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Investing for the future
Project experience is key to successful technology implementation
The falling demand for fuel oil, the rising demand for middle distillates and the need to process increasingly heavy crudes in most areas of the world are leading to a shortfall in capacity for producing lighter products. Against this backdrop of changing consumption patterns and feedstock slates, and the need for better environmental performance, the global refining sector is evaluating its options for sustaining profitability. Refiners are considering improved conversion technology to upgrade residues or modifying the product slate to meet current market requirements.
Robust technologies are essential for meeting capacity and quality targets, and complying with fuel specifications. Processes such as thermal conversion, hydrocracking and fluidised catalytic cracking are used to upgrade heavy oil fractions to deliver lighter, more-valuable products. These processes can be combined with gasification technology to convert a wide range of low-value heavy residues and asphaltenes into syngas – a clean fuel for combined-cycle power generation.