A collaborative research contract in petroleum refining venture was signed here Wednesday between King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) and Japan Cooperation Center for Petroleum (JCCP). The contract binds KFUPM and JCCP to conduct a collaborative research for the development of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts for high-olefins production for the next three years. Fluid catalytic cracking is a refining process of converting petroleum crude oils to more valuable gasoline, olefins and other refined products. Olefin products include ethylene, propylene, butadiene, mixed butanes, and crude benzene, which are the basic building blocks for a wide variety of products that are manufactured by the chemical industry. Signatories to the agreement were Dr. Mohammad Al-Homoud, KFUPM Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, and Morihiro Yoshida, JCCP Managing Director. Present during the signing, held at the KFUPM Research Institute, were Yasunari Morino, Minister at the Japan Embassy in Saudi Arabia, Masaki Ikematsu, Senior Vice President JX Nippon Research Institute, and Yasuharu Furukawa, Managing Director JGC Catalysts & Chemicals. Other parties to the collaboration are JX Nippon Research Institute, Ltd. (JX NRI), Nippon Oil & Energy (JX NOE), and JGC Catalysts & Chemicals (JGC C&C). “This collaboration focuses on building additional capabilities and expertise in catalyst design at KFUPM that help in enhancing the production of olefins from FCC naphtha and heavy oil, and at the same time draw active participation of research faculty and graduate students at KFUPM with strong collaboration from Japanese researchers,” Al-Homoud said, commenting on the significance of the KFUPM-JCCP partnership. Speaking after the signing of agreement, Yoshida expressed the sincere gratitude of the Japanese people to the warm sympathy extended by the people of Saudi Arabia, which encouraged Japan to strongly overcome the difficulties caused by the large-scale earthquake and tsunami last March this year. Dr. Sahel N. Abduljauwad, KFUPM Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs at KFUPM, remarked that the research contract with JCCP will strengthen the university's research capability, benefiting the petroleum refining industry in Saudi Arabia and Japan. The Director of Center for Refining & Petrochemicals at KFUPM, Dr. Sulaiman Al Khattaf, also commented that the said research collaboration project will include exchange of knowledge and technical expertise between the university and JCCP in the development of catalytic processes for olefins production. The Center for Refining and Petrochemicals at KFUPM Research Institute has accumulated more than 18 years of technical collaboration with JCCP mainly in petroleum refining projects. The general objective of the collaboration with JCCP is to enhance KFUPM capability for providing technical support to Saudi refineries in the areas of catalyst and process development. Another project was launched more than 12 years ago between Saudi Aramco, KFUPM, JCCP, and Nippon Oil for the development of high-severity fluid catalytic cracking (HS-FCC) technology. The process converts low-value refinery gas-oils into high-value light olefins for use in integrated petrochemical processes and light olefins feedstock for alkylation to produce high-octane gasoline components. The commercial application of HS-FCC is now underway at its plant in Ras Tanura to develop a design package for a 40,000 barrel per day plant. Nippon Oil, Saudi Aramco, JCCP and KFUPM are the HS
