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        MacroTrap XPore 80 Guard Bed Media

        MacroTrap® Guard Bed Media

        Is Pressure Drop Forcing You to Shut Down to Skim Your Catalyst Bed More Frequently?

        Saint-Gobain NorPro has just the solution to keep your reactor up and running with its MacroTrap® guard bed media.  This relieves refiners from replacing costly catalyst which then improves overall operations and profitability of the reactor. Particulates in the reactor's catalyst bed will settle and the catalyst can become plugged in a short amount of time.  The result is that pressure drop increases and reactor performance declines, requiring the refiner to shut down while the fouled catalyst is replaced.    

        MacroTrap® guard bed media are highly macroporous ceramic materials which work by trapping particulates and soluble iron in the very large pores before they reach the catalyst bed. MacroTrap guard bed media provides proven benefits:

        • Premature shutdowns avoided
        • Life of catalyst bed is significantly extended
        • Reduced operating costs
        • Overall, more efficient reactor operation

        MacroTrap® XPore 80 Guard Bed Media 

        MacroTrap XPore 80 guard bed media showing particulate contaminantsSaint-Gobain NorPro's MacroTrap® XPore 80 guard bed media is the latest generation of catalyst protection for refiners.  The "XPore 80" name indicates that macropores account for ~80% of total pore volume.  This is significant as it permits filtering an extended range of particulate contaminant sizes. Extended benefits of MacroTrap® XPore 80 media include:

        • Macropores trap larger particulate matter with 3x to 5x more pickup
        • Micropores trap particulates as small as 3 µm to 120 µm
        • Tortuous path improves trapping performance of contaminants
        • Retains the strength and attrition appropriate for the application
        • Lower density reduces fill cost

        Typical Properties Comparison

            MacroTrap® 1.5 MacroTrap® XPore 80
        Property Units Target Properties Target Properties
        Surface Area m2/gm > 1.50 0.25 max
        Water Absorption % > 40 > 45
        Packing Density kg/m3 721 max 513 max
        Pore Volume Pores > 10 µm (Hg) cc/gm > 0.15 > 0.40
        Crush Strength kgs    

        6 mm

          2.3 min 2.0 min

        8 mm

          4.5 min 4.5 min

        10 mm

          6.8 min 6.0 min

        MacroTrap® Guard Bed Media -- Videos

        The video below depicts typical performance where particulates pass through and around MacroTrap XPore 80 guard bed media.  Results after use show effectiveness of media trapping contaminants in the pores of MacroTrap® XPore 80 guard bed media.

         

        The video below demonstrates the improved pressure drop with the use of MacroTrap® XPore 80 guard bed media in place of hold down media.  The example shows the need for skimming is more frequent due to fouling, but MacroTrap® XPore 80 guards against fouling, improving the overall reactor cycle performance and extending catalyst life.

         


        • Case Study
          Naphtha Hydrotreator
        • Case Study
          Methanol
        • Case Study
          Hydrodemetallization

        MacroTrap® guard bed media more than doubles Naphtha Hydrotreator production time between skimming

        Problem Pressure drop increase in a Mobil Oil Naphtha Hydrotreater required the refiner to shut down the reactor routinely to skim the catalyst bed.  Pressure drop doubled after seven months in operation and tripled after 20 months.
        Solution Mobil installed a 270 mm layer of MacroTrap® media on top of the first of the reactor's three catalyst beds.
        Results After 18 months operation with the MacroTrap® media, the unit experienced no detectable pressure drop increase (Fig. 1).  The refiner proceeded to apply MacroTrap guard bed media to other units in the refinery.
        Application
        Details

        Pressure Drop Mitigated and Extends Catalyst Life, MacroTrap Guard Bed MediaFeed: Persian Gulf Crude

        • 288 - 413ºC (550 - 775ºF)
        • 33 bar (500 psig)

        Feed Composition:

        • C/H molar ratio 0.6
        • 0.1 - 0.2% particulate

        Guard Bed:

        • 270 mm layer of 13 mm (1/2 in.) MacroTrap® 1.5 media on top of two layers of Raschig rings which lie on top of the catalyst

        Catalyst:

        • Commercial hydrodesulfurization catalyst 1.5 mm (1/16 in.) polylobed extrudate

         

         

        MacroTrap® guard bed media extends life 5X of desulfurization unit at Methanol production at National Methanol Company, Ibn Sina, Saudi Arabia

        Problem

        Sulfur must be removed from the natural gas feed before the steam reforming reactor produces the syngas feed for the methanol synthesis reaction train.  Contaminants in the natural gas feed from the adjacent oil refinery caused unacceptable pressure drop increase over the desulfurization catalyst, necessitating skimming of the top 25% of the catalyst bed every 9 - 12 months.  If such pressure drop increase does not occur, a 7 - 10 year catalyst lifetime is expected.

        MacroTrap Guard Bed Media Extends Life 5X | Saint-Gobain NorPro

         

        Solution Installation of a 700 mm layer of 10 mm ring MacroTrap® 1.5 media directly on the catalyst bed.
        Results

        NorPro Carrier Reduces Pressure Drop and Extends Catalyst LifeDesulfurization unit ran more than 5 years (beyond graph timeline).  The plot at right records the pressure drop data with the MacroTrap® media layer installed (orange plot).  The purple and green plots recorded previous runs before the MacroTrap media was installed.

         

        Application
        Details

        Feed: Natural Gas

        • 390ºC (735ºF)
        • 30 bar (450 psig)
        • Flow - 83,000 Nm3/hr
        • Velocity - 0.26 m / sec

        Feed Composition:

        • C1 / C2: 75 / 25%
        • Up to 1% C4 / C5
        • 6 - 10 ppm sulfur compounds
        • Contaminants -- rust ("tramp iron"); carbon dust (from cracked oil mist and heavy hydrocarbons in the feed heater)

        Guard Bed:

        • 700 mm layer of 10 mm (3/8 in.) MacroTrap® media directly on top of the catalyst bed

        Catalyst:

        • Commercial hydrodesulfurization catalyst

         

        MacroTrap® guard bed media filters metals throughout body in Hydrodemetallization test at Process Licensor

        Problem The process licensor was interested in removing metals that were contaminating the hydrodemetallization catalyst, resulting in reduced catalyst life. 

         

        Solution A layer of MacroTrap® guard bed media was installed on top of the hydrodemetallization catalyst in a pilot reactor.  After one month, the guard bed media and catalyst were analyzed to determine the amount of metals each picked up.
        Results

        SEC microprobe scans (Figures 1 - 3) of the MacroTrap® media showed iron, nickel and vanadium deposited in the spaces between the alumina peaks, or absorbed into the pores of the media.  This proved that the metals were filtered throughout the guard bed media pores.  Whereas, the HDM catalyst showed high removal of vanadium and sulfur, low iron removal and some coking.  Electron microprobe analysis of the catalyst showed the metals deposited only on the surface of the catalyst particles.  These results proved that the metals removed by the MacroTrap guard bed media occurred both on the surface, as well as filtered within the interconnected pores of the ceramic body.

        Fig 1 SEC Microprobe Scan of MacroTrap Guard Bed Media Fig. 2 SEC Microprobe Scan of MacroTrap Guard Bed Media Fig 3 SEC Microprobe Scan of MacroTrap Guard Bed Media

         

         

         

        Application
        Details

        Feed: Desalted Boscan crude

        • 390ºC (735ºF)
        • 150 bar (2250 psig)

        Feed Composition:

        • Vanadium: 1,300 ppmw
        • Nickel: 130 ppmw; Iron: 8 ppm2
        • Sulfur: 5.5 wt%
        • Asphaltenes: 15 wt%
        • Up to 1% C4 / C5

        Guard Bed:

        • 10 cm layer of 5 mm (3/16 in.) MacroTrap® guard bed media on top of 163 cm of catalyst
        • 10 cm layer of Denstone® support media on top of the MacroTrap® guard bed media

        Catalyst:

        • Commercial NiMo hydrodemetallization catalyst

        Run Time:

        • 750 hours at LHSV 0.5 / hour

        Carbon and sulfur levels present in the used MacroTrap® media were measured after washing the spheres in hot toluene.  Elemental analysis was conducted over the surface of cut spheres after heating the spheres in air at 450ºC (840ºF).  The composition of the guard bed layer is compared to that of the top layer of the catalyst.

          MacroTrap® Guard Bed Media HDM Catalyst
          % %
        Iron 0.6 0.1
        Vanadium 1.4 26.0
        Nickel 0.2 2.9
        Carbon 0.8 4.0
        Sulfur 0.8 23.0

         

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