas compressor head requirements and, together with a simple gear change to speed up the existing compressor, can result in a cost effective increase in gas capacity of as much as 25 per cent. Additional modifications include a new make-up compressor to supply the incremental hydrogen demand and the installation of a kerosene draw in the fractionator. The estimated total installed cost of the required revamp facilities is itemised below: (Millions) New reactor $9.1 Makeup hydrogen compressor $2.9 Bypass exchanger and recycle compressor revamp $0.8 Fractionator modifications $2.1 Estimated total installed cost $14.9 A simple comparison of yields and hydrogen consumption is presented in
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MAK Moderate Pressure Hydrocracking provides a profitable, minimum investment route to achieving incremental vacuum gas oil conversion while producing high quality low sulphur distillate products
Table 2 together with an analysis of the incremental revenues based on European pricing. Total distillate yield is increased by 12 990bpd with a corresponding increase in hydrogen demand of 380scfb. The expected annual increase in product revenues based on 350 stream days operation per year is US$17.1 million. The incremental annual operating costs for catalyst and utilities are estimated to be US$3.5 million. Total hydrogen demand, including chemical consumption and losses, is 370scf/barrel for VGO HDS and 750scf/barrel for MPHC. The simple payout of the initial revamp investment will be a strong function of the cost of incremental hydrogen, as can be seen in Figure 3. In order to achieve a three-year payout of capital for the study case, the cost of hydrogen should be approximately US$2.0/thousand scf or lower.
Conclusions
MAK Moderate Pressure Hydrocracking provides a profitable, minimum investment route to achieving incremental vacuum gas oil conversion while producing high quality low sulphur distillate products. Mobil has successfully commercialised and demonstrated this technology in both revamp and grassroots applications totalling more than 21 years of operating experience. Reactor design is a key element in the application of hydrocracking technology. Mobils investment in quench zone technology research and development has resulted in the commercialisation of superior reactor internals hardware. The SpiderVortex system allows for the construction of large diameter multi-bed reactor vessels while ensuring reliable and efficient operations. The Mobil KPI joint venture MPHC operation in Chiba demonstrates the high level of hydrocracking performance possible by revamping moderate pressure VGO HDS facilities. The combination of the two companies operating experience and design technology, together with Akzo Nobels state-of-the-art KF-843/KC-2600 catalyst system, has resulted in a two-year cycle length and 45wt% conversion at only 54 barg hydrogen partial pressure. The technology to achieve the results described here is available for license to the refining industry through the MobilAkzo-Kellogg hydrocracking alliance.
David A Pappal is an advanced senior associate at Mobils Paulsboro Technical Center, New Jersey, USA, and is hydrocracking technology leader in the hydroprocessing group for Mobil Technology Company. He holds a BS CHE degree from Pennsylvania State University. Dr Lucas R Groeneveld is a senior application specialist, hydrocracking catalysts, in the hydroprocessing group of the Akzo Nobel Catalyst Business Unit at Amersfoort, The Netherlands. He has a PhD in physics/inorganic chemistry. Michael G Hunter is product manager of hydroprocessing for The M W Kellogg Technology Company, where his principle experience is in hydrotreating and hydrocracking. He holds BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering from Arizona State University.
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