OREANDA-NEWS. A Gazprom Neft initiative developing the use of aluminium oxide catalysts in deep oil refining has been awarded the status of a national project by the Ministry of Energy. The Gazprom Neft project, running to 2020, envisages the establishment of a cutting-edge facility to produce catalysts for hydrogenation processes (with a capacity of 6,000 tonnes) and catalysts for catalytic cracking (with a capacity of 15,000 tonnes). On which basis, total catalyst production capacity at the Omsk Refinery will reach 21,000 tonnes, allowing it to meet current demand for catalytic cracking and hydrogenation-process catalysts throughout Russia’s refining industry.

The development of innovative technologies in catalyst production is being undertaken by Gazprom Neft in conjunction with major Russian research and development centres specialising in catalytic processes. The company’s partners on this national project include the Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, Novosibirsk, and the Institute for Problems of Hydrocarbon Refining, Omsk.