Innovative Technology to Make the Most

Out of the Hydrocracker Unit

Hydrocracking Technology: Choosing the Best Process

OIL PETROCHEMICALS a Key unit in the Modern Scheme to Meet Production
REFINING Refinery Needs
Given the challenging context the refining HyK™ is the Axens high conversion Hydrocra-
industry is in today, making the most out cking technology that converts low-value
of every unit is the key to maximizing pro- heavy distillates into valuable products. The
fitability. key to adjusting the product yields to meet
the most profitable production targets is
The Hydrocracking is an instrumental unit
choosing the right process scheme for each
that contributes in meeting the modern
project (figure 1).
refinery’s market objectives by converting
| HyK™ High Conversion
Hydrocracking Offer

heavy feeds into high-value products: “Once-Through Scheme” comes with

clean fuels or premium feedstock for a lower investment cost and offers the
petrochemicals. possibility to valorise the unconver-
ted oil as top-quality Group III lubes or
Axens’ commercial fixed-bed VGO
petchem feedstock.
hydroprocessing expertise spans over 50
years and more than 110 licensed units “Once-Through with Recycle Scheme”
covering all types of configurations. boosts the conversion and selectivity
towards valuable fuels with moderate
Relying on its experience as a licensor, its
increase of the investment cost.
close ties with R&D and its knowledge in
refining processes and technology, Axens “Two-Stage Scheme” offers the best
continually improves all the aspects of the selectivity towards high-value middle
hydrocracking offer by: distillates or naphtha for petchem while
minimizing the unconverted bleed.
• Proposing high-performance catalysts

• Providing reactor internals and processes

equipment HVO Co-processing
• Optimizing process scheme
Axens offer allows to process an
• Improving energy efficiency and reducing extended envelope from 0% to 100% of
renewable feeds, starting with a certain
environmental footprint
level of co-processing up to implemen-
ting dedicated 100% waste-lipids
processing units.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT
HVO Production with
Co-Processing & Vegan®

Two-Stage Scheme
Main Product Yield

Off-Gas
Once-Through Scheme
with Recyle Scheme H₂ Naphtha
Off-Gas Feed Clean Fuels
Kero
Once-Through Scheme H₂
Naphtha 1st Stage
Feed Diesel
Off-Gas
Reaction Kero
Section 2nd Stage UCO
H₂ Naphtha Bleed
Feed
Diesel
Kero Recycle Petrochem
Reaction UCO Feed
Section Bleed
Diesel

Group III
Lubes

Ï Figure 1: HyK™ process scheme

• Height reduction thanks to Aside from catalyst cycle length extension, this innovative The resulting savings in energy consumption after ZPJE
At the Heart of the Hydrocracker: more compact design process solution can offer the possibility to raise the spiral-tube exchangers’ implementation in a typical HyK™
Top Tier Catalysts • Improved thermal efficiency conversion when treating feeds that present a high risk unit leads to a 10-20% OpEx reduction and an associated
• Better flexibility of operation of HPNA formation. An added advantage of this system is pay out time of less than 2 years.
Hy-Clean™
Hy-Tray™ • Installation as easy as previous that fouling in heat exchangers and air coolers is avoided
generation as a result of lower HPNA concentration in the recycle and
• Distribution ensured by proven outlet streams (figure 3). HyK™ Process Optimization: Tackling
The winning combination of the Impulse™ deep
hydrotreating catalysts and the Craken™ hydrocracking
Hy-Quench XM™ EquiFlow® technology the Water Consumption Challenge
• Tailored design for each
catalyst Series offer unparalleled performances and Axens performed detailed studies of the HyK™ process
ensure profitability boost by:
reactor Breakthrough: High Efficiency Spiral- design to compare alternate configuration in an attempt to
• Squeezing more fuels from heavy ends
• Single-source solution: Tube Exchangers for HyK™ minimize the global energy consumption footprint for any
design, manufacturing up to
• Reaching high conversion levels Axens recently made a breakthrough by introducing the given case. Thanks to the studies, refiners can immediately
installation, start-up & follow-up
• Enhancing hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) activity use of high-efficiency spiral-tube exchangers on heavier take advantage of tailor-made process schemes in all HyK™
• Improving product properties Ï Figure 2: Axens EquiFlow™ offer for HyK™ feeds, leading to significant energy efficiency gains. configurations that lead to OpEx reduction up to 26%.
• Maximizing unit cycle length As part of an exclusive agreement with Zhenhai Petroche-
Impurities, fines, rust and inorganic matter that can be When applied to water consumption reduction (process
HyK™ technology makes full use of Axens’ hydrocracking mical Jianan Engineering Co. Ltd (ZPJE) and following a
carried over with the feed are very often responsible for water and cooling water), CEED™ can achieve up to 70%
catalysts. CEED™ approach, Axens is now integrating this specia-
pressure drop issues in the first bed of hydroprocessing reduction in water consumption in the HyK™ process
lized equipment in the HyK™ technology (figure 4).
reactors. To effectively counter these issues, Axens deve- (figure 5).
loped the EquiFlow® Hy-Clean™ based on well-proven tray
First Step to Success: Feedstock technology and including a dedicated grading system. It
Knowledge prevents plugging of the bed by capturing and retaining
100 %

80 %
Today, in order to ensure healthy margins, refiners have feed impurities, often responsible for crust formation

Water Consumption
an increasing incentive to process heavier crudes and between the different catalyst layers. 60 %
refractory feedstock such as deasphalted oil (DAO), heavy
Installing an EquiFlow® Hy-Clean™ on top of the reactor
coker gasoil (HCGO) and resid HCK VGO while meeting 40 %
limits recurrent pressure drop problems while ensuring a
stringent product specifications.
perfect gas/liquid distribution. This results in a significant 20 %
One of Axens’ main strengths in hydrocracking is the increase in catalyst cycle length leading to higher profitabi-
extensive knowledge of feed reactivity (table 1). Typical lity. The latest generation of EquiFlow® trays have already 0%
Base Case CEED Study
analytical methods are not enough to fully characterize a been selected by multiple refiners and are following the
heavy feed and commercial experience is invaluable. successful course of their predecessor.  Process Cooling  Stripping Steam
 Washing Water  Turbine Condensate Cooling
EHCO* H-OIL®
FEED TYPE SR VGO DAO HCGO
SR VGO VGO
NITROGEN, 1000 - 2000 - 1500 - 1000 - 3000 -
Innovating for Longer Cycle Lengths: Ï Figure 4: ZPJE spiral-tube high efficiency heat exchangers Ï Figure 5: Water consumption reduction in the HyK™ process
PPM 2500 4000 5500 5000 5500 HyK™ HPNA Management The ZPJE high efficiency spiral exchangers enjoy a solid
0.89 - 0.93 - 0.92 - 0.95 - 0.94 -
SPGR
0.94 0.98 0.97 0.99 0.98 Current and future trends of heavier and unconventional reputation on the market: 1,300 references, including more CEED™ approach is already implemented to new projects
METAL, PPM 0.5 - 1 0.5 - 2 1-3 2-30 1.3
feed treatment also mean higher risk of heavy polynuclear than 300 in a refinery application and 14 years of operation in order to minimize water consumption as part of Axens’
aromatics (HPNA) build-up in the recycle streams of the for hydrocracking service. Their success stems from the commitment to reduce the environmental footprint of its
DIFFICULTY
+ ++ ++++ +++(+) ++++
INDEX hydrocracker. Thanks to an in-depth knowledge of formation high reliability record they established: several millions of designs.
* EHCO: Extra Heavy Crude Oils of HPNA all along the process, Axens provides refiners with hours of cumulated operation under all types of feed that
Ï Table 1: Global feed difficulty a dedicated and patented process scheme that limits HPNA allowed ZPJE to perfect their design.
build-up and ensures an optimal protection of the catalysts.
Understanding unconventional feedstock reactivity comes
through R&D, in-house know-how and operational feedback. › Reducing the environmental footprint: In order to cope with these challenges and based on
Leveraging from all of the above, Axens provides performance Axens commitment its strong knowledge in process and technology, Axens
Naphtha
forecasts and proposes innovative designs making significant offers an innovative approach, CEED™, standing for
gains in the economics of future projects. Optimizing the use of every resource is both an “Custom and Efficient Early Design”.
environmental issue and an economic opportunity for
M

Kerosene operators. Energy consumption represents 1/3 to 2/3

A New Generation of Top Efficiency of a refinery’s total operating costs. Thus, even small

axens.net
Trays: Hy-Tray™, Hy-Quench-XM™ and Feed Reaction
improvements of energy efficiency can be translated into
Hy-Clean™
M

Section Diesel multi-million $ in annual savings. As for water resources, CEED™ helps operators to improve on-site resources
58% of refining and petrochemical sites are in areas subject according to their specific priorities and constraints by
Axens recently launched the latest generation of the
HPNA to medium to extreme water stress. Water management is elaborating and evaluating several options. It is a powerful
massively successful (>900 total references) EquiFlow® Build-Up HPNA
Removal therefore an increasingly critical issue for refiners around customer decision-support tool and ensures that the
offer: the Hy-Tray™ and Hy-Quench-XM™ quench system
UCO Recycle UCO Bleed the world. selected scheme is based on a solid foundation optimizing
2 that improves on the previous generation in every aspect.
Ï Figure 3: HPNA management in HyK™
both the project’s environmental impact and economics. 3
{ CASE STUDY 1 }
HyK™ for maximum top-quality diesel production
In early 2016, Axens was awarded a HyK™ licence for
a refiner in the MENA region. A 2-Stage Hydrocracker Feed
scheme was selected to maximize top-quality diesel H₂
LP Off Gas HPNA
and jet fuel production while minimizing naphtha Management
and unconverted oil. All the latest advances in HyK™ Naphtha
technology were part of the design, contributing to even
1st Stage Kerosene
better economics and a smaller environmental footprint Reaction
for the whole project. Section Cracked Feed
Diesel
This HyK™ unit was designed to treat feedstock from two
crude blends for more flexibility, with a significant part of UCO Bleed
the feed coming from a Delayed Coker unit.
Axens’ long operational experience treating refractory CEED™ Study
cracked feeds in existing hydrocracker units gave the 2nd Stage
edge for this award and inspired confidence regarding
the robustness of the design. This recent success
 HDT  HDK Hy-Quench-XM™
proves that combining past experience and innovative
Catalyst Catalyst
solutions to improve an already successful design opens
the door to even better profits for refiners.

{ CASE STUDY 2 }
HyK™ for premium petrochemicals feed production
Axens is the licensor of the world’s largest project for the production of paraxylene (pX) directly from crude oil. In combination with
Axens’ H-Oil® ebullated bed technology, 3 HyK™ units of different schemes were designed to meet the required product slate, which
was mostly composed of heavy naphtha. In this project, HyK™ technology was instrumental in completing and orienting the conversion
of the bottom of the barrel into valuable products: heavy naphtha for aromatics production and also middle distillates and Group III
lube oils.
As licensor of all the bottom of barrel technologies, Axens was in an ideal position to establish innovative solutions enabling the
integration and optimization of the whole conversion complex. Deep know-how of ebullated bed effluents treatment combined with
the latest HyK™ technology advances were the key success factors leading to enhanced economics and operational robustness for
this historic award.
Full conversion LN Isomerization
AGO
3 HyK™ Awards: Diesel HyK™
ADU

• Once-through HyK™ for Gr III Base Oil Aromatic

HN Complex
• Full conversion 2-Stage HyK™ for SR VGO HyK™ ParamaX®
H-Oil® GO
heavy naphtha and clean fuels
VDU

Resid HCK Kero China Spec

• Full conversion Diesel HyK™ for Heavy H-Oil® H-Oil® VGO Kero Pool
Naphtha maximization
Full conversion Diesel China V Spec
VR HyK™ Diesel Pool
HyK™ design highlights:
• H-Oil® effluent treatment UCO DAO Group III Lube
UCO
Complex
• HPNA management SDA Solvahl™
• Spiral-tube ZPJE exchangers
• CEED™ study Pitch Pitch Gasification
 Axens

Axens is a group providing a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil
and biomass to cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major petrochemical
intermediates as well as all of natural gas treatment and conversion options. The
integrated offer includes technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts,
adsorbents and related services, commercialized under “Axens Solutions”, “Heurtey
Petrochem Solutions” and “Axens Horizon” brands.
Axens.net Blog
2021-07_HyK