INCREASING

UNIT
PROFITABILITY
BY IMPROVING
DIESEL YIELDS
AND CLOUD
POINT
TABLE OF
CONTENTS

3 Introduction
4 Market
5 Cold Flow Properties and End Point
7 Case Study: HC-120 in Use
9 Case Study: Comparing HC-425 to HC-120
11 Conclusion

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point 2

INTRODUCTION

This paper will first explore why it can be attractive

to increase hydrocracking unit diesel yields in light
of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO)
international agreement (called MARPOL-short for
marine pollution) impact on the market.
Secondly, it will review the interplay between diesel specifications for endpoint (as measured
by T95%) and cold flow (as measured by cloud point) and how the right hydrocracking catalyst
AUTHOR
can unconstrain diesel production, allowing for more valuable diesel to be produced and less
unconverted oil. Finally, the paper presents a case study highlighting the use of Honeywell UOP’s
catalysts to achieve these results as well as a second case study where the potential use of two
UOP catalyst systems were investigated in-depth.

Jill Meister,
Senior Global
Technical Sales
Manager,
UOP Honeywell

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Introduction 3
 MARKET

Additional diesel production over unconverted oil

(UCO) is attractive because of its profitability.
This will become especially important in 2020 due to the impact of updated MARPOL specifications:
lower sulfur limits for bunker fuels will dramatically shift demand away from high sulfur fuel oil
and increase demand for diesel. Global diesel demand, shown in Figure 1, has been rising and is
projected to plateau after 2020. Refiners are well-advised to look for ways to incrementally increase
diesel production in advance of coming market changes.

Meanwhile, the available margin as shown by the distillate crack spreads in Figure 2 is projected to
sharply increase and then gradually return to previous levels. Refiners poised to take advantage of
this opportunity will be able to increase profitability by shifting production away from unconverted
oil and augmenting diesel production. With the coming changes in diesel demand and resulting
increase in diesel-crude price differentials, a refiner who strategically reloads a hydrocracking unit to
increase diesel yield by 2 wt% could increase diesel revenue by $30 million per year.

Global Diesel Demand

32
Million bbl/day

30

28

26

24
2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Source: IHS Markit
Figure 1: Forecasted Global Diesel Demand

Distillate Crack Spreads: Diesel – Crude Differentials

30

20
$/bbl

10
Arab Gulf 500ppm S Gas Oil – Dubai, FOB
Singapore Gasoil 500ppm – Arab Light
USGC ULSD – LLS
0
2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
Source: IHS Markit
Figure 2: Forecasted Impact on Distillate Crack Spreads: Diesel – Crude Differentials

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Market 4
COLD FLOW PROPERTIES
AND END POINT

In refining, product specifications not only represent

the standards that fuels must meet in order to go to
market, they also represent what the market is ready
and willing to pay for.
When a refiner produces fuels with qualities higher than specifications, the refiner is not
compensated for this extra value in the fuel and the difference between what was specified and the
value sent to market is called “giveaway.”

Understanding the role that catalysts can play in optimizing diesel production, involves
understanding product giveaway regarding cold flow properties and product end point.
Interdependence between cloud point and end point specifications can work against a refiner by
reducing diesel yields. Alternatively, the optimum yield would be obtained when both the minimum
cold flow properties and maximum diesel boiling point specification are achieved at the same time.

For diesel, cold flow properties and end point represent two important product quality specifications
that often align, or misalign, in such a way as to create significant giveaway. Cold flow properties are
the measurable properties used in the industry to indicate how well a diesel fuel will flow in engines
in cold or very cold weather. They include cloud point, cold filter plugging point, and pour point. The
lower the temperature value for each of these test results, the lower the ambient temperature can
drop and this diesel will still flow without trouble in an engine. Cloud point is measured by gradually
lowering the temperature of a diesel sample and observing the formation of crystals, which makes
the sample appear cloudy – the temperature at which those crystals first appear is called the cloud
point. A diesel with a higher cloud point would not be as well suited for Siberian winters as a diesel
with a lower cloud point.

A distillation characteristic of diesel fuel often reported is the ASTM D 86 T95, the temperature
during a lab analysis distillation at which 95%, by volume, of the diesel has been recovered. A
higher temperature for the end point indicates that larger, “heavier” hydrocarbon compounds are
included in the batch of diesel analyzed. To produce diesel and other products that meet end point
specifications, fractionation sections are operated with cut point targets that are adjusted based
on the end points of products or, if otherwise constrained, by other product qualities. If a product’s
end point turns out too high, the fractionator’s cut point target will be adjusted to exclude more
of the heavy material from that fraction, or “cut,” and it results in a smaller volume of that fraction
being produced. Since the heavier n-paraffin hydrocarbon compounds are the first to crystallize
at cold temperatures, excluding more of the heavy material from the diesel fraction (shifting that
volume to the unconverted oil fraction) also improves diesel cold flow properties such as cloud point.
Unfortunately, refiners sometimes must change fractionation targets and reduce their diesel volume
due to cloud point rather than end point, resulting in significant distillation giveaway.

For a refiner struggling with end point giveaway in their diesel in order to meet cloud point
specifications, a different catalyst selection can make a significant difference. Heavy straight-
chain hydrocarbons crystallize at higher temperatures than branched hydrocarbons of the same

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Cold Flow Properties and End Point 5
COLD FLOW PROPERTIES
AND END POINT
molecular weight. This means that a sample of diesel with the same distillation curve
and same end point, but with more branched heavy hydrocarbons, will meet cold flow
requirements that a similar sample with more straight-chain hydrocarbons cannot meet.
Catalysts designed to optimize cold flow properties will isomerize long straight-chain
hydrocarbons into shorter, branched hydrocarbons. Figure 3 shows the difference that
isomerization makes for paraffin molecular structure and the aspects of the downstream
fractionation operation that are impacted by the resulting property changes. Reduction
of long n-paraffins and increasing branched paraffins allows a diesel hydrocracking unit
to include a significantly larger volume of its heavier hydrocarbons in the diesel product
fraction while working simultaneously toward both the cloud point and the end point
specifications. Two such UOP catalysts, HC-120 and HC-425, are considered in the case
studies that follow.

Isomerization
Cold Flow
Properties
Long chain paraffins
(chrystalline)
Branched Paraffins

Fractionation
Operation

Quality Indicator
QI
Cut-point
temperature TC Diesel
control

UCO

Figure 3: Increase yields through cold flow properties and fractionator operation.

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Cold Flow Properties and End Point 6
CASE STUDY:
HC-120 IN USE

One Asia Pacific refiner is using HC-120 and

achieving higher diesel yields while achieving
increased diesel ASTM D 86 T95% and improved
cold flow properties at the same time - even while
processing greater quantities of more economical but
more challenging feedstocks.
Their two-stage hydrocracker processes a feed slate composed mostly of light vacuum gas oil
(LVGO) and heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) with a significant amount of deasphalted oil (DAO)
blended in. The unit’s objective is high conversion to distillate and it had been operating on
12-month cycles with a non-UOP catalyst for the first nine cycles. For cycles 10 onward through the
current, 16th, cycle UOP has supplied catalyst for this unit and has worked with the refiner to improve
throughput and cycle length.

Original Design Current Operation

75% LVGO / HVGO 75% LVGO / HVGO
Feed Composition
25% DAO 25% DAO
Feed Rate, T/D
3300 (23) 4700 (30)
(MBPD)

Pressure High High

Max conversion Max conversion

Objective
to distillate to distillate

Catalyst Supplier Non-UOP → Cycles 1-9 UOP → Cycles 10-16

Cycle Length,
~12 >45
months
Table 1: Hydrocracking unit’s original vs. current operation.

In the most recent cycles in this unit, cycles 15 and 16, the hydrocracker was changed from having
the distillate selective catalyst with superior cold flow properties, HC-120, in only the first stage
hydrocracking reactor to utilizing HC-120 in both the first stage and second stage reactors. One of
the biggest constraints for the unit at the time had been diesel cloud point, so that constraint was
addressed in cycle 16 with this catalyst change.

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Case Study: HC-120 in Use 7
CASE STUDY:
HC-120 IN USE

Shown in Figure 4, the change in catalyst successfully reduced the number of days that the unit
was constrained by cloud point alone by nearly 20%. The number of days with T95 distillation
giveaway improved by 40%. Unconstrained during the winter diesel season, the refiner had
new flexibility in the operation of the hydrocracking unit and chose to run more deasphalted oil
through the hydrocracker. Deasphalted oil is challenging for a hydrocracking unit to process due
to several factors including its significantly higher boiling point, but the refiner was able to process
this opportunity feedstock and remain on-spec with minimal giveaway. Thus, profitability was
improved for the refiner not only through increased volume of diesel produced, but also through the
opportunity to process more economical feedstock.

Winter Gasoil Constraints

100%

80% Cycle 15
Cycle 16: HC-120
60%

40%

20%

0%
Cloud T95 Cloud + T95
Figure 4: Days running to winter cloud point, T95, and both specifications.

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Case Study: HC-120 in Use 8
 CASE STUDY:
COMPARING HC-425 TO HC-120

UOP’s next generation of distillate cracking catalyst

with even further cold flow property improvements is
HC-425.
This catalyst provides distillate yields that are slightly better than the already excellent yields seen
with HC-120, and the diesel produced with this newest catalyst maintains good cold flow properties
to even colder ambient temperatures than diesel produced with HC-120.

B+50
HC-120
HC-425
B+40
Distillate Yield

Cloud Point

B+30
HC-425

HC-120 B+20

B+10

Base
Base B+10 B+20 B+30 B+40 B+50 Base B+10 B+20 B+30 B+40 B+50
Distillate Conversion Distillate Conversion
Figure 5: Distillate yield and cloud point of diesel produced with HC-425 vs. HC-120.

A North American refiner asked for an in-depth study using UOP proprietary models followed by
a pilot plant test comparing the use of HC-120 to the new catalyst HC-425 in their hydrocracker.
Results showed that a significant reduction in distillate cold flow property values would be available
from either catalyst, but especially from the HC-425 catalyst.

The hydrocracker is a once-through unit that processes cracked and straight run gas oils as well
as light cycle oil (LCO). For the study, two catalyst reload options were analyzed and compared.
The unit was already running UOP’s distillate selective catalyst HC-130, and this catalyst volume
remained the same in the study. HC-120 was used in option 1 and HC-425 was used in option 2 for
cold flow property improvement. These different catalyst options isomerized long straight-chain
hydrocarbons into shorter, branched hydrocarbons for the cold flow property improvement. Since all
other variables in the two options were the same, this allowed for a direct comparison of HC-120 and
HC-425 performance in a yield estimating model study for the commercial application.

The study was run in two phases – initially using the target cloud point and cut point, then with only
cloud point held constant – and looking at both the HC-130/HC-120 combination and the HC-130/
HC-425 combination, giving four sets of results to compare. Initial conditions for the study were
at 60% conversion with a target cloud point of 34°F and cut point of 684°F. The results of the first
phase of the yield estimating model study showed increased diesel yields as well as a significantly
improved, lower diesel cloud point below 34°F with the same cut point at 684°F. The next phase of
the yield estimating model study changed the simulation to find out what the yield and cut point
would be for each option in order to have a cloud point at the target of 34°F. For option one, the cut
point was able to be shifted from 684°F to 716°F to achieve the cloud point target and the results

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Case Study: Comparing HC-425 to HC-120 9
 CASE STUDY:
COMPARING HC-425 TO HC-120
showed a further diesel yield increase of 1.8 wt%, for a total of about 3.7% higher yield than the
base case of HC-130 alone. For option two, 724°F was the new cut point and the yield increased an
additional 2.2 wt%, for a total of 4.8% yield increase over the base case while continuing to meet the
diesel distillation specification. One of the reasons for the higher distillate yield at the 34°F cloud
point is that the reactor is running at lower severity to achieve this target, allowing for more distillate-
selective activity in the reactor.

34°F Cloud Point

B+5.0 724°F Cut Point
Total Distillate Yield, Wt-%

34°F Cloud Point

B+4.0
716°F Cut Point

B+3.0 20°F Cloud Point

684°F Cut Point
25°F Cloud Point
B+2.0 684°F Cut Point

B+1.0

Base
HC-130/HC-120 HC-130/HC-425 HC-130/HC-120 HC-130/HC-425
Figure 6: Analysis of the two catalyst reload options showed that adding either HC-120 or HC-425 would improve
diesel yields, but HC-425 would provide the bigger impact.

Using the results of UOP proprietary models as a guide, UOP used their pilot plant to verify how
cloud point would be affected when the cut point was shifted from 684°F to 710°F with the HC-425
catalyst. The pilot plant test results, shown in Figure 7, confirmed the 15°F shift in cloud point that
the UOP proprietary models predicted.

Maximizing Diesel Yield

B+20
684°F Cut Point
710°F Cut Point
B+15
Diesel Cloud Point

B+10

B+5

Base
Base B+5 B+10 B+15

Gross Conversion, vol %

Figure 7: Diesel cloud point shift in pilot plant testing with HC-425.

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Case Study: Comparing HC-425 to HC-120 10
CONCLUSION

Leveraging catalysts that give better cold flow

properties will allow refiners to achieve higher diesel
yields.
In light of the coming IMO changes to marine pollution (MARPOL) and corresponding increases
in diesel prices, 2019 and 2020 are important years for refiners to closely examine their diesel
production and take advantage of opportunities like those that can be presented by UOP distillate
catalysts HC-120 and HC-425 to maximize diesel production.

Increasing Unit Profitability by Improving Diesel Yields and Cloud Point | Conclusion 11
For More Information
For more information, please contact
your UOP representative or visit
us online at www.uop.com.
UOP LLC, A Honeywell Company
25 East Algonquin Road
Des Plaines, IL 60017-5017, U.S.A.
www.uop.com
© 2019 UOP LLC. All rights reserved.
The information in this Honeywell Company document should
not be construed as a representation for which UOP assumes
legal responsibility, or an authorization or recommendation
to practice a patented invention without a license.
UOPXXXX July 2019