As motor vehicle pollution is responsible for a large proportion of urban air pollution, implementing air quality regulations relies on the use of catalytic converters. That goes hand in hand with more stringent fuel specifications focusing notably on reducing the fuels’ sulfur content, responsible for the emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) during fuel combustion, which is also a poison for the exhaust treatment catalyst.
In Europe, for instance, maximum sulfur content of gasoline and diesel respectively decreased from 3000 and 1000 ppm to 10 ppm between 1990 and 2009.
At the beginning of the 90s, there weren’t any ideal solutions to reduce sulfur content of gasoline or FCC gasoline (the largest sulfur contributor in the gasoline pool).
Together with IFP Energies nouvelles, Axens developed Prime-G+™, an innovative selective desulfurization technology that allows a high desulfurization rate to be achieved with good octane retention and high gasoline yield without RVP increase, while ensuring minimum hydrogen consumption.
Nowadays, with more than 250 Prime-G+™ units licensed around the world, Axens is the leading player for FCC gasoline selective desulfurization, thus contributing to meeting the challenge of air quality improvement.
