Using existing assets to

advance your CO2 journey

As refineries come under pressure to hit net-zero goals, they are turning to
more sustainable practices, investing in technology to reduce carbon emissions

Matthew Clingerman
Sulzer Chemtech

T
he refining industry is evolving. Under The combination of new government policies
pressure to reduce their carbon and a challenged process environment leads
footprint, refineries are investing to the question of ongoing profitability.
heavily in technologies and processes that are Greenfield investments can yield sizeable
more sustainable. Renewable fuels, carbon returns, but focusing solely on grassroots
capture, and hydrogen receive increased units ignores opportunities to be found in
attention as they offer a direct pathway modifications to existing assets. Revamps
towards decarbonisation. At the same time, often come with challenges such as feedstock
improved operational efficiency and targeted compatibility, safety, and operational efficiency.
modifications to existing units can also improve For example, waste plastics pyrolysis oils or
profitability while lowering carbon emissions. biomass-based feeds raise concerns about the
For this reason, a robust decarbonisation mechanical reliability and long-term operability
strategy will consider grassroots investments as of the redesigned unit. However, the right
well as revamps of existing units. decarbonisation-related revamps can also
increase profitability. Successfully navigating
Industry challenges these challenges will enhance margins and
In the refining industry, asset utilisation and improve unit and operational flexibility to shift as
profitability often collide with new governmental markets change.
policies. This can make transformational change
more difficult to navigate. Each new policy Examining core assets
enacted brings fresh challenges, with new Separation and conversion units, such as an
requirements designed to evolve with increasing FCC or hydrocracker, are vital processes within
blending targets or diminishing credits. This a refinery. However, many downstream units,
can increase both the pace and complexity of such as off-gas treating and hydrotreaters,
necessary investments. California’s Low Carbon have become core operating units as they
Fuel Standard, for example, is a well-established ensure refineries meet the existing clean air
system with a progressive carbon reduction and clean fuel regulations. More recently,
target but with financial incentives that are renewable diesel units, either co-processing
subject to market conditions. Compliance with or repurposed from an existing hydrotreater,
the US EPA’s renewable fuel standard continues have also become integral to today’s refineries
to be a multimillion-dollar yearly expense for looking to participate in expanding sustainable
refineries with renewable fuels production fuels initiatives.
below volume obligations. Renewable energy Refineries have often viewed revamps
directives call for increased blending amounts of existing assets through the lenses of
of biomass-based fuels. Many of these schemes optimisation and profitability. The goal has been
provide a financial incentive, but they all require to extract maximum value from a barrel of oil
capital investment to reach compliance. in the most efficient and economical manner

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 stream or flare. To also maintain profitability,
Off-gas
it is essential that valuable products are
routed to the optimum disposition. GT-LPG
Max technology from Sulzer may be used to
Top liquid improve efficiency and lower the cost of the
Feed product
gas separation process. This process utilises a
dividing wall column to enhance the recovery of
C₃ and C₄ (see Figure 1). The light, intermediate,
and heavy fractions are separated in a single
column with the top dividing wall instead of
multiple columns. A vertical wall divides the top
of the column into two sections: absorption and
Bottom product fractionation. Feed is supplied to the absorption
is the absorbing medium section, where a heavy liquid recovers the C₃
and C₄ components, and non-condensables
Figure 1 GT-LPG Max top dividing wall column are sent overhead. The fractionation side
concentrates and collects the C₃.
possible. However, as industry adjusts to a net In addition to lower capital and operating
zero future, these same revamps opportunities, expenses, the benefits of using a single dividing
which exist across the refinery, offer another wall column include higher recovery of valuable
step towards achieving decarbonisation goals. components, lower emissions through reduced
What follows are three examples of revamps energy consumption, and the potential to
where Sulzer technology has been used to both debottleneck downstream units or shift to
increase profitability and contribute to industry increased petrochemical production. This was
decarbonisation. the objective of a major petrochemical plant
in Asia, which has recently commissioned
Reduced carbon emissions in gas processing and is now operating a GT-LPG Max unit. The
Inefficient gas treating operations can be a unit treats a portion of the off-gases which
significant source of CO₂ emissions. LPG from had been fed to one of two fuel gas treating
mixed fuel gas streams is difficult to recover units (see Figure 2). The unit was severely
and typically requires a multi-column approach. bottlenecked, so C₃ and C₄ components were
Still, valuable components can be lost to a fuel being sent to the flare. A valuable product was

Fuel gas system 1 Fuel gas system 2

To cracker
complex
Off-gases HP Off-gases HP

Off-gases Flare
LP Fuel gas Off-gases Flare
LP Fuel gas

C3 (tankage)
GT-LPG Max C4 (tankage)
C5 (tankage)
C1, C2, H2

Figure 2 Facility configuration after installation of GT-LPG Max

2 www.decarbonisationtechnology.com
 Parameter Spec Test run result

LPG recovery, % 88 (min) 89.1

LPG quality
C2, mol% 2.0 (max) 0.0 Raffinate Extract
C3, mol% 94.0 (min) 98.2
C4, mol% 4.0 (max) 1.8
C5, mol% 1.0 (max) nil

Table 1 GT-LPG Max test run results

otherwise burned, which led to a high carbon

footprint operation. By using GT-LPG Max
Rich solvent
technology, this plant was able to accomplish
Lean solvent
two goals: minimise the off-gas that is routed
to the treating system and produce an on-spec
propane product. Figure 3 Schematic of the GT-BTX PluS
Following completion of the performance test extractive distillation and solvent recover columns
run, the new unit was able to achieve a higher
purity product at recovery greater than design components is enhanced over the aromatic
(see Table 1). Additionally, by removing a value components in the presence of the solvent. The
component that otherwise went to flare, this process consists of only two major columns:
single project led to a decrease in CO2 emissions an extractive distillation column (EDC) and a
of 260,000 kta. solvent recovery column (SRC), as shown in
Figure 3. The solvent recirculates between
Higher octane gasoline with GT-BTX PluS the two columns to extract the aromatics and
GT-BTX PluS is an extractive distillation process sulphur components while rejecting the non-
that uses a solvent to alter the relative volatility aromatics, including olefins, which form the
of components being separated. In a mixture raffinate. The solvent used in the GT-BTX PluS
containing aromatics and non-aromatics, process is a proprietary blend from Sulzer
the relative volatility of the non-aromatic called Techtiv.

Benzene concentrate from reformate

Off-gas
Naphtha
splitter LCN

FCC naphtha SHU New GT- Raffinate

BTX PluS
Off-gas Benzene
Stabiliser
H2 Extract

BZ
HCN HDS column

MCN
splitter
H2 Treated FCC
gasoline

Figure 4 Process flow diagram of existing gasoline hydrotreater (grey) that has been retrofitted with
GT-BTX PluS (green)

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 Property Feed HDS HDS + two objectives: reduce the overall operating
only GT-BTXPluS expense and process a concentrated benzene
stream from the reformer in order to recover
Olefin content, wt% 27.4 17.5 26.0 benzene for petrochemical production.
Sulphur, wppm 1,250 22.5 11.0 The scope of the revamp is highlighted in Figure
Octane, R+M/² 93.4 90.4 93.0 4. First, heavy naphtha will be sent to a new
H2 consumption, splitter, the products from which will be a mid-cut
scf/hr -- 85,000 27,000 and heavy-cut naphtha. The new mid-cut naphtha
(MCN) will be mixed with the benzene concentrate
Table 2 Data summary for GT-BTX PluS case and then treated in a new GT-BTX PluS unit. The
study raffinate, which contains the olefins, will be sent
directly to the gasoline product. The extract, which
The extractive distillation process is especially contains the sulphur and aromatic molecules, will
helpful in an FCC gasoline hydrotreater. be mixed with the heavy naphtha and then treated
Mercaptans and olefins are the dominant in the existing HDS unit. A second new column
species in the lighter fraction, and thiophenes will be added to recover high-purity benzene. The
and aromatics are dominant in the heavier cuts. bottoms product from this column will be mixed
The heaviest fraction has few olefins species to with the light and mid-cut naphtha streams to
significantly impact the desulphurisation (HDS) form the final product.
unit. However, the heavy naphtha stream in The data in Table 2 show the potential
a gasoline hydrotreater also contains middle- benefits. Most notably, with GT-BTX Plus, the
boiling components that are primarily olefins final treated gasoline product has retained
and thiophenic hydrocarbons. This mid-cut most of the olefins, which leads to a reduction
naphtha is most susceptible to olefin saturation in RON of only 0.4 instead of 3.0. Hydrogen
in the HDS units and, consequently, octane loss. consumption is reduced, as the HDS unit now
Sulzer has been working with a refinery operates more efficiently and at lower capacity
in US PADD 3, which has an FCC naphtha with the MCN removed. In this case, additional
hydrotreater similar to that shown in Figure revenue is gained from the new benzene
3. It is comprised of selective hydrogenation, stream and expansion of the gasoline pool. In a
a naphtha splitter, heavy naphtha HDS, and a revamped case, the new gasoline hydrotreater
stabiliser. Sulzer is in the process of designing a could produce cleaner-burning gasoline while at
grassroots GT-BTX PluS unit for this client, with the same time reducing utility consumption and

Stripper

Extractor Raffinate wash

columns
Feed
Raffinate

Extractor reflux

Figure 5 Revamp of an aromatics extraction unit with modified (blue) and eliminated (red) equipment

4 www.decarbonisationtechnology.com
lowering carbon emissions.
H2
Upgrade lower value streams
A similar application of the extractive distillation
process, GT-BTX, can also be used to revamp
existing aromatic extraction units with higher Pretreated
feed
capacity, lower utility consumption, and more Off-gas
robust operation. Another one of Sulzer’s
customers, also in PADD3, has an existing unit
that produces low-quality benzene and toluene.
The toluene is sent to the gasoline pool to be H2O
sold as fuel. With a revamp using GT-BTX, it To
will be possible for this refiner to separate the isomerisation
C₆ non-aromatics, which will debottleneck the
existing equipment. They will also be able to Figure 6 BioFlux reaction zone
recover a high-value nitration-grade toluene
with improved margin. The revamp, highlighted Asia, well-established in oleochemicals and
in Figure 5, will shift the product yield slate such methyl ester biodiesel markets, has been
that the total Renewable Volume Obligation operating a single-stage hydrotreating unit
(RVO) requirements, and the corresponding with only deoxygenation. Until now, the
Renewable Identification Number (RIN) hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) product has been
purchase requirement, will be reduced. blended into the biodiesel. Sulzer is providing
BioFlux isomerisation technology as a modular
More SAF with BioFlux technology unit, which will add both a dewaxing function
Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is currently to produce hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO)
the leading pathway to decarbonise the to European specifications and the functionality
aviation sector. Most SAF today is produced by to crack the product for increased production of
hydrotreating triglyceride or fatty acid-based SAF. This enables the producer to increase the
feedstocks. BioFlux technology was developed value of the HVO product and generate a SAF
to offer superior hydrotreating performance market using a low-CI process.
for biomass-based fuels. The process (see
Figure 6) operates using a liquid full reactor, Your partner in sustainability
where all hydrogen necessary for the reactions At Sulzer, we aim to contribute to an
is dissolved into the feed at the reactor inlet. environment that is safer and more sustainable.
A portion of the reactor effluent is recycled With decarbonisation at our core, Sulzer
to be mixed with the feed, providing both a Clean Fuels and Chemicals Licensing provides
diluent for carrying more hydrogen and a heat technologies that optimise production capacity
sink for controlling the reaction exotherm. The and reduce operating cost while minimising
reactor design maximises volumetric flux, and environmental impact. Our unique offerings are
the proprietary reactor internals ensure that ideal for helping refiners reduce their carbon
the feed and hydrogen are completely mixed footprint and achieve their decarbonisation
and evenly distributed for complete catalyst goals.
wetting. Additional advantages of BioFlux
also include: BioFlux, GT-BTX, GT-BTX PluS, GT-LPG Max, and
• Higher liquid yield by eliminating over- TECHTIV are trademarks of Sulzer Chemtech.
cracking to undesirable products
• Efficient hydrogen and thermal management LINKS
• Lower capital and operating expense by using
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liquid recycle only instead of a gas recycle
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• Lower carbon intensity.
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