Hydroconversion of heavy residues in slurry reactors: Developments and perspectives

• Total conversion technologies are crucial for the exploitation of unconventional oil.
• Slurry Hydrocracking is the most efficient process to convert heavy residues.
• EST process with its peculiar recycling scheme converts most refractory molecules.
• Slurry catalyst activity can be dramatically improved with a “dual catalyst system”.
• Properly dispersed low-stacking MoS2 nanolamellae can protect the acid sites against fast deactivation.

Slurry-phase hydrocracking is the most suitable technology for the conversion of heavy oils/residues. However, with conventional processes, the production of low-quality by-products is unavoidable. The newly developed Eni Slurry Technology (EST) process reaches total conversion of the feedstock to distillates. A nanosized MoS2 catalyst provides hydrogenation activity, while cracking is mainly of thermal origin. An acid catalyst alone, which would enhance the cracking reaction, is rapidly deactivated under the severe process conditions, but the presence of nanosized MoS2 protects the acid catalyst long enough for potential practical applications, thus allowing a more effective exploitation of unconventional oil resources.

Highly dispersed MoS2 lamellae protect the conventional cracking catalyst, improving its catalytic performances and favoring the total conversion of heavy oils and residues to valuable products.Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (168 K)Download as PowerPoint slide