The original ebullated-bed hydrocracker

of heavy feedstocks

OIL
REFINING
H-Oil® meets the challenge of converting 
heavy feedstock residues with high
metals, sulfur, nitrogen, asphaltenes and
B E N E F I T S
Conradson carbon (CCR) contents into
essentially distillate products, ranging •• No limitation on feed properties
from vacuum gasoil (VGO) to naphtha. •• Daily catalyst addition maintains
Such performances are achieved in the constant catalytic activity and
provides feedstock and operation
original ebullated-bed H-Oil® reactor,
flexibility
possibly in combination with other units.
•• Demonstrated high
| H-Oil® Process

hydrodesulfurization levels in
commercial units producing
A powerful tool for upgrading unconverted VR product, suitable
vacuum distillates to vacuum for blending to 2020-compliant
residues bunker fuel

The H-Oil® technology is the original •• Mature and safe technology

ebullated-bed technology for residue •• Reliable operation demonstrated
upgrading, with the longest commercial commercially over many years
history. The technology has been •• Smart hydrogen management when
continuously enhanced over the years to combined with other hydrotreating/
improve flexibility, operability, OPEX and hydrocracking units
CAPEX. Featuring the original ebullated-bed •• Proven solution with highest stream
design, H-Oil® aims at metals, sulfur, factor
nitrogen, asphaltenes and CCR reduction of
difficult feeds such as VR while maximizing
middle-distillate production.

From refractory feedstocks to

on-spec end products
• Naphtha from H-Oil® is an excellent • H-Oil® provides a unique opportunity for
reformer feed after pre-treatment. For integration with other hydrotreating or
example, it may be treated in a diesel hydrocracking units. Patented integrated
hydrotreatment unit (Prime-D™) integrated processing schemes have been applied
with an H-Oil® unit. to produce reformer feed quality naphtha
• Diesel from H-Oil® may or may not and ULSD. When maximum distillate
require cetane improvement; however production is required, the integration of
reduction of sulfur content is required a VGO hydrocracker is the ideal solution.
to meet the ULSD specifications. This integrated solution insures reliable
The integration of a Prime-D™ unit, which and safe operation of each of the units
may process straight-run Diesel in addition separately, and at the same time there are
to H-Oil® Diesel, is particularly addressed significant OPEX and CAPEX savings.
for that task. • Multiple routes are available for valorization
--VGO from H-Oil® is an opportunity of the unconverted residual oil of the
feedstock for FCC: it has a good hydro- H-Oil®, whether additional conversion,
gen-to-carbon ratio, and its low sulfur energy production, hydrogen recovery or
content allows, most of the time, direct exportation as a blend product – export
processing without pre-treatment. fuel, bitumen or bunker fuel – is preferred.
 renewal operations. Ebullation of the and Vacuum fractionation sections of
Ebullated bed, stable bed is enabled by liquid recirculation, the H-Oil®. High temperature of the
operation more effective than gas-promoted residual unconverted oil is also used
ebullation and leading to smaller to preheat the H-Oil® feed. Spiral-type
Operating H-Oil® units have been
reactor size. heat exchangers are recommended
designed to process a wide variety
for this service because of their self-
of feedstocks. Atmospheric residues In the simplified H-Oil® process flow
cleaning design that prevents fouling
(ARs), vacuum residues (VRs), and diagram below (figure 1), oil feed and
from occurring.
also refractory oils such as heavy hydrogen are preheated and fed to
deasphalted oils (DAOs), straight-run the ebullated-bed reactor. Addition Depending on the desired
vacuum gas oils (VGOs), heavy coker of a second reactor in series is a conversion, the maximum reactor
gas oil (HCGO) or coal-derived oils common practice for achieving size for shipping constraints and
such as coal slurries (Direct Coal high conversion of residues and the capacity of the plant, one or two
Liquefaction, DCL), are all potential improved catalytic performances. trains of reactors in parallel may be
H-Oil® feeds. However, regardless of considered. More generally, the size
In such a case, mixed liquid and
the feed, the core principle remains of the reactors, the catalyst type
gaseous effluents of the first reactor
the same. In the H-Oil® reactor, liquid and its daily replacement rate, the
are separated in the inter-stage
feed, hydrogen and catalyst particles operating pressure and temperature,
separator; the liquid phase alone
are back-mixed. Ebullation of the the hydrogen coverage, are carefully
is routed to the second reactor. In
catalyst bed eliminates plugging, chosen to reach the economic
the absence of entrained gas, the
channeling, high pressure drop as well optimum of a specific project
useful volume for liquid conversion
as uneven temperature distribution while ensuring stable and reliable
is maximized. Exothermic heat of
inevitably encountered in fixed-bed operation.
reaction in both reactors is effectively
technologies. Stable and continuous
used in preheating the feed for OPEX
catalytic activity is also permitted
savings. Following high and medium
through fresh catalyst daily addition,
pressure separation, the products
thus avoiding time-consuming catalyst
are recovered in the Atmospheric

ÏÏFigure 1: Typical two-stage H-Oil® unit configuration

2
Containing the operating costs

At the basis of the H-Oil® technology, the daily catalyst consumption is substantially reduced by
applying the cascading mode. Spent catalyst of the second reactor is used as catalyst feed of the
first reactor, where most of the demetallization reactions take place. Furthermore, with one common
addition/withdrawal facility, management of the catalyst addition/withdrawal process is greatly simplified and CAPEX is
also reduced.

Hydrogen is a valuable resource. Modern H-Oil® unit designs are optimized to minimize the quantity of hydrogen circulated
in the process and minimize any hydrogen purge or solution losses. High hydrogen recovery, with high purity, is achieved
via high-pressure membrane technology. Residual hydrogen may be collected in a dedicated or common PSA unit; thus
minimizing hydrogen loss. For sake of CAPEX and OPEX saving, the recycled hydrogen and the make-up hydrogen are
compressed in a common facility. Efficient hydrogen management also maximizes energy efficiency and minimizes CO2
emissions.

››Continuous Innovation
A robust technology is the result of continuous
improvement. H-Oil® continues to evolve and improve
via feedback from licensed units and research at
World-Class R&D Center at IFPEN. IFPEN has more
than 12,000 active patents and is ranked in Reuters
Top 100 Global Innovation organizations. The success
is shown by:
• Innovative internals to improve reactor
hydrodynamics and reduce equipment fouling
• Improvements to the process flow scheme to
reduce CAPEX and OPEX
• Groundbreaking advancements in performance
modelling that allow operators to accurately predict
unit performance that maximize operating margins
with changing crude supply

ÏÏFigure 2: The ebullated-bed reactor scheme

COMMERCIAL
EXPERIENCE
TESTIMONY
More than 50 years ago, the first industrial reference
of an H-Oil® unit was inaugurated. The latest H-Oil® “The conversion and the yields
unit was started up in 2015 in Bulgaria. Throughout in higher value products were
the world, the operating H-Oil® units have increased with a positive effect on
accumulated more than 230 years of experience, Refinery economics.
which is the highest figure in this type of technology, The project is considered as
and which represent a total capacity of more than successful featuring with an
1,020,000 BPSD. H-Oil® is the undisputed leader attractive economics.”
of its category.
……Lukoil Burgas (LNB) refinery about recent H-Oil®
implementation. (June 2017)
axens.net

3
 { CASE STUDY }
Latest Ebullated-Bed Start-up: Lukoil Burgas, a Success Story

What has changed since 2008? Bunker fuel Specifications

As shown in the table below, the unit has been designed and
guaranteed in 2008 for 100% Urals VR processing, targeting a low
sulfur fuel oil (UCO) sediment content (IP-375) below 0.1 wt%. 2015
economics lead LNB Burgas to market the UCO as Bunker Fuel,
which requires more stringent sediment specification
(IP-390 < 0.1wt%) than IP-375 thus impacting conversion targets:
with 100% Urals, the IP-390 specification implies conversion to be
reduced to 65 wt%. Detail screening of approximately fifteen crudes
enabled Axens and LNB to identify the most appropriate feed blend
ÏÏLukoil Burgas (LNB) H-Oil® unit
to meet conversion and IP-390. It was recommended to process
Lukoil Burgas (LNB) H-Oil® unit has been successfully started-up a feed composed of 30% opportunity Arabian type and 70% Ural
in 2015. LNB conversion project design (2008) incorporated an type in order to meet all guarantees plus the IP-390 specifications.
integrated VGO hydrocracker processing H-Oil® VGO blended with Therefore, as all H-Oil® units in operation around the world, LNB
Straight-run VGO from a new VDU section. Economic considerations Burgas successfully passed the performance test run plus additional
lead to defer the new VDU and VGO hydrocracking units to a specifications and the unit was fully accepted without restrictions.
later project phase. Under its current configuration, the H-Oil®
hydraulic capacity can only be achieved through AR / VR imports or DESIGN GUARANTEED TEST-RUN TYPICAL
(AS PER TTA) OPERATION
opportunity crudes processing.
70% URAL / 30% 70% URAL / 30%
FEED 100% URAL 100% URAL ARABIAN ARABIAN
Basic End of Detailed End of
Design Engineering Construction &
Commissioning CAPACITY 100% 100% 100%  80%
Start-up
2008 2013 2015 GASOIL (WT%) 25.2 >23.1 27.6  33.8

VACUUM GASOIL (WT%) 35.5 >32.8 33.3  29.2

LNB H-Oil® unit is the most advanced ebullated-bed configuration
in the world. The H-Oil® unit includes all the latest design NET CONVERSION 70 >70 70.4  75
(WT%)
improvements: a single train design with two reactors in series
FUEL – IP375 <0.1 <0.1 <0.1  <0.1
equipped with Inter Stage Separator. An advanced hydrogen (WT%)

management scheme using membranes and PSA concepts FUEL – IP390 NOT NOT
<0.1  <0.1
(WT%) FORESEEN GUARANTEED
maximizes hydrogen usage while reducing the number of
compressors. Catalyst consumption is also reduced compared to
Today, the unit runs at 80% capacity with 30% Arabian & 70% Urals,
other units thanks to Catalyst Cascading, implemented for the first
achieves around 75 wt% conversion and sells the unconverted
time in an H-Oil® unit.
residue as bunker fuel with an availability of 95%. LNB H-Oil®
After 12 months operation, thanks to the cooperation between
operation feedback is the perfect illustration of the H-Oil® unit
Lukoil Burgas teams, Axens and CRI, the H-Oil® unit reaches over
flexibility in terms of feedstock and products.
95% availability.

Axens is a group providing a complete range of solutions for the conversion

of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major
petrochemical intermediates as well as all of natural gas treatment and conversion
options. The integrated offer includes technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular
axens.net/blog units, catalysts, adsorbents and related services, commercialized under “Axens
Solutions”, “Heurtey Petrochem Solutions” and “Axens Horizon” brands.

2017-09_H-OilProcess