- PhD in Chemistry - UCBL University – Lyon/France (2003-2006) - Organometallic chemistry & Heterogeneous catalysis - Research Associate - The Scripps Research institute - USA (2007) - Heterogeneous catalysis - Area Sales Manager - Eurecat France (2008-2012) - Catalyst Regeneration, Preconditioning and metal reclaiming Dr. ALAIN SALAMEH Sales Manager, Al-Bilad Catalyst - Sales & Marketing Manager - Al Bilad Catalyst KSA (2012-present) - Catalyst Regeneration, Preconditioning and metal reclaiming TOPIC Regeneration of spent Hydro-processing Catalysts I. About Al-Bilad Catalyst (ABC) ABC shareholders Eurecat SA (FRANCE) Al Bilad Est. for Trading & Economy FAL Holding Arabia Co. Ltd. (KSA) (KSA) Al-Bilad Catalyst Co.Ltd. Masar Al Badr Co. Ltd. (KSA) National Contracting Co. Ltd. (Kuwait) ABC background ALBEMARLE Catalyst IFP investment NICO ITALY PETROVAL Fr, US & Sg EURECAT INDIA AL-BILAD KSA TRICAT GERMANY EcoRigen ITALY EURECAT US EURECAT SA EURECAT FRANCE AXENS GLOSISCO KSA TOTAL FRANCE ABC Customers Catalyst end-users: oil refiners & (petro)chemicals companies Catalyst manufacturers ABC Services CATALYST REGENERATION & REACT TRANSPORT CATALYST STORAGE CATALYST RECYCLING PRECIOUS METAL BASE METALS ABC approach Unloaded Spent catalyst Fresh catalyst Recycling (metal reclaim) Process Evaluation Metals market Regeneration For optimal Economics and Environment preservation ABC Regeneration NiW Zeolites NiMo, CoMo And NiCoMo CATALYST REGENERATION & REACT Pd and Ni ABC Recycling/Metal reclaim NiW Pt, Pd and Rh NiMo, CoMo and NiCoMo CATALYST RECYCLING Ni, Zn, Cu and V ABC Recycling/Metal reclaim (base metals) ABC KSA Spentcatalyst ABC industrial partners Sampling Weighing Steel Sieving Smelting Refining Pre-treatment Pre-treatedcatalyst & Fines Lumps Wastes Ceramicballs Slags (Al2O3) Rockwool manufacturing ABC Recycling/Metal reclaim (precious metals) ABC KSA Spentcatalyst Heraeus Germany Customer or manufacturer account for manufacturing of new batch of catalyst Sampling Weighing Resale further to customer instructions Sieving Precious Metal Pre-treatment Pre-treatedcatalyst & Fines Sampling & Assaying Refining II. Catalyst Regeneration Introduction Fresh catalyst structure Catalyst with coke deposit (main cause of deactivation) Active site Extrudate Support Catalyst regeneration is a controlled carbon burn-off under hot air, permitting uncover these active sites and thus recover the catalyst activity Regenerability study Confirm reusability Maximise recovery Confirm reusability Standard regenerability study on hydrotreating catalysts: (CoMo, NiMo, NiW...) In spent state: Carbon, Hydrocarbons/Other volatiles, LOI Fines content Metals contaminants Visual aspects After lab-regeneration: Carbon Surface Area Bulk Crush Strength Particle Size Distribution Visual aspects Al-Bilad advises – You decide whether to regenerate Confirm reusability Hydrodesulfurisation and Hydrodenitrogenation activity of CoMo / NiMo / NiCoMo catalysts In total 22 pilot plant reactors are available for both standard format and custom format testing. Qualified by Albemarle® , Axens®, Haldor Topsoe® and major refiners. Relative Volume Activity % vs fresh reference catalyst, can be converted into delta Weighted Average Bed Temp at SOR. Maximize recovery SAS : SAMPLE / ANALYZE / SEGREGATE Catalyst is often partly contaminated, partly in good shape. SAS is a tool that allows you to recover the non contaminated portion of the catalyst. Reactor Maximize recovery 0,7 %Fe 0,5 0,4 Wt% %Si %Na As (prior to SAS): 0.11% As (disposed): 0.21% As (regeneraterd): 0.05% Reactor 0,6 %As Recycling Regeneration 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 0 10 20 30 Bin N° 49 tons (over 75) were recovered (~65%) 40 50 60 Plant Regeneration ABC has a regeneration capacity of about 2500 tons/y that shall be increased to around 3500 tons/y by the end of 2016 Rotolouvre  Continuous process  Temperature control  Product homogeneity  Continuous quality control Spent catalyst Hot air Regenerated catalyst THANK YOU