MacroTrap® Guard Bed Media

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

Saint-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