OCTGAIN[trademark], a new unique gasoline desulfurization process

The Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990 require the reformulation of gasoline. Indeed Reformulated Gasoline, RefGas and RFG have become a part of the lexicon of the refining industry. Experimental data from the Auto/Oil Air Quality Improvement Research Program shows that a reduction in gasoline sulfur content may be one of the best ways to achieve the target reductions in automobile emissions. FCC gasoline is the primary contributor to gasoline sulfur content in most refineries. Conventional means of sulfur reduction require the refiner to commit to a large capital investment for FCC feed hydrotreating or sustain a large octane loss if the FCC gasoline is hydrodesulfurized. OCTGAIN[trademark] process technology provides an innovative solution. While it requires only simple fixed bed, low pressure hydrotreater hardware, a proprietary Mobil catalyst system allows for unique reaction chemistry. It provides thorough desulfurization and olefin reduction of cracked gasoline components with no loss in octane. Indeed in some cases the octane of the desulfurized product can exceed that of the feed to the process. The process is commercially proven with over two years operating experience since the first demonstration run.