Why Choose Hydroprocessing Reactor Engineering & Catalyst Management Training Course?
Hydroprocessing units are essential to modern refinery operations, enabling the production of cleaner fuels, protection of downstream catalysts and upgrading of increasingly complex feedstocks. Their performance depends on the effective integration of reactor engineering, hydrogen management, catalyst selection, process control and safe operating practices.
Changes in feed composition, catalyst activity, hydrogen partial pressure, temperature profiles and contaminant levels can significantly affect reaction rates, product quality, pressure drop and catalyst cycle length. Problems such as rapid catalyst deactivation, reactor hot spots, maldistribution, excessive hydrogen consumption and increasing differential pressure can reduce throughput and create serious operational risks.
This Hydroprocessing Reactor Engineering & Catalyst Management Training Course provides a practical understanding of hydroprocessing reactor design, reaction chemistry, catalyst behaviour and performance optimisation. It equips participants to evaluate reactor conditions, manage catalyst life cycles, troubleshoot operating problems and improve unit reliability, product quality and profitability.
What are the Goals?
By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:
- Explain the chemistry and operating principles of hydroprocessing
- Differentiate between hydrotreating and hydrocracking applications
- Evaluate the influence of feedstock quality on reactor performance
- Understand fixed-bed reactor design and internal components
- Analyse reactor temperature profiles and hydrogen partial pressure
- Select catalysts according to feedstock and product requirements
- Monitor catalyst activity, selectivity and deactivation
- Manage catalyst loading, activation, operation and unloading
- Troubleshoot reactor hot spots, pressure-drop and product-quality problems
- Optimise catalyst life, hydrogen utilisation and operating severity
Who is this Training Course for?
This training course is suitable for:
- Hydroprocessing unit operators and supervisors
- Refinery process and operations engineers
- Production and shift engineers
- Reactor and catalyst specialists
- Refinery technical-services personnel
- Process design and project engineers
- Inspection, maintenance and reliability engineers
- Laboratory and product-quality professionals
- Health, safety and environmental personnel supporting hydroprocessing units
How will this Training Course be Presented?
The course combines technical presentations with reactor diagrams, operating-data analysis, performance calculations, catalyst case studies and troubleshooting workshops. Participants will examine realistic hydroprocessing problems and develop practical strategies for improving reactor performance, catalyst cycle length and operational reliability.
The Course Content
- Role of hydroprocessing within the modern refinery
- Hydrotreating, hydrofinishing and hydrocracking applications
- Hydrodesulphurisation and nitrogen-removal reactions
- Hydrogenation of aromatics and olefins
- Removal of oxygen, metals and other contaminants
- Reaction kinetics, equilibrium and thermodynamic considerations
- Exothermic reactions and reactor heat generation
- Process-flow configuration and major equipment systems
- Fixed-bed trickle-flow reactor principles
- Reactor design, configuration and operating characteristics
- Reactor internals, inlet devices and liquid distributors
- Vapour-liquid distribution and catalyst-bed wetting
- Temperature profiles, quench systems and interbed cooling
- Hydrogen partial pressure and hydrogen-to-oil ratio
- Space velocity, residence time and operating severity
- Monitoring reactor conversion and product quality
- Hydroprocessing catalyst composition and active phases
- Catalyst supports, pore structure and surface area
- Cobalt-molybdenum, nickel-molybdenum and nickel-tungsten catalysts
- Selecting catalysts for different feeds and product targets
- Catalyst activity, selectivity, stability and mechanical strength
- Catalyst grading, guard beds and contaminant control
- Catalyst testing and performance-monitoring techniques
- Economic evaluation of catalyst options
- Catalyst loading plans and reactor-bed configuration
- Dense loading, sock loading and loading-quality control
- Catalyst presulphiding and in-situ activation procedures
- Start-up precautions and initial catalyst conditioning
- Catalyst deactivation by coke, metals and feed contaminants
- Catalyst ageing and temperature-compensation strategies
- Shutdown, catalyst unloading and pyrophoric-material handling
- Catalyst regeneration, rejuvenation, reuse and disposal
- Diagnosing increasing reactor differential pressure
- Identifying maldistribution, channelling and poor catalyst wetting
- Reactor hot spots, temperature excursions and runaway prevention
- Troubleshooting off-specification sulphur and nitrogen levels
- Managing hydrogen purity, consumption and recycle-gas performance
- Optimising weighted average bed temperature and catalyst cycle length
- Feed-quality changes, operating constraints and corrective actions
- Integrated reactor and catalyst optimisation case study
Certificate
- AZTech Certificate of Completion for delegates who attend and complete the training course
In Partnership With
Do you want to learn more about this course?
Register now or contact our team to discuss schedules, delivery formats, and customised options.