actiCAT - Guidelines actiCAT

actiCAT^® presulphurizing typically saves 18 hours compared with in-situ sulphiding because it eliminates the catalyst dryout step and the wait for H₂S breakthrough.

Full Catalyst Activity and Selectivity
actiCAT^® presulphurizing also ensures that manufacturers get full activity and selectivity out of their catalysts. actiCAT^® has proven itself robust in commercial start-ups, where process upsets and channeling are common. These non-optimal conditions adversely affect conventional in-situ sulphiding techniques and compromise final catalyst activity and selectivity. For selective hydrogenation of diolefins in pygas using catalysts, we use enough sulphur to eliminate aromatics and minimize olefins saturation, but not so much that selective diolefin hydrogenation activity is adversely affected.

Gradual, Controlled Activation
actiCAT^® is a unique, proprietary process in which sulphur agent is tightly bound to catalyst in an organic matrix. During the presulphurizing process, a range of sulphurizing chemicals is generated. These chemicals react with hydrogen over a broad temperature range resulting in a gradual and controlled activation.

In recent years, we have seen extraordinary growth of actiCAT^® in hydrocracking applications. Because hydrocrackers are critical process units and have high upgrading values, refiners have a strong incentive for minimizing the units downtime. actiCAT^® presulphurized catalyst offers significant time savings over conventional in-situ sulphiding without the temperature spikes seen with earlier-generation presulphurized products (see the January 5, 1998 issue of the Oil & Gas Journal for more details).

This plot shows the temperature in a hydrocracker pretreat reactor during the activation of actiCAT presulphurized catalyst under hydrogen flow only.

The temperature rise was well controlled as the catalyst was heated through the normal activation range of 280-500°F. The catalyst in this unit is currently exhibiting excellent performance.

Technical Support and Manufacturing Capabilities
A large number of commercial catalysts have been tested and qualified for actiCAT^® processing. actiCAT^® catalyst has been used in a wide range of applications including nickel selective hydrogenation catalysts and pygas hydrotreating catalysts. Porocel has actiCAT^® manufacturing facilities at three plants located in Lafayette (Louisiana), USA, Luxembourg, and Singapore.