DuPont™ ConvEx(SM) HF alkylation conversion technology takes top honors at the 2018 Hydrocarbon Processing Awards Celebration in Houston.
Nearly 150 of the downstream processing industry's leading players gathered recently to celebrate the winners of the 2018 Hydrocarbon Processing (HP) Awards. At the awards ceremony, which seeks to recognize and honor the midstream and downstream processing industries' top innovations and innovators, DuPont Clean Technologies won "Best Refining Technology" for its ConvExSM HF Alkylation Conversion Technology. Accepting the award for DuPont was Shane Presley, technical service and development manager. Shane and Jason Nunez, senior technical service engineer, were instrumental in developing the award-winning technology.
At the gala event in Houston, Texas, honorees received awards in 12 categories which recognized the latest technological advances and individual achievements. Category winners were singled out for their influential role in enabling refinery, petrochemical and gas processing/LNG operators to optimize their operations.
Eli Ben-Shoshan, Global business leader, DuPont Clean Technologies
With worldwide demand for higher-octane fuels growing, petroleum refiners increasingly look to alkylate as the gasoline blending component of choice. As there is a worldwide shortage, the ability to produce alkylate onsite locally is extremely beneficial for refiners and offers a host of advantages including high octane, low sulfur, low vapor pressure and the elimination of aromatics and olefins.
Over 40% of the existing alkylation facilities in the world employ hydrofluoric acid (HF) as the catalyst for the alkylation reaction. Concerns with the toxicity of HF are pressuring refiners to reconsider its use. The new DuPont™ ConvExSM technology is the first to offer refiners a significantly safer and cost-effective option for producing alkylate by converting existing HF alkylation assets to sulfuric acid alkylation units. The DuPont™ ConvExSM technology has the added benefit of allowing for an increase in the design capacity of existing alkylation units by 100% or more at 40-60 percent of the cost of a grassroots sulfuric acid alkylation unit, decidedly lower than any other option available on the market.