How to stay on top of hydroprocessing and why training is the way to go

Knowledge and knowledge sharing have been a part of Topsoe’s core identity since day one. We’ve been researching hydrotreating down to the atomic level since the early seventies, and in the mid-nineties, we expanded the hydroprocessing portfolio to also include hydrocracking. As our expertise grew, we’ve been creating more and more opportunities to share it with the customers.

Unique knowledge exchange opportunity

Over the years, we’ve developed a range of courses and events for our customers to share valuable insights and expand our knowledge together. They provide a great knowledge exchange platform, often for very specialized and small communities of experts.

For example, last year's pilot plant workshop in Rio de Janeiro gathered a group of R&D specialists to discuss the best practices and challenges that they encounter on a daily basis. “The pilot plant community is a small one and there’s basically no other forum for these experts to meet and share their experiences,” says Sylvain Verdier, Senior Business Strategy Manager.

From hydrocracking to hydrotreating

Customers’ needs and pains are the main factor when it comes to designing our courses and events. The team organizing the events is composed of experts with various backgrounds, which enables us to offer a wide variety of topics at all levels of complexity.

For instance, the upcoming hydroprocessing course for Topsoe customers, which we’ve been organizing yearly for the past 15 years, offers fundamental knowledge within hydroprocessing to refinery engineers in the beginning of their career. The course is revised regularly to touch upon relevant up-to-date topics, for example dewaxing and renewables.

The courses help customers to stay on top of the newest developments in refining.

On the other end of the spectrum we have more advanced seminars about hydrotreating and hydrocracking that take place every couple of years. Seminar attendees get to explore the latest hydroprocessing developments in the context of challenges and opportunities they have to face, for instance the changes in bunker fuel regulations. Together we discuss the future of the refining industry and the current trends.