An innovative technology designed to reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units in refineries will be introduced by Shell Global Solutions and Praxair.
The technology is designed to help refiners address increasingly stringent regulatory requirements while providing operational flexibility and lowering capital and operating costs.
The key to the technology, called CONOx, is a high-velocity, highly reactive oxygen jet with superior mixing capabilities that enables rapid reactions of carbon monoxide and NOx precursors at typical flue gas temperatures.
A reduction in NOx emissions of up to 60 per cent can be achieved in both full-burn and partial-burn regenerators. With a low cost of implementation, the CONOx system can be combined with other control technologies to achieve even larger reductions in NOx emissions.
"The CONOx system creates a high-temperature, highly reactive, oxygen-rich stream that can be easily integrated into existing flue gas ductwork with minimal modifications," said Pankaj H. Desai, Licensing Manager, Shell Global Solutions.
Shell Global Solutions will be involved in marketing CONOx to customers through their worldwide sales force and will also work with Praxair to leverage their expertise to continuously update and improve the technology.
Praxair will carry out process design engineering in concert with the customer, provide the CONOx lance and gas flow control equipment and participate in safety reviews, start-up and optimisation.
