Applications

Feed Purification. Süd-Chemie developed the ActiSorb® - and HDMax® series of catalysts and adsorbents for the purification of almost all hydrocarbon feedstocks.

Prereforming allows increased flexibility in the choice of feedstock, increased lifetime of the steam reforming catalyst and tubes, and the option of increasing the overall plant capacity. Furthermore it allows an operation at lower steam/carbon ratio. ReforMax® 100 is a pre-reforming catalyst designed to handle the entire range of hydrocarbon feedstocks from natural gas up to and including LPGs and naphthas.

Steamreforming. Selection for the optimum catalyst depends on several factors, including furnace design, severity of service, and the type of hydrocarbon processed. Our standard catalysts for steam reforming are ReforMax® 330 LDP, ReformMax® 210 LDP, and ReforMax® 250.

Secondary Reforming. The optimum catalyst for an air -blown secondary reformer depends on the design of the burner and the distance between burner tip and top catalyst layer. If hexagonal target bricks are not used, we recommend installation of a top layer of ReforMax® 400 GG to serve as an active heat shield. This material is also ideal for a bottom active support layer where extreme short loadings are required and/or high purity inert supports have been used in the past. ReforMax® 400 LDP catalyst is used for the bulk of the reactor loading.

Autothermal Reforming. Oxygen-blown autothermal reformers require a mixed loading of catalysts, comprising an active heat shield and a reforming catalyst of excellent physical stability and thermoshock resistance. The standard catalyst loading is approximately 5 - 10% of ReforMax® 420 on top of ReforMax® 330 LDP catalyst.

CO-Conversion. Most ammonia plants convert carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide by high-temperature CO conversion, followed by low-temperature conversion. For special process design, it can be advantageous to combine these two steps to form one isothermal or adiabatic step called medium-temperature CO conversion (MTS). The HTS catalyst ShiftMax® 120 combines high activity with extremely good physical robustness. In addition, this catalyst is very effective in preventing Fischer-Tropsch by-product formation when operating at low-stream conditions. The LTS-catalyst ShiftMax® 230 and 240 are next-generation products that offer unparalleled activity for water-gas shift, resulting in higher CO conversion for longer life, enhanced resistance to poisons, and excellent physical strength. The promoter in ShiftMax® 240 suppresses the formation of methanol by more than 95% compared to standard LTS catalysts.

Methanation. Depending on the severity and product purity requirements of the application, Süd-Chemie supplies two different types of methanation catalysts METH 134 and METH 150.

Methanol Synthesis. For the synthesis of methanol from carbon oxides and hydrogen, Süd-Chemie produces the MegaMax® 700 catalyst, which is used in isothermal reactors (Lurgi-type) and all other plant designs, such as adiabatic quench type reactors. MegaMax® 700 has extremely good low-temperature activity, which allows it to be operated at more thermodynamically favorable conditions. This catalyst also has excellent selectivity, even with high CO-content feed gas.

Ammonia Synthesis. AmoMax 10 is a wustite-based ammonia synthesis catalyst that features significantly higher activity than magnetite-based catalysts. This high activity level is also evident at low operating temperatures, allowing improved conversion at thermodynamically more favorable conditions.

Methanol Reforming. Hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be produced by means of steam-reforming of methanol, which is performed with ReforMax® M.

last modified, June 2006

home production of chemicals