CATALYST MANAGEMENT PROGRAM Zbuzek M.1, Herink

CATALYST MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
Zbuzek M.1, Herink T.1, Růžička M.1, Hájek J.2
1
Unipetrol RPA, Záluží – Litvínov, Czech Republic
Unipetrol Centre of Research and Education, Záluží – Litvínov, Czech Republic
Contact: [email protected]
2
Unipetrol is the leading refinery and petrochemical group in the Czech Republic and a
major player in Central and Eastern Europe. Catalysts and sorbents are important and
integral parts for most of the refinery and petrochemical processes. The main goal for
each company is continuous improvement of their production efficiency. Catalyst
management is one of a tool, which allows achieving maximal profit based on cost and
benefits analysis. Catalyst management can be divided into three pillars which forms a
closed cycle.
Catalyst management realized in Unipetrol resulted to numerous optimizations across all
pillars. New fresh catalysts are purchased according to predefined strategy via tender.
The bids are evaluated from a technical and economic perspective. The tender often
involves the testing of catalyst activity. The catalyst performance is monitored on regular
basis in each of operated unit. Therefore, the catalysts are replaced after the reaching of
limit values due to inefficient operations. Completely new is secondary utilization of
spent catalysts instead its disposal to landfill. Secondary utilization of spent catalysts
leads to significant financial savings and the costs for landfilling are eliminated.
Fig.1 Total catalyst management, full closed cycle.