Development of catalyst impregnation processes

Most commonly used catalysts in the petroleum and petrochemical refining industries are manufactured by some kind of impregnation process, e.g., reforming and hydrotreating. A review covers the types of equipment usually used in impregnation processes and their advantages and disadvantages; examples of supports, which include spheroidal beads, cylindrical or shaped extrudates, spheroidal fluid powders, and random powders; impregnation methods that include homogeneous precipitation, use of excess solution, and pore-filling impregnation; typical vessels, e.g., V-blenders, double-cone mixers, cylinders (drums), and "cement mixers" and other important factors, e.g., fill level, rotation rate, and scale. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 227th ACS National Meeting (Anaheim, CA 3/28/2004-4/1/2004).