Well Resources Joins Industry Leaders Presenting at the Opportunity Crudes Conference

Calgary, AB, October 29, 2018 – Over the past week, Well Resources was proud to have Dr. Keng H. Chung, Vice President of Technology, join a prominent lineup of industry leaders at the 6th Opportunity Crudes Conference in Houston, Texas.

 

With the theme of “Crude Disruptors: Accelerating Changes in Global Refining”, the 6th Opportunity Crudes Conference aims to encourage dialogue on how refiners can overcome current crude disruptors through better business strategies, increasing operational flexibility, and adopting new technologies to turn challenges into opportunities.

 

Dr. Chung’s session titled, “Tackling IMO 2020 low sulfur mandate through innovation in petroleum residua processing” focused on viable solutions to IMO 2020 regulation by summarizing the commercial development of Well’s SELEX-Asp technology and providing case studies of residue processing.

 

Overview:

 

Catalytic hydrogenation is the process of choice for clean fuel production. However, it is ineffective to process petroleum residua which contain asphaltenes. The high coking propensity of asphaltenes causes catalysts to deactivate quickly. As a result, a significant amount of petroleum residua is untreated and sold as bunker fuel. Disposal of petroleum residua will soon become a challenging issue when the IMO 2020 regulation takes effect, which places a 0.5% sulfur content cap on bunker fuel. SELEX-Asp is a low cost, environmentally friendly separation process which is capable of selective removal of asphaltenes from residua in the form of solid granules. Solid asphaltene granules are easy to handle and can be used as feedstock for making carbon-based products. The asphaltene-free residua are high quality feedstocks for conventional refinery processes, which allow refiners to produce a full product slate, including the IMO fuel.

 

Dr. Keng H. Chung is an award-winning process troubleshooting expert for heavy oil and bitumen operations. He is a co-inventor of the SELEX-Asp process and a Senior Refinery Advisor (State Specially Recruited Expert) for the government of China.

 

For those who were unable to attend or attended and would like to request a copy of Dr. Chung's presentation, please inquire at info@wellresources.ca.