Petroineos Lavera Refinery contracted Avantium Catalysis to perform an independent catalyst evaluation of several Pretreat and Hydrocracking systems from multiple suppliers for their upcoming HCU catalyst selection.
We evaluated the performance of both the Pretreat systems (HDN and HDS) at fixed Nitrogen slip and Hydrocracking systems at the actual operating conditions (i.e. target conversion).
The test results allowed Petroineos to select the best option with confidence based on side-by-side experimental catalyst performance. At the same time, the test results also confirmed the performance predicted by most catalyst vendors.
Avantium Flowrence® 16-parallel reactors system with unmatched reactor-to-reactor repeatability with duplication for statistically relevant results allowed to finely discriminate the various catalysts options. The discrimination capabilities of our micro-pilot plant provided extremely precise and repeatable conversions and yields (< ±0.5 wt.%) and hydrogen consumption data as well as gas make.
Petroineos: “Good feedback from the collaboration with Avantium. The discussions were effective and clear at the start, during and at the end of the test. Reactive partner and involved in the test, which made it possible to act quickly during unexpected events on the behavior of the catalysts (inhibition of catalysts by N2 adsorption). Avantium has a solid experience in catalyst testing which allows us to trust them completely for the duration of the contract. Effective and appreciated communication of the test results allowed us to monitor the smooth running of tests and the results obtained.”
We are pleased to be a trusted partner of Petroineos for independent catalyst evaluations. Avantium is committed to providing customers meaningful results to enable fact-based decisions and ultimately increase their competitiveness and profitability.
Choosing the best catalyst is of crucial importance to the profitability of refineries, as it represents a great opportunity to increase refining margins.
About Petroineos
The Petroineos refinery of Lavera (50/50 INEOS and PETROCHINA) is one of the most modern in France, is also the first in the Southeast in annual processing capacity: 10 million tons of crude oil. It is equipped with a very complete set of units and great flexibility that allows it to manufacture the diversified range of petroleum products used by the general public, industry and transport.
About Avantium
Avantium is a leading technology development company and a forerunner in renewable chemistry, based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Avantium Catalysis helps customers to accelerate their catalyst R&D – offering innovative systems and services to unveil deeper insights into catalyst properties and performance. Avantium’s proven Flowrence parallel fixed bed reactor platform generates extremely accurate and repeatable data and is optimally configured for side-by-side catalyst performance testing, allowing for a direct comparison of the catalyst performance without compromise data quality (repeatability, reproducibility and scalability) with low amounts of feed (less waste generated). www.rds.avantium.com/refinery-catalyst-testing