Advancements In COLO Aromatics Recovery Technology

The improved low pressure and low temperature Coke Oven Light Oil (COLO) Hydrotreating Process offered by LyondellBasell is a unique technology and is one key to improved Aromatics Recovery from COLO and other feedstocks. As hydrotreating catalyst activity has increased, design aspects for minimizing undesired Aromatics saturation has become even more important. The right conditions and catalyst choice in each of both reactor stages is a key design point.

LyondellBasell is also an operating company, and some technology improvements stem from years of operating data. Another aspect of their technology is allowing for a robust variation in the amounts of: COLO, Pygas, and/or Reformate which could be effectively processed via the same unit design.

LyondellBasell was pioneer and has since optimized Sulfolane Aromatics Extraction Process; recovering the maximum possible quantities of benzene/toluene/xylenes from COLO. Sulfolane can degrade. Effective design improvements can minimize this, while also reducing the operating costs of aromatics recovery.

Several of these improvements will be presented in this paper and presentation.