Revamp raises crude flexibility
and profits
Changduk Cho Hyundai Oilbank
John Baricand Chee Long Hoh Shell Catalysts & Technologies
H
yundai Oilbank (HDO) has been operat-
ing an atmospheric residue desulphurisa-
tion (ARDS) unit, producing feed for the
RFCC unit, at its Daesan, South Korea, refinery
since May 2011. The unit consisted of two iden-
tical reactor trains (modules), with each mod-
ule having a fully independent, high pressure
section, but with a common work-up section.
HDO recognised that the ARDS process was con-
straining both the refinery crude diet and capac-
ity and requested Shell Catalysts & Technologies
to implement an expansion revamp to increase
crude flexibility, especially to heavier, lower cost
crudes, to make the refinery more competitive
in the marketplace, creating an opportunity for
increasing profits.
The technical team at HDO determined that
they could leverage the combined power of SDA
(the biggest C5 SDA globally) plus deasphalted
oil (DAO) in mild hydrocracker (MHC) technol-
ogy to increase conversion of residue in the refin-
ery. They looked to their long-time technology
provider, Shell Catalysts & Technologies, which
has offered reliable technical service and the
delivery of process and catalytic solutions in sev-
eral previous refinery projects, to work with them
on the necessary improvements.
The project’s goal was to increase the over-
all unit capacity and at the same time enable the
refinery to process more difficult crudes. The pro-
ject has been successfully executed over a series
of expansion revamps.
The first phase revamp began in 2016, where
Shell Catalysts & Technologies provided the
technical support for HDO to expand the capac-
ity of ARDS Module 1 and revamp Module 2 to a
DAO MHC, with a combined capacity increase of
50%. The project achieved an increase in capacity
needed to process the additional vacuum residue
generated from a change to a heavier crude diet.
www.digitalrefining.com/article/1002454
Overall, an increase in capability was achieved
for upgrading high sulphur residue into low sul-
phur fuel oil and more valuable light products
(such as distillates) from heavy crude processing.
It took only 16 months from the beginning of
the feasibility study to start up in September
2018.
HDO began phase two of the revamp in 2018
with Shell Catalysts & Technologies, starting with
a feasibility study plus basic engineering design
package, with completion in 15 months. This
revamp will accomplish the following in the two
modules:
• Module 1 – capacity will be further increased
by 30% with revamp of the existing single train to
two parallel trains. The design cycle length will be
increased by 50%
• Module 2 – capacity will be further increased
by 10%. The design cycle length will also be
increased by 50%. The revamp project will also
enable further integration of the refinery with the
new heavy feed petrochemical complex (HPC)
Both expanded and revamped modules enable
the refinery to upgrade low value hydrocarbons,
vacuum residue in this case, into valuable prod-
ucts which are expected to deliver higher mar-
gin/profit to HDO. The revamps will help HDO to
achieve several objectives:
• Increase crude processing flexibility with the
ability to process cheaper, heavier crudes as a
lever to increase refinery profit margin
• Capability to meet IMO 2020 by producing
marine low sulphur fuel oil (<0.5 wt% sulphur)
• Provide sustainable feedstock to HPC
• Maximise RFCC feedstock and produce more
valuable products such as propylene, gasoline,
and distillate
Since the first phase revamp, HDO has had
success in improving refinery margins by sig-
nificantly reducing its crude acquisition costs
PTQ Q3 2020 1
 by processing very difficult heavy crudes. A
third revamp phase is in development, designed
to fully support the competitive crude sourc-
ing objectives by further optimising the unit’s
performance.
8 PTQ Q3 2020
LINKS
More articles from: Shell Catalysts & Technologies
More articles from the following categories:
Catalysts & Additives Fluid Catalytic Cracking
Revamps and Turnarounds
Sulphur Removal and Recovery
www.digitalrefining.com/article/1002454