On July 7th, the CN-31 type pre-reforming catalyst for light oil, developed jointly by the Southwest Research & Design Institute of Chemical Industry (SRDICI) and Shanghai Shidongkou Gas Co. Ltd passed evaluation by an expert panel on its industrial application achievements. Experts concluded that the catalyst meets the requirement of making gas from light oil and could completely substitute the imported catalyst.
Earlier, all gas-making projects using light oil as raw material in China employed the British CRG-A process and pre-reforming catalysts provided by British ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries). To realize industrialization in China and reduce the purchasing cost for catalysts, SRDICI and Shanghai Gas Co., Ltd. began to jointly develop this type of light oil pre-reforming catalyst from as early as 1998. This catalyst was investigated in both the laboratory and factory to test the indices including transfer temperature, water/hydrocarbon ratio, space velocity of raw oil, hydrogen/oil ratio, raw oil type, volume contraction and catalyst service life. It also underwent practical tests in the gas-making equipment of Shanghai Gas Co., Ltd. Upon comparison, the overall performance of this catalyst was found to equal that of imported catalysts tested at the same time. The CN-31 catalyst has been used stably in production devices for nearly two months. (Xie Zhaoping)