For Refineries and Refinery Service Companies

For reactor charge-outs of hydro-processing catalyst

As refiners come under increasing pressure to improve efficiencies, increase output and reduce reactor downtime, the need for evolution in the working methods of reactor charge-outs and spent catalyst removal has never been so important.

CleanCat™ is a pneumatic catalyst solution that successfully answers the needs of the petrochemical industry by combining guaranteed high catalyst loading rates with exceptionally low attrition levels, irrespective of the weather conditions, thereby making a significant contribution to improved reactor vessel efficiency and overall plant profitability.
A CleanCat™ system is made from two of the following three components for loading and unloading of reactors:

CDC [CleanCat™ Dense Controller]

The essential component, the CDC is positioned on top of the reactor and loads and unloads the catalyst to / from the reactor from either a CDF or CIV

CDF - [CleanCat™ Dense Feeder]

Option 1, the CDF is a dense phase catalyst conveying vessel transporting the catalyst from ground level to the top of the reactor.

CIV - [CleanCat ISO-Veyor™] For Catalyst manufacturers & regeneration companies:

Option 2, the CIV is a combined intermodal transportable container and dense phase conveying vessel for the delivery of new catalyst or the removal of spent catalyst.

Loading reactors always requires the transportation of catalyst from ground level to the top of the reactor vessel. Currently service providers favour one of two methods to achieve this transfer. Lifting is the most common method used, usually via large cranes and occasionally using portable elevators but these can be problematic. This method also assumes that there are no site restrictions prohibiting the access of such ‘heavy’ plant and that weather conditions are benign.

Adverse weather conditions can significantly increase the time taken for charge-outs, resulting in increased reactor downtime and cost over-runs for the refinery. The ‘closed and sealed’ nature of CleanCat™ system, once installed offers total independence from any weather conditions.

The traditional alternative to cranes is lean phase vacuum conveying. While this system enjoys the convenience of being truck mounted there are a number of negatives, key amongst these are limited throughput and high attrition levels.

Current unloading practices favour either dumping or vacuuming. Dumping is generally fast and inexpensive when compared with vacuuming. Done correctly, dumping produces a low amount of attrition, however for many reactors, dumping is not an option for unloading because of the reactor design or the catalyst condition.

When vacuuming is used for unloading, the need for attrition reduction becomes a major consideration. Today’s high-flow lean phase vacuuming equipment results in high attrition. While some action can be taken to reduce this (typically long radius bends and reduced velocity air flow), the nature of the process can promote incidences of fracture.

InBulk's CleanCat™  catalyst removal system overcomes all of these challenges through a combination of reliable, well-proven technology and the Clyde Blowers Group experience of designing customised pneumatic conveying solutions for a wide range of bulk materials, including those with friable, toxic and abrasive characteristics.

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