Hydrocarbon Engineering

March

2017

HYDROCARBON

ENGINEERING

The heart of the GASOLFIN process is a proprietary

catalytic system. This process has been developed based

upon proprietary graded mixtures of multiple catalysts with

synergetic functionalities. This catalyst bed has the distinct

advantage of cracking high molecular weight gasoline boiling

range hydrocarbons immediately into propylene and

butylenes. The graded mixed catalyst bed offers long

operating cycle times by minimising deactivation reactions

such as coke formation.

The catalyst system has been tested under a wide range

of process feeds and process conditions in the Chemical

Process and Energy Research Institute (CPERI) test facility in

Thessaloniki, Greece. The system has been proven to

efficiently convert all paraffinic, olefinic and naphthenic

feeds into light olefins and BTX. Due to the graded bed, the

system is insensitive to common catalyst poisons such as

sulfur, nitrogen, water and di-olefins.

The graded bed catalytic system can also be tailored to

produce maximum propylene, maximum light olefins

(propylene plus butylene) or maximum BTX.

A unit designed to process 10 000 bpd of FCC naphtha

will be able to produce approximately 140 000 tpy of

propylene, as well as around 110 000 tpy of butylene and

100 000 tpy of aromatics.

This unit will cost 50% less than an FCC unit upgrade or

for a grass unit PDH unit of similar capacity.

The technology’s process combines several proven

process operations with its proprietary catalytic system.

These block process operations can be found in many

refineries and petrochemical plants. Combining proven

technology with the novel catalytic graded bed reactor

technology allows for the shortest time to market and

lowest risk in the development of the technology.

Technology readiness

Significant development work has been completed at the

CPERI laboratories. The process development is the result of

screening several catalytic systems with a wide range of

feedstocks. Selected catalyst systems have been further

tested in larger scale pilot plant runs. Kinetics derived from

these experiments, combined with data available in open

literature, has been used in modelling the process via

SimSci Pro-II process design software.

Conclusion

With many steam crackers switching to lighter feeds (ethane)

and frequently volatile FCC economics, propylene supply from

traditional sources has decreased. This gap is filled with

various technologies such as PDH and MTO, technologies with

strengths and weaknesses. GASOLFIN is a newly developed

process that can work with low value feedstocks such as light

straight run naphtha (or any type of naphtha) to make

petrochemicals, especially propylene. Fixed bed catalytic

naphtha cracking allows for much higher selectivities towards

propylene compared to thermal steam cracking. Laboratory

and engineering studies show that milder operating conditions

compared to thermal cracking allow for a simpler process and

reduced capital and operating expenses.