Refinery profit margins are shrinking due to rise in crude
prices, stringent fuel specifications and increased
competition. Value addition to the existing processes
and adoption of innovative technologies has become
essential for a refiner to stay ahead in the refining
business. On the other hand, the demand of heavy
ends e.g. furnace oil, LSHS (Low Sulphur Heavy Stock)
are limited with annual growth of about 2% and many
refineries are not fully equipped with modern residue
up-gradation processes.
IndianOil R&D Centre has developed a patented
technology, INDMAX, to produce Liquefied Petroleum
Gas (LPG) from heavy petroleum fractions to the extent
of 40 to 65 wt% of feed. The LPG is highly olefinic (>70
wt% of LPG) rendering the INDMAX process as the best
suitable technology for producing propylene and
butylenes from heavy petroleum fractions including
residue. Due to the very high olefinicity, the INDMAX
LPG has significant petrochemical value.
INDMAX process
is similar to Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) technology except
that the catalyst system and operating conditions are different.
Major highlights of the process are:
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High LPG yield (40-65 wt% of fresh feed). |
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High propylene (17-25 wt% of fresh feed) and butylene
yields (10-15 wt% of fresh feed).
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Feed CCR ranging from 0.35 to 11 wt%; Type VGO,
RCO and SR. The total Ni/V on feed should be less
than 80/40 ppm respectively.
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Uses specific proprietary catalyst with low coke make
to manage with a single stage regenerator without
any catalyst cooler for feed having CCR
upto 5 wt %. However, the maximum feed CCR could
be up to 11 wt%, if catalyst cooler is used.
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Produces very high octane gasoline (RON 95-104)
compared to that of 89-92 in conventional FCCU.
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INDMAX employs a proprietary catalyst, which has three different functional components.
The bottom-cracking component provides highly acidic sites for catalytic cracking of heavy
feed molecules, which otherwise lead to coke and dry gas formation. The component
responsible for upgrading naphtha range hydrocarbons is shape selective in nature, which
allows selective cracking to light olefins without increasing the coke and dry gas make.
The third component contains conventional ultra-stable Y zeolite, which shows synergistic
effect with the other two components of the catalyst.
With the optimum catalyst formulation, very high catalytic
conversion and maximum LPG and light olefin yields are
ensured, while making the lowest dry gas and coke yield.
INDMAX catalyst demonstrates an exceptionally high
vanadium tolerance (21000 ppm on Ecat), which is twice
that of a conventional RFCC catalyst.
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