10 - Hydroconversion processes and technology for clean fuel and chemical production

Abstract

In petroleum refineries, hydroconversion produces clean fuels and petrochemical feedstock by removing heteroatoms such as sulphur, nitrogen and trace contaminants, and by converting large hydrocarbon molecules into smaller, more-valuable molecules. Hydroconversion processes include catalytic hydrotreating, catalytic hydrocracking, catalytic reforming, hydroisomerization, alkylation and catalytic polymerization. These processes employ a wide variety of process configurations. Process conditions and equipment layouts depend on feed quality and process objectives. In the future, hydroconversion will continue to be important due to environmental regulations, the decreasing quality of crude oil, growth in demand for clean fuels in China and India, and the advent of biofeeds.