REACT™

REACT™ Owing to increasingly more stringent product specifications, refiners are forced to apply the most active catalysts available on the market today. In many cases, that means using catalysts with highly engineered (Type II) active sites like Albemarle Catalysts STARS™ technology. Until now, spent catalyst was regenerated and reused. This had the disadvantage that some activity was lost. The need for ever increasing catalyst activity means that, in many cases, catalysts needs to be cascaded to less demanding applications after the first cycle. A potential consequence for the refinery is an increase in the amount of regenerated catalyst.

At the same time, refiners want to minimize catalyst costs and the effect of catalyst usage on the environment. Albemarle is pleased to introduce REACT technology, which enables the activity of regenerated STARS catalyst to be recovered to over 90% when compared with fresh catalyst. Albemarle’s REACT technology redistributes the metals and reconfigures the active sites to the Type II formation of the original STARS catalyst. The main benefits are

- multiple reactivations of STARS catalyst with little loss of activity (cost reduction)

- less environmental impact from catalyst disposal

- longer cycle lengths and, thus, less catalyst recycling, downtime, costs, etc.

- lower reactor temperature and, thus, less energy consumption.

Before rejuvenation, spent catalyst undergoes a very thorough evaluation to ensure that the material is a good candidate for reactivation. Following the rejuvenation process, the catalyst is analyzed to verify that the expected activity level has been reached.

REACT technology is of interest to customers who

- cannot cascade all their regenerated STARS catalysts to units with less demanding activity requirements

- require mainly catalysts with the highest activity

- operate units with high margins (e.g., hydrocracker pretreatment, ultra-low-sulfur diesel units)

- want to upgrade spent STARS catalyst that was only suitable for disposal.

Eurecat will carry out the rejuvenation. Rejuvenated catalysts need to be presulfided using the STARS start-up procedure.