Meet the Speaker: Dr. Giada Innocenti, Application & Project Manager, hte

Dr Giada Innocenti, will be joining hundreds from the downstream industry on 13 – 16 November in Lago Maggiore for our flagship conference, the European Refining Technology Conference. However, before the conference, she joined us for an exclusive interview surrounding hte and their virtual labs as well as her thoughts about the future of the industry.

What is your team at hte looking forward to at ERTC 2023?

We at hte look forward to this key conference to reconnect with previous project partners and expand our customer base. As the market leader in the provision of high throughput catalyst testing services and technologies, we aim to support refineries, petrochemical companies, and catalyst vendors (to name a few) to overcome the challenges, they are facing with decarbonization and energy transition. In that respect, our presentation will show how we can tackle the challenges arising from the use of new feedstocks in hydroprocessing and FCC applications.

What big technology/breakthrough hte has to showcase to the downstream industry?

hte, other than being our company name, is also the acronym widely used as an abbreviation for high throughput experimentation. This way of testing catalysts allows the generation of a very large amount of data in a very short time. We are firmly convinced that high throughput testing is a powerful tool that refineries of the future will use to increase their profitability by obtaining impartial information on the most suitable catalytic system to use to enhance their operations.

The refining segment of hte specifically runs contract research, benchmarking, troubleshooting, and quality control programs for catalytic processes relevant to the downstream industry. hte offers the possibility to test catalysts for both hydroprocessing and FCC applications under one roof. hte’s unique value proposition is the proprietary testing technology that grants access to an exceptionally wide parameter space, generating results at an unparalleled rate.

This also allows, for example, to verify how FCC-pretreatment conditions impact FCC product yields in one project. Moreover, this would provide a good assessment of what works better for co-processing renewable feeds – first pretreating the VGO, then blending in the renewable fraction for FCC testing – or co-processing in the FCC pretreatment reactor followed by the FCC testing. By equipping a laboratory with an hte trickle bed unit and an hte micro downflow unit, our customers can also build up the capability to run such testing programs at their facilities.

With the virtual lab, how can the downstream industry utilize them to develop their own business?

The virtual lab provides insights into the latest lab R&D technologies with realistic 3D reactor systems and demonstrates the possibilities of downscaling commercial processes to a lab scale with scalable results. With the help of the virtual lab, R&D managers from the downstream industry can find the ideal solution that fits their projects and requirements.

Our forthcoming guided virtual lab tour will take place on 21 November, where we will present our latest R&D technologies and their various applications. You are most welcome to register for the free tour via our website: www.hte-company.com/lab-tour

What do you feel is the future of the industry?

The industry faces substantial challenges, which require immediate actions, with the implementation of a decarbonization strategy such as the use of renewable feedstocks to meet stringent net-zero energy emissions regulations by 2050. The goal will be reached by using circular economy principles, working towards digitalizing, and implementing automation. Most industries will just repurpose their current assets to begin processing different types of feedstocks. As a result, refineries will refocus on process optimization, which is essential to prevent damaging shutdowns, which will inevitably translate into revenue loss. The use of third-party R&D services for benchmarking will be a routine step that every company will employ to better assess issues they may face during operation or to ensure the selection of the best catalyst for optimal operation. The use of high throughput testing will therefore be essential since it will allow to shorten the decision-making time without any compromise on data quality.