Axens, an international provider of advanced technologies, catalysts, adsorbents and services, has qualified Avantium to perform independent testing of commercial C5-C6 isomerization catalysts after a thorough qualification program under commercially relevant conditions. According to Axens “improving C5-C6 naphtha cut octane numbers represents an increasingly applied solution to resolve the evolving gasoline pool equation.”
Avantium’s Flowrence® 16-reactors system enables the parallel testing of multiple catalysts under the exact same conditions, which greatly improves data quality. The methods applied and the resulting high data quality (precision, accuracy and reproducibility) have been independently verified and accepted by Axens.
For this qualification program, Axens provided Avantium with their landmark ATIS-2L chlorinated-alumina isomerization catalyst. Avantium demonstrated the ability to implement a complex workflow, solving the air-sensibility issue inherent to the testing of such catalysts. The EasyLoad® technology and Avantium’s unit design intrinsically enable the testing of highly sensitive catalysts and chemistries, preventing moisture and oxygen contamination. The catalyst was tested across a broad range of conditions (temperature, WHSV) and the results obtained (PIN, C5+ yield, and others) matched with the expected performance based on Axens models.
“After being qualified for reforming, we are again very pleased to be qualified by Axens for C5-C6 isomerization catalysts testing. We believe that it is important to formally obtain the endorsement from all major catalyst suppliers of our testing approach and experimental setup. We are committed to provide our customers meaningful results to enable fact-based decisions in the catalysts selection process and ultimately increase their competitiveness & profitability.”
Tiago Vilela, Director Business Development, Refinery Catalyst Testing