Research Projects

The increasing population and urbanization in developing countries are driving a rise in the demand for petrochemicals, particularly in crude oil refineries. The demand for petrochemicals is expected to rise by 4 Mb/d per year by 2040, reaching 34% of the oil market. Refineries specializing in petrochemical production are predicted to become more profitable due to the average petrochemicals price of 1200/ton. Oil soluble dispersed catalysts used in slurry hydrocracking offer advantages over supported catalysts, as they do not face issues related to pore blockage. This allows for the production of high-quality petro-FCC feed through slurry phase hydroprocessing of crude oil using nano-size dispersed catalysts. This project aims to upgrade low-value crude oil to high-value products, as it contains contaminants and heavy parts like heavy vacuum gas oil and vacuum residue. The project provides detailed synthesis and hydroprocessing activity of the catalysts in slurry phase batch reactors, along with details of all analytical tools. Comparative studies of oil soluble catalysts and their performance with non-oil soluble catalysts are presented, motivating the development of new industrially viable oil soluble catalysts.