A process and apparatus is disclosed for gradually starting fluidization in a bed of particulate from the top down so as to avoid thrusting the entire mass of particulates upwardly in the bed at the same time which may damage internals in the bed. The particulate bed may comprise a catalyst cooler for an FCC unit containing internals such as cooling, fluidization and support equipment.

A process for shutting down a hydroprocessing reactor and for removing catalyst from the reactor, wherein the reactor includes a quench gas distribution system. The process comprises shutting off hydrocarbon feed to the reactor, stripping hydrocarbons from the catalyst, and cooling the reactor to a first threshold reactor temperature in the range of from 375-425° F. (190-218° C.). At least a portion of circulating gaseous medium flowing to the reactor is then routed through a temporary heat exchanger and cooling the gas to not less than 40° F. (4° C.). Once cooled, mixing the cooled gas with the circulating gaseous medium flowing to the reactor. Continuing steps routing and cooling until a second threshold temperature is reached wherein the reactor temperature is in a range between 120° F. and 250° F. (49° C.-121° C.). The reactor can then be purged with N.sub.2 gas, followed by introducing water into the reactor via the quench gas distribution system. The catalyst can then be safely removed from the reactor.

A method of monitoring catalytic performance of a catalyst used in a reforming process, comprising a) collecting gaseous component data from the reforming process; b) calculating a gaseous component ratio from the gaseous component data; and c) utilizing the gaseous component ratio to estimate an amount of catalytic activity remaining in the catalyst used in the reforming process, a number of days on stream remaining for the catalyst used in the reforming process, or both.

In the hydroconversion processes of heavy hydrocarbon oils, in which the hydrogen is introduced at the reactor base by bubbling, the low diffusion rate of hydrogen, from the gas phase to the reaction liquid, limits the degree of conversion. The process circumvents the obstacle of the limited amount of reactant hydrogen by using a slurry bubble column reactor which reduces the formation of light hydrocarbon products, and therefore the hydrogen required for the hydroconversion, allowing to operate at full conversion.

Systems and methods are provided for performing the initial heating phase for a thick wall reactor, such as a hydroprocessing reactor, by using heat tracing to heat the exterior walls of the reactor. Instead of attempting to initially heat the reactor by passing a low pressure heat transfer gas through the interior of the reactor, external heater(s) placed under the reactor insulation can be used to heat the exterior of the reactor. An example of a suitable external heater is a heat tracing blanket, where heat is provided by passing steam through pipes in contact with the external surface or by electrical heaters in contact with the external surface. This can allow for more rapid heating of the reactor, so that a target temperature can be achieved in a time of 5.0 hours or less.

The present invention generally relates to a Fischer-Tropsch process, in particular a Fischer-Tropsch process for converting a feed comprising a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases, preferably in the form of a synthesis gas mixture, to hydrocarbons by contacting a cobalt-containing Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst with a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in a reactor at a pressure of 4.0 MPa absolute or greater, wherein the process is initiated by a start-up procedure comprising the steps of: i) providing a feed comprising a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases, preferably in the form of a synthesis gas mixture, to a reactor containing a cobalt-containing Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalyst, wherein the pressure inside the reactor is 3.5 MPa absolute or below; and ii) maintaining the feed to the reactor, removing a product stream comprising hydrocarbons and maintaining the pressure inside the reactor at 3.5 MPa absolute or below for at least 15 hours, preferably for at least 50 hours.

Recovering hydrocarbons from oil shale can include injecting a heated working fluid into a first vessel containing particulate oil shale in a pyrolysis mode. The heated working fluid can have a temperature above a production temperature to pyrolyze kerogen in a stationary bed of the oil shale at or above the production temperature. An effluent can concurrently flow out of the first vessel to be injected into a second vessel in preheating mode. The second vessel containing particulate oil shale has an average temperature below the production temperature so as to capture heat from the effluent sufficient to increase the average temperature of the particulate oil shale and to condense condensable hydrocarbon product while also removing entrained mineral fines mists of condensed hydrocarbons from the effluent. Liquid hydrocarbons can concurrently be collected from the first vessel and/or the second vessel.

The invention relates to an enclosure (10) of a fluid catalytic cracking unit in which an inner space is defined by a side wall (12) having a longitudinal axis extending substantially in the direction of gravity, said enclosure being provided with a plurality of mechanical separation cyclones (14, 16) located inside the inner space. The enclosure (10) comprises a supporting device (20) attached only to the cyclones (14, 16) by: an annular peripheral support element (202) extending along the side wall (12) in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (X), separated from the side wall by a predetermined clearance; and a plurality of beams (206, 208) extending in the same plane as the peripheral support element (202), the beams being rigidly connected to the peripheral support element and to at least one mechanical separation cyclone by one end or by an attachment part distant from the ends thereof.

Methods of performing a startup of an oxidative coupling of methane reaction to produce C.sub.2+ hydrocarbons are described. The methods can include incrementally varying startup parameters of the oxidative methane reactor and using the feed gas as a coolant such that high C.sub.2+ hydrocarbon selectivity is achieved.

The disclosed invention relates to a method for restarting a synthesis gas conversion process which has stopped. The synthesis gas conversion process may be conducted in a conventional reactor or a microchannel reactor. The synthesis gas conversion process may comprise a process for converting synthesis gas to methane, methanol or dimethyl ether. The synthesis gas conversion process may be a Fischer-Tropsch process.