April 2024
Process Optimization
New generation slurry reactor for the hydrotreatment of heavy oils and distillates
Due to the ongoing transition to a low-carbon energy system, refiners must produce less fuel oil. Among the technologies used for the commercial-scale hydroconversion of the heavy fraction of crude oil, the use of bubble column upflow reactors with slurry catalyst (slurry technology) does not produce fuel oil.
The Author
Luigi Patron served as Chairman and CEO of the engineering company Snamprogetti—formerly a subsidiary of ENI and later merged with Saipem—which designed and built the demonstration unit used to validate the first commercially applied heavy oil slurry hydroconversion technology. After retirement, Patron has continued to work independently on a slurry technology capable of providing solutions to the challenges that the energy transition will pose to crude oil refining.
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