HydroFlex™ - the

solution to production
of renewable jet fuel
and diesel
Mikala Grubb, Ph.D.
Senior Business Development Manager
Summary

Feedstocks Analysis HydroFlex™

Contaminants Hydrogen

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Haldor Topsoe
In brief

• Market leader in heterogeneous catalysis for

the refining and chemical industries for more
than 75 years.
• 2,200 employees in 13 countries.
• Headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.
2018 revenue
• Production in Frederikssund, Denmark, and DKK 5,617m
Houston, US. (~USD 890m)
• Spends around 9% of revenue on R&D.
• Established in 1940 by Dr. Haldor Topsøe. 2018 operating
profit DKK 708m
(~USD 110m)

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Global presence

Copenhagen &
Frederikssund, Moscow,
Edmonton, Denmark Russia
Canada S H
S E
Beijing &
P E R
Los Angeles, S
Bayport & S
Dalian,
California Houston, China
Texas Essen, Khobar, Manama, S R
E
Germany Saudi Arabia Bahrain
S P

S SS S E

Kuala Lumpur,
Mexico City, New Delhi, Malaysia
Mexico India
S

Jakarta,
Buenos Aires, S
Indonesia
Argentina
Rio de Janeiro,
S
Brazil

H Headquarters P Production E Engineering S Sales & Service R Research & Development

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We have a broad range of products and services
that combined help our customers achieve optimal performance

+ + +
Process design, High-performance Proprietary Business and
engineering and licensing catalysts equipment technical services

We design, engineer We supply a range of We can provide a From evaluating the

and license a broad
range of processes for
chemical processing,
hydroprocessing and
emissions management.
more than 150 different
catalysts and have the
capability to design and
manufacture custom
catalysts for specific tasks.
complete range of
proprietary equipment,
spare parts and
consumables, designed
and manufactured to last
and work optimally.
feasibility of a new plant
or product, to designing
it, getting it built and
running optimally, we
provide a full range of
services.

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Hydrotreating explained in one minute

Feedstock H2

6 Product
Let us agree…

Biodiesel Renewable diesel

≠
Hydrocarbon diesel fuel
Biofuel produced by
produced by hydroprocessing
transesterification of fatty acids
of renewable feedstock - also
- also called Fatty Acid Methyl
called Hydrotreated Vegetable
Ester (FAME)
Oil (HVO)

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 Market status and trends
Hydroprocessed renewable fuels
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Two major markets

US EU
Renewable LPG

Vegetable oil Renewable Naphtha

Vegetable oil Tallow
Renewable Renewable Jet fuel
Used cooking oil
Tallow HydroFlex™ diesel HydroFlex™
Renewable diesel
Tall oil
(EN590)
Advanced biofuels
Distillers Renewable
Renewable diesel
corn oil (EN15940)
jet fuel
Renewable diesel
(MK-1)

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 Renewable diesel specifications
EN15940:2016 Class A
MK-1 ASTM D975-17a EN 590
(HVO-100)
Paraffinic diesel from
Diesel Fuel Oils Diesel Fuel
synthesis or HDT
IBP (°C) Min. 180 n.a. n.a. n.a.

FBP (°C) 340 (T95, D86) 360 (T95, D86) 282-338 (T90, D86) 360 (T95, D86)

Density (kg/m3) 800-830 765-800 n.a. 820-845

Cetane number Min 51 Min 70 Min. 40 Min 51
Aromatics Max 5.0 vol% Max 1.1 wt% Max 35 wt% n.a.
Polyaromatics Max 0.02 vol% n.a. n.a. Max 8 wt%
Cloud point (°C) Max. -16 - n.a.
CFPP (°C) Max. -26 Down to -20 (Grade F) Down to -20 (grade F)
FAME content (vol%) 0 Max 7% n.a. Max 7%
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 Contaminants
The bad & the ugly
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Challenges in hydroprocessing of renewable feedstocks
Contaminants, coking and exotherms

• Contaminants (e.g. P, Si, Fe, Na) • Formation of a high P containing crust

around the catalyst pellet affects the
• Shortens catalyst lifetime
access to the pore structure.
• Increases pressure drop
• Unsaturated components increases coking
• Hydrodeoxygenation exotherms high for
bio-/renewable feedstocks P

Na K

Figure: High P containing crust around guard catalyst from a

commercial unit processing 50% renewable feedstock
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Difficulty of analysis
Round Robin study carried out in collaboration with customers and partners

• Compare analyses of three types of feedstocks:

• Vegetable Oil (VO)
• Animal fat (AF)
• Pyrolysis oil (PO)
• 12 analytical laboratories participated to the study using certified methods
• Analysis:
• Elemental: C, H, S, N, O
• Bulk properties: SG, cloud point, pour point, water content, TAN
• Contaminants: As, Al, Ca, Fe, K, Na, Mg, P, SI, Zn
• Results reported as “<“ are not included in this summary

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Measurement of contaminants
A catalyst lifetime between the results

• Significant deviation between measurements using ICP for all contaminants analyzed
• Sample preparation and analyses are critical but new methods need to be developed

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Conclusions from Round Robin Study

• Good performances for the analysis of vegetable oil

• Poor results for pyrolysis oil
• Analytical methods need to be improved, especially for contaminants
• Sample preparation is key due to presence of two phases
• ASTM methods have not been developed for renewable
feedstocks

• Topsoe technical whitepaper available upon request

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 Jet fuel from renewable feedstocks

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Key specifications for the renewable jet product (ASTM D 7566)

Max 50 vol% HEFA-SPK can be

blended together with
conventional jet fuel
… but the aromatics must be
minimum 8.4 vol% in the final
blend !

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 The necessary process steps to convert triglycerides into renewable jet

Animal fats

Seed oils

Used cooking oil Boiling

Removal Isomeriza Reducing
point Distillation
of oxygen tion aromatics
reduction

Pyrolysis oil

Tall oil
For max RJ
18 Feed dependent
Renewable jet fuel from tallow/used cooking oil

Fatty acid distribution

C14 0.9 wt%

C16 19.9 wt%
C18 75.5 wt%
C20 1.5 wt%
Other 2.2 wt%

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Analysis report
Independent laboratory
Large sample of jet fuel product
from pilot plant test collected
and sent to independent
laboratory (Saybolt) for testing.

November 8th, 2018 final

analysis report received.

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We are dedicated to make sustainable
aviation fuel the new global standard (…)
we have selected Topsoe’s HydroFlex™
technology after a very thorough selection
process
Maarten van Dijk, executive director at SkyNRG
 solutions

Hydroprocessing solutions for renewables

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Sour mode HydroFlex™
H2

Renewable
feedstock

“Easy” feedstocks
Low CAPEX
Revamp friendly HDO DW

EN590
diesel
(HVO-100)

Renewable
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diesel
 Sweet mode HydroFlex™
H2
H2S, NH3
Renewable
feedstock

All feedstocks
All products
Grassroot design
HDO HYC DW

Renewable jet fuel

Renewable diesel
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 Let’s talk about hydrogen

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Let’s talk about hydrogen

• Straight run diesel ~60-70 Nm3/m3

• Advanced biofuels have Co-processing
• High amounts of oxygen
• High amounts of unsaturated
components
• High hydrogen consumption is a fact

MDC HTCR TBR SMR

Figure: Influence of amount of processed renewable
feedstock on hydrogen consumption in co-processing

Capacities from 300 Nm3/h to 250,000 Nm3/h

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Summary

Feedstocks Analysis HydroFlex™

Contaminants Hydrogen

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