Day 1- 18th March 2013

Introduction and Basic Terminology

• What is hydroprocessing?
• Hydrocracking vs hydrotreating
• Typical flow diagram
• Typical process conditions
• Terminology and acronyms

Hydrocracking Basics

• What is a hydrocracker?
• History of hydrocracking
• Hydrocracking licensors
Hydrocracking Chemistry
• Typical molecules
• Desirable reactions - pretreating, aromatic saturation, hydrocracking
• Undesirable reactions - recombination, PCA build-up, thermal hydrocracking
• Hydrogen consumption and heat release

Process Configurations

• Single stage once through
• Single stage recycle
• Two stage recycle
• Other flow-schemes

Hydrocracking Catalysts

• Characteristics
• Properties
• Components
• Manufacture
• Layering
• Regeneration

Kinetics

• Basic kinetic theory and formulae
• Why normalise operating data?
• Worked example of normalisation
• Examples of advanced normalisation techniques

Feed Effects

• Feed cut-point
• Straight-run versus cracked feed
• Effect of nitrogen
• Effect of feed contaminants

End of day one

Day 2 - 19th March 2013

Process Variables - effect of variation in:

• Feed rate
• Partial pressure
• Gas-to-oil ratio
• Reactor temperature
• Temperature profile
• Recycle cut-point
• Per pass conversion

Reactor Internals

• Why do reactors have multiple beds?
• Purpose of reactor internals
• Examples of reactor internals

Product Recovery

• Fractionation basics
• Fractionation troubleshooting
• Fractionation optimisation
• Fractionation performance monitoring

Shutdown Guidelines

• Short-term shutdowns
• Medium-term shutdowns
• Long-term shutdowns

Catalyst Changeouts

• Importance of well-managed catalyst changeouts
• Catalyst unloading
• Process inspection
• Catalyst loading

Start-up Guidelines

• Introducing oil to dry catalyst
• Sulphiding
• Titration
• Reduction of noble-metal catalysts

End of day two

Day 3 - 20th March 2013

Emergency Guidelines - How to respond to unit upsets:

• Loss of makeup gas
• Loss of recycle compressor
• Loss of feed
• Temperature excursion

Monitoring, Troubleshooting and Optimisation

• Monitoring techniques for:
      o Feed quality
      o Rotating equipment
      o Heat exchangers
      o Furnace
      o Reactor
      o Air-coolers
• Maximising utilisation
• Maximising upgrading
• Energy optimisation

Residue Processing

• Typical feedstocks
• Residue processing chemistry
• Fixed bed, moving bed and ebullating bed processes
• Resid catalysts and deactivation

Metallurgy and corrosion

• Typical materials of construction
• Common corrosion mechanisms
• Corrosion mitigation strategies