Process Development for Production of Tier 3 Ultra-Low Sulfur Gasoline

United States has been gradually moving toward implementation of a 10-ppm sulfur specification on gasoline. The 10-ppm standard was adopted by EPA in 2014 for full implementation on Jan 1, 2020. To meet this specification, US refineries will rely heavily on a process called FCC gasoline post-treating. The process has been around since the 1970’s, it began to increase in importance in the late 1990’s, and has now become critical for reliable manufacture of on-spec gasoline in North America. During the last 3 years, Hoekstra Trading LLC led a group of North American refiners and catalyst suppliers in a program of pilot plant, laboratory, and process model development to help refiners better understand the basic chemistry of the process to enable better decisions concerning use of the process for gasoline production. This presentation gives an overview of the business case, the pilot plant work, the laboratory work, and the field testing that was done to help refiners respond to this now- urgent need.