Improvement in hydrocracking activity of heavy oil upgrading catalyst by modifications to some specific properties of Y-zeolite

We have been developing zeolite catalysts for fixed-bed resid hydrodesulfurization (HDS) units. The catalysts, named R-HYC, show high resid hydrocracking (HYC) activity by increasing middle distillates and concurrently decreasing bottom fuel oil. To meet refinery demands for lower catalyst cost and improved HYC activity, the newest R-HYC has been developed as R-HYC12, showing more than twofold improved HYC activity compared with the previous R-HYC10, by means of modifications to some specific properties of Y-zeolite. A new sequence combining the developed R-HYC12 with the other, hydrodemetallization (HDM) and HDS catalysts has been proposed to achieve the best resid HDS unit performance.