Sophie Babusiaux - Axens North America
Consensus forecasts envision a global petroleum market impacted by the following macro-scale trends in the medium and long term:
- Stagnant or declining petroleum-derived motor fuels demand in developed countries as a result of improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency and alternative fuels developments
- Sustained global demand growth for petrochemicals trending with population and global GDP growth
When coupled with regulatory environment causing the power industry to shift feedstocks away from carbon-intensive, high-sulfur fuel oils and petroleum coke to natural gas and renewable sources, these market forces may incentivize the refiner to increase petrochemical production while simultaneously reducing fuel oil and coke output. In short, the refiner who can best maximize the conversion of its residual carbon feed molecules to aromatics and light olefins will be positioned to capture additional margin in the petrochemical value chain.
This paper will specifically focus on commercially proven technology solutions for producing petrochemicals from bunker fuels, atmospheric, and vacuum residues: (1) H-Oil® residue hydrocracking coupled with distillate hydrocracking and aromatics production and (2) H-Oil® unit integrated with Petrochemical Complex by upgrading the heavy by-products of Steam Cracker units. Technology highlights, commercial applications, case studies, and comparisons to proven thermal cracking technologies will be presented.
H-Oil® has a cumulative licensed capacity of over 1,200,000 BPSD over its more than 55 year history. The Hengli Petrochemical complex currently under construction will utilize H-Oil® to maximize para-xylene production from sour crude feedstocks.