TECHNOLOGIES FOR IMPROVING
HYDROCARBON
PROCESSING AND ENVIRONMENTAL
PERFORMANCES
Dalmeiclean is agent for Innovative Technologies Worldwide (ITW) which is a company operating
since several years in the field of applied research, developing new
technologies for industry.
For all the technologies, ITW
possesses the licenses of the patent applications that MEG (the research branch
of ITW) has filed all over the World.
Among the above-mentioned patented
applications, many of them cover the field of petroleum refining and
petrochemical industry,
including the following:
• additives for asphaltene stabilization;
• process
and additives for hydrocarbons solubilization in
water
• slop oil emulsion
breaker;
• additives for reduction of Conradson Carbon Residue of
fuels;
• additives for reduction of soot and noxious emissions of
diesel fuels;
• additives for reduction of particulate emissions during
combustion;
• process
and additives for reduction of corrosion, scale, fouling and bio-fouling of
seawater;
• process
and sorbents for reduction of SOx, NOx,
CO2 emissions in
combustion gases;
• process
and additives for reduction of organic compounds solubilization in water;
• additives for reduction of coke formation on catalysts;
• additives for improving distillation yields in petroleum
refining;
• additives for fouling reduction in petroleum refining;
• additives for reducing coke formation in Ethylene
furnaces
Together with the above-mentioned
innovative technologies, ITW has available all the “classic” technologies,
typical from specialty
chemicals suppliers, such as
e.g.:
|
process side
- filmers, neutralizers - demulsifiers - antioxidants - antifoamers - cold flow improvers
- fuel treatment chemicals
- power generation chemicals
- oil and gas production
chemicals |
water side - corrosion inhibitors
- antiscalants - oxygen scavengers
- biocides - boiler treatments
- cooling towers treatments
- waste water treatments
-water preparation chemicals
|
Moreover, many of the above
formulations have been suitably modified in light of ITW technologies and
know-how.
ITW can supply all the chemicals
for water/process treatments, together with related technical assistance.
ITW can supply chemicals on a
global service/partnership basis and is also an operating company in the
environmental field,
with innovative technologies of tank
cleaning, plant cleaning, exchanger/column cleaning and soil reclamation.
ITW can perform industrial
cleaning/reclamation on a turn-key basis.
In the cleaning/reclamation field
ITW technologies achieve the following:
• reduction of waste disposal, by
recovery and reutilization of the potential waste
• reduction of gaseous and
fugitive emissions
• increase of operational safety
• reduction of downtime
• maximization of waste recovery
ITW has
therefore excellent credentials to give customers highly innovative products and
services, highly attractive technological perspectives
and highly specialized technical
assistance.
TECHNOLOGY FOR ASPHALTENES
STABILIZATION
Asphaltenes are macromolecular
compounds, which structure is not exactly known yet.
In thermal processes, asphaltene
structure is modified in a way that leads them to instability.
Such instability can be raised,
e.g., following not proper blending and/or the effect of storage
temperature and time. A measure of
asphaltene stability is made by evaluating the
SHF (Sediments by Hot Filtration)
of the oil under examination.
By developing additives ITW has
solved oil stability problems, with proven industrial experience,
which allow for significant
SHF reductions.
TECHNOLOGY FOR SOLUBILIZING CRUDE
IN WATER
A major problem connected with
crude oil extraction and refining is environmental damage following oil spills.
Today’s technologies work on
different operating principles, in the effort of solving as soon and effectively
as possible problems arising
from the spill. Against marine
pollution, common practice is dispersants usage, while solvents have been
abandoned; the tendency is utilization of
physical barriers to surround
the spill and then recover the oil. For soil pollution, chemical means are not
used (solvents would be
costly and environmentally
unacceptable), so the choice is either soil substitution (with a virgin one,
followed by disposal of the polluted one)
or submitting the soil to
micro-organisms attack.
The last choice has been receiving
increasing attention, but has two main pitfalls:
a) bacteria action is time-consuming;
b) bacteria life by-products can be unacceptable from an
environmental standpoint.
ITW has developed a novel
technology which conjugates the need for a rapid and efficient action with the
need of not introducing new pollution sources.
SLOP OIL EMULSION
BREAKER
ITW has developed a novel slop oil
emulsion breaker, with the following characteristics:
•
up to 10 times more active as any
conventional emulsion breaker
• active at ambient temperature
•
active with high solid
content
•
active with high water
content
•
fast acting chemical (as
low as from some hours to 2 days at ambient temperature)
TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCING
CONRADSON CARBON RESIDUE OF FUELS
Conradson Carbon Residue (CCR) is
a commercial specification of fuel/bunker oils and diesel fuels.
Sometimes, especially for
fuel/bunker oils, following particular blending operations, such a
specification is difficult to meet.
ITW has developed a technology which allows CCR correction by utilizing suitably
selected additives.
TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCING SOOT
EMISSION IN DIESEL FUELS
Particulate emissions reduction in
diesel fuels is increasingly becoming a key factor for the customer to evaluate
the supplier of this type of fuel.
Notwithstanding its importance,
this aspect is one of the less known in diesel fuel combustion. Particulate
concentration in the exhaust is
the result of soot formation and
oxidation processes which take place in the combustion chamber.
ITW technology is able reducing
CCR of diesel fuel significantly.
A peculiarity of ITW technology is
the non-use of any metallic compound.
With regard to common metallic
combustion catalysts, this constitutes an utmost advantage in that:
a) metals
become part of emissions, thus contributing to worsen their quality;
b) metals
works as a nucleation centre for heavy compounds.
Another peculiarity of ITW
technology is that it acts on coke precursors, by avoiding both their formation
and their agglomeration.
TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCING
PARTICULATE EMISSIONS OF FUELS
Particulate emission in any
combustion process is index of inefficient combustion and leads to minor thermal
efficiency.
Combustion efficiency can be
improved until definite limits - due to high C/H ratio of the particulate, with
appropriate burner’s choice
and their accurate control. Once the
plant is optimized, the only way to improve combustion efficiency and to reduce
particulate emissions is
to inject a chemical additive.ITW additive contributes to improved pre-heaters
cleanliness, by avoiding agglomeration and deposition of
heavy compounds on heat
exchangers surfaces. This means improved pre-heaters thermal efficiency and, in
turn, energy savings.
Cleanliness of pre-heaters,
moreover, improves atomization and burners cleanliness which, in turn, leads to
“sputtering” reduction,
as well as pulsations and improper
flame paths reductions.
This represents an added value of
ITW technology with regard to the existent ones; moreover, ITW additives do not
contain metals
at all or have
low metals content and this, with regard to common combustion catalysis, is an
advantage in that:
a) metals
end in the particulate, thus contributing to worsen particulate quality;
b) metals
can act as nucleation centre for heavy compounds.
ITW technology is also able to
reduce Conradson Carbon Residue of fuel oils.
Typical reduction values are
4-10%.
Finally, ITW technology is able to
improve coke combustion. Coke combustion can be improved up to values of 60-80%.
TECHNOLOGY FOR CORROSION AND
FOULING REDUCTION ON SEAWATER, COOLING AND FIREFIGHTING SYSTEMS
Problems connected with seawater
utilization, especially for cooling, are well known.
ITW has developed a technology
capable of reducing corrosion and fouling arising from seawater on carbon steel
and admiralty.
The technology has also been
proved in static water systems. Depending on additive dosages, corrosion on
static seawater is
reduced up to 80%; the same
for static systems utilizing other kinds of water.
TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCING
SOX,
NOX AND
CO2 FROM FLUE GASES
Among the processes for flue gas
desulphurization, those utilizing wet scrubbers are the ones more
widespread
(about 85% of
world’s desulphurization capacity) and reliable. The sorbents are lime, limestone, MgO,
which are turned to respective sulphates.
ITW has developed a series of
alternative sorbents for wet or dry (furnace/in-duct
sorbent injection) desulphurization processes.
Such sorbents are constituted by industrial waste and are
characterized by their global economy and high performances.
SO2 absorption capacity of
ITW patented sorbents can be more than double with
regard to lime/limestone systems.
TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCTION OF
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS SOLUBILIZATION IN WATER
The technology finds utilization
mainly in two fields:
a) lead-free gasoline
formulations;
b) COD reduction on wastewaters.
ITW has developed a technology for
reduction of organic compounds solubilization in
water, capable of achieving high performances.
TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCTION OF COKE
FORMATION ON CATALYSTS
The technology for reducing
asphaltene flocculation has been suitably modified for reducing coke formation
on catalysts.
Reduction of coke on catalysts
leads to a significant recovery of their activity and selectivity.
TECHNOLOGY FOR INCREASING
DISTILLATION YIELDS IN PETROLEUM REFINING PROCESSES
A further improvement of the
technology for reducing coke formation has lead to develop a technology capable
of increasing
distillation yields in petroleum
refining processes. In some cases the yield increase can up to 4-6%, or higher.
TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCING FOULING IN
PROCESS APPARATUSES
A particular development of
technology for stabilizing asphaltenes is the ITW
technology for reducing fouling in process apparatuses.
TECHNOLOGY FOR REDUCING COKE
FORMATION IN ETHYLENE FURNACES
ITW has developed a novel
technology for reducing coke formation in Ethylene furnaces.
The new chemical does not contain
any metal, any halogen or any compound which can negatively interfere with
finished products characteristics.
Results achieved are:
• run length increase of 24%
• outlet TLX temperature
reduction
• outlet TLX pressure reduction
• coils pressure reduction
• skin temperature reduction
• higher charge of furnace
• higher average cracking
temperature
• lower dilution steam/charge
ratio