It is mainly used to produce middle distillates of low sulphur content such as kerosene and diesel. It is also useful for converting highsulfur materials into lowsulfur fuels, making them more useful. The key difference between hydrocracking and hydrotreating is that hydrocracking includes the conversion of high boiling constituents into low boiling constituents, whereas hydrotreating includes the removal of oxygen and other heteroatoms hydrocracking and hydrotreating are useful processes in petroleum oil refining. The similarities are that both treat petroleum fluid streams, both generally use some type of catalyst, that both use high partial pressures of hydrogen, and both usually involve some type of hydrogenation op. The purpose of a hydrotreater unit is primarily to remove sulfur and other contaminants from intermediate streams before blending into a finished refined product or before being fed into another refinery process unit hydrotreaters have become increasingly important as sulfur limits have been lowered in finished products. It is critical to have detailed characterization of the feed at the molecular level, thus obtaining hydrocarbon speciation and detailed contaminant analysis. Hydrocracking is an important unit as it is one of the three primary conversion processes available to the refiner along with fluid catalytic cracking fcc and coker. The outcome is the conversion of a variety of feedstocks to a range of products and units to accomplish this goal can be found at various points in a refinery. Catalytic cracking vs catalytic hydrocracking what is the difference. Hydrocracking units, also known as hydrocrackers, are types of process equipment used in petroleum refining. In petrochemistry, petroleum geology and organic chemistry, cracking is the process whereby complex organic molecules such as kerogens or longchain hydrocarbons are broken down into simpler molecules such as light hydrocarbons, by the breaking of carboncarbon bonds in the precursors. Residue upgrading helps refiners get more from a barrel of oil and adds more to your bottom line. The products from the hydrotreating unit are cooled using a series of heat exchangers and are then charged into a high pressure separator. Resid hydrocracking better than delayed coking in case.
Unconverted hydrocarbon can then be recycled to the hydrocracking step for further conversion, sent to a second hydrocracking vessel, or sent to another conversion unit as feed e. Both units have been designed to process a similar feed, with similar conversion targets. Today, refineries have to produce more highquality transportation fuels from heavier streams, while also improving profit margins. Thus hydrocracking becomes the technology of choice to address this market need. Kc 2610 is a high activity hydrocracking catalyst used to enhance conversion of heavier petroleum fractions, like heavy atmospheric and vacuum gas oil, to lighter products with selectivity towards products in the jet and middistillate boiling range. Hydrocracking is an important source of diesel and jet. Hydroprocessing hydrotreating hydrocracking samson. Our singlesource supply of all the key elements of a hydrocracking unit comprising hydrocracker pretreatment, hydrocracking and grading catalysts, technology licensing including heavy polynuclear aromatic hpna management solutions and highperformance reactor. This scheme can employ a combination of hydrotreating and cracking catalysts or simply amorphous cracking catalysts depending on the final product required. Hydrotreating or catalytic hydrogen treating removes objectionable materials from petroleum fractions by selectively reacting these materials with hydrogen in a reactor at relatively high temperatures and at moderate pressures.
The study compares delayed coking plus hydrotreating vs. Hydrotreating units htu are used at various stages in refineries. The process consists of causing feed to react with. Pq optimization services,3418 clear water park drive, katy, tx 77450. Our hydrotreating technology is based on extensive research and design in catalysts and processes over many decades, combined with lessons learned from our affiliates operational experience. The uop unicracking process is carried out at moderate temperatures and pressures over a fixed catalyst bed in which the fresh feed is cracked in a hydrogen atmosphere. Sankara papavinasam, in corrosion control in the oil and gas industry, 2014. One of the keys to optimize the refinery margin is to have optimal fluid catalytic cracking fcc unit performance both in. This is in contrast to the fcc, which uses the same feed vgo but produces more and betterquality gasoline the hydrocracker is particularly valuable in a refinery. These objectionable materials include, but are not solely limited to, sulfur, nitrogen, olefins, and aromatics. Diesel range material can also be drawn off at the separation steps to maximize diesel production, or it can be processed further through recycling or. Hydrocracking is a process that breaks down complex hydrocarbon molecules into simpler ones by using a catalyst and an elevated partial pressure of hydrogen gas. The rcd unionfining process is a fixedbed catalytic hydrotreating process, combining unique process design parameters with stateoftheart residue hydrotreating catalysts. Hydrocracking vs hydrotreating whats the difference.
Hydrocrackers use hydrogen and a catalyst to break down heavy crude oil molecules into various distillates and gasoline. Hydrotreating vs hydroprocessing whats the difference. Catalytic cracking vs catalytic hydrocracking what is the. Both units have been designed with 3 reactors in series. The downstream sector of the oil and gas industry relies heavily on effective conversion processes throughout the year. But hold on, the pressure vessel industry cant skip blithely past these units, not when theyre responsible for handling intense mechanical stresses.
These early hydrocracking projects added ten highpressure reactors to the richmond refinery. Jul 06, 2014 the process is typically accompanied by hydrotreating in order to remove heteroatom species e. Catalyst testing for hydrocracking and hydrotreating. Hydrocracking is an important source of diesel and jet fuel. Since hydrocracking is a capitalintensive process, many refiners consider the option of converting their existing vacuum gas oil hydrotreating units into mild hydrocracking units. This process employs hydrogen gas to improve the hydrogencarbon ratio in the cracked molecules and to arrive at a broader range of end products, such as gasoline, kerosene used in jet fuel, and diesel fuel. These two processes come under the category of hydroprocessing. Uop offers various solutions for upgrading both atmospheric and vacuum residue streams. With only a limited number of ebullatedbed hydrocracking units in existence globally, finding a valve manufacturer that understands the process could be more arduous than the process itself. Catalyst testing for hydrocracking and hydrotreating i ncreasing global demand for fuels and heavier feedstocks as well as tightening environmental regulations create a pressing need for the refining and petrochemical industry to optimise or develop new processes to generate and secure todays fuels for mobile transporta. Hydrocracking interdependence posted on july 6, 2014 by johnpaul milton the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry relies heavily on effective conversion processes throughout the year. Hydrocracking is a twostage process combining catalytic cracking and hydrogenation, where heavy feedstock is cracked in the presence of hydrogen to produce more desirable products. The rate of cracking and the end products are strongly dependent on the temperature and presence of catalysts. Hydrocracking, processing heavy feedstocks to maximize.
Depending on which stream undergoes treatment, the hydrotreating unit can be identified as jet fuel hydrotreating, distillate hydrotreating, pyrolysis gas hydrotreating, catalytic feed hydrotreating, reformer feed. Unlike the singlestage flow scheme, the oncethrough flow scheme is a partial conversion option that results in some yield of unconverted material. Light naphtha crude oil desalter atmospheric distillation vacuum distillation. Hydrocracking, processing heavy feedstocks to maximize high. In a refinery, the hydrocracker upgrades vgo through cracking while injecting hydrogen. Catalytic cracking vs catalytic hydrocracking what is.
Hydrocracking processes distillate hydrocracking is a refining process for conversion of heavy gas oils and heavy diesels or similar boilingrange heavy distillates into light distillates naphtha, kerosene, diesel, etc. Hydrocracking is an important source of diesel and jet fuel source. In order to protect the bottomline, the refinery operator must understand the high temperature, rapid discharge catalytic conversion processes. Unit a and unit b were commissioned within 3 years of one another, and so have incorporated very similar equipment technology. What is hydrocracking technology in petroleum refining. Jan 07, 2016 catalytic cracking vs catalytic hydrocracking what is the difference.
More recently, it has been used to remove wax by catalytic dewaxing and for. Hydrocracking definition of hydrocracking by the free. Bitumen derived naphtha and gas oils from the crude unit are also charged to the single stage. Therefore, some complications from coking are avoided during the hydrocracking process.
Recent interest is the integration of hydrocracking with hydrotreating of the hydrocracked products to produce either. Hydrotreating in petroleum processing springerlink. Costing but a third of a full hydrocracking unit, the mild hydrocracking mhc process goes far to solve the above problems. The hydrocracking process is uniquely suited, with proper optimization, to assist in solving these problems. Hydrocracking can also be used to upgrade residual fractions using different reactor configurations and catalysts depending on the complexity of the upgrading tasks, as shown in figure 7. The process is typically accompanied by hydrotreating in order to remove heteroatom species e.
The purpose of a hydrotreater unit is primarily to remove sulfur and other contaminants from intermediate streams before blending into a finished refined product or before being fed into another refinery process unit. This is an established and reliable method for transforming low value heavy oil fractions into higher value products. We provide solutions for the integration of the hydrotreating unit with your downstream conversion unit, optimizing your profit potential. Hydrocracking of heavy oils and residua is increasingly import to refiners due to increased.
Additionally, while catalytic cracking is a carbon rejection process, hydrocracking is in a hydrogen addition process. The purpose of removing the sulfur, and creating products such as ultralowsulfur diesel, is to reduce the sulfur dioxide. Processing heavier feed stocks poses many challenges to the hydrocracking unit. Hydrodesulfurization hds is a catalytic chemical process widely used to remove sulfur s from natural gas and from refined petroleum products, such as gasoline or petrol, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel fuel, and fuel oils.
Difference between hydrocracking and hydrotreating. Most of us have heard of hydrocracking technology, but we havent researched the term because its a technology thats reserved for oil refineries. As nouns the difference between hydrocracking and hydrotreating is that hydrocracking is organic chemistry the production of highoctane petroleum fuel and kerosene by hydrogenating large or complex hydrocarbons and then cracking them while hydrotreating is chemistry a chemical engineering process in which reaction with hydrogen is used to remove impurities, especially as part of oil refining. Hydrocracking is a refining technology that falls under the general umbrella of hydroprocessing. The choice of technologies depends upon both the quality of the resid stream. This yields a high volume of highquality diesel and kerosene product. Residue hydrocracking solutions for refinery sustainability.
These gas oils are heavier than distillate fuel oil, and they have a higher boiling range as well. The second process hydrocracks atmospheric residue in a slurry reactor with a portion of the residue oil recycled to the hydrocracking reactor. Bitumen derived naphtha and gas oils from the crude unit are also charged to the single stage hydrotreating section of this plant. Hydrocrackers a hydrocracking unit takes heavy gas oil from the atmospheric tower, the vacuum tower, the fccu, and the coking units as a feedstock. What are the similaritiesdifferences between hydrocracking. Mogas is the only manufacturer with valves installed in every ebullated bed unit worldwide totaling well over 10,000 valves. If mild hydrocracking is used, a lsfo can be produced. Hydrocracking increases the degree of saturation of the products which increases product quality, for example, the diesel fuels cetane number. The other technology, hydrotreating chapter 8, is also called hydrodesulfurization hds. A hydrocracking unit, or hydrocracker, takes gas oil, which is heavier and has a higher boiling range than distillate fuel oil, and cracks the heavy molecules into distillate and gasoline in the presence of hydrogen and a catalyst. Hydrocracking plays an important role as one of the main conversion processes in the refinery as shown in figure below. Since this time, the technology has been utilised commercially in a number of other ultralowsulphur diesel ulsd unit commissioned in q4 2010 and a mild hydrocracker designed for upgrading 100% lco started up in china in q2 2011. Hydrocracking is a refining technology that, like hydrotreating also falls under the general umbrella of hydroprocessing.
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