Opal

Refiners are always put under pressure to process heavier residual feedstocks, while maintaining high levels of conversion to valuable products. OPAL has been specifically developed to meet the needs of refiners wanting to extend the capability of their FCCU to process very heavy resid.

Albemarles’s high accessibility catalysts using ADM 20 matrix technology are renowned in the refining industry for their superior bottoms cracking ability. On the other hand, our low delta coke catalysts using ADM 60 technology lead the way in applications severely limited by regenerator temperature and coke burning constraints. ADM 20 and ADM 60 are combined in the enhanced matrix system of OPAL. This combination has been possible thanks to the breakthrough catalyst assembly technology TOPAZ, which has been developed from the Filtrol® technology. The result is excellent bottoms cracking at very low coke make.

OPAL catalysts feature high accessibility pore architecture, maximizing the effective use of active FCC catalyst components. The combination of high accessibility and special matrix components increases the resistance to metals such as nickel and vanadium. OPAL also offers maximum resistance to the harmful effects of iron poisoning. OPAL is used when it is desired to maximize bottoms conversion of heavier feedstock in an FCC unit that is limited by delta coke, or when excessive hydrogen and dry gas make occur from metals contamination.

The high accessibility of OPAL makes it the ideal choice where mass transfer limitations occur in a delta coke limited unit. This is of particular importance to units processing feeds containing significant quantities of contaminants such as iron, sodium, vanadium, and calcium; or resid FCC units with modern short contact-time devices such as close-coupled cyclones.

The overall benefits of OPAL can be summarized:

• Exceptional coke and gas selectivity
• Outstanding bottoms conversion
• Unparalleled high accessibility and resistance to contaminants
• Excellent gasoline selectivity