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SystemRefining & Petrochemicals

Catalyst Management

Catalyst management for refinery process engineers: the reactor as loaded, the guarantee read against lab and historian records, and the claim sent inside its window.

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Follow one claim, from the cut-away to the send ↓
The problem

A guarantee letter in contracts, and the records that test it elsewhere

The vendor loads under its own supervisor and the loading record goes into document management. The engineer tracks bed temperatures in a spreadsheet off the historian, the nitrogen results sit in the lab system, the price sits in the ERP, and the guarantee letter sits with contracts. Few engineers read that letter again after it is signed.

Then a bed reaches its limit and the vendor answers the notice with true numbers on the wrong basis. Someone pulls lab results at the deadline to test one clause. The notice window in a letter signed years ago belongs to nobody after a rotation. Offers for the next load arrive on different pounds and limits, and spent catalyst leaves the site on paperwork that still has to come back.

Built forProcess engineersTechnical managersContracts leadsWaste coordinatorsInternal auditors

The Problem Today

A catalyst guarantee sits in one file, and the lab and temperature logs that test it sit where nobody reads them.

Listed
spent hydrotreating catalyst: hazardous to one regulator published

Kept apart by hand today

  • Letters
  • Lab logs
  • Loads
  • Manifests
  • Windows nobody ownsA notice period outlives the engineer who bought it
  • Bids that look alikeDifferent pounds, limits and remedies on each offer

The Solution

  1. Each bed, each cycleEach reactor drawn in section, with its past loads on a slider
  2. Clause against recordEach clause tested on the letter's own basis, on raw lab results
  3. The sum, in fullA vendor counts single days; the clause averages a rolling window
  4. People decide and sendAn engineer proposes, a manager checks, contracts sends

Built-in controls

  • Agents never send a claim or a notice
  • A checker opens each record before signing
  • Reactor operating questions reach the technical manager

What You Get

Engineers claim what a guarantee owes while the window is open, with each sum and source in one file.

  • One history per bedProduct, lot, depth and load date across past cycles
  • Offers on one basisThe past year’s feed run through each offer's limit
  • An owner for each windowClaims, certificates and return copies, with reminders
One bed, one claim

Catalyst management on one claim: a performance guarantee with 21 days left

A hydrocracker’s second-stage reactor, three beds, a $9,600,000 load. Bed 3 reached its limit at month 41 of 48, and the vendor says eleven nitrogen days voided the guarantee.

demoSample data throughout: the refinery, its vendors, the staff and every number. The guarantee wording is sample wording.

  1. 01Morning

    Bed 3 sits at its guarantee limit with 0 °F left at month 41

    Process engineer

    The reactor is drawn in section with each bed as loaded: product, lot, depth and weight. Bed 3 is amber, at its 785 °F limit from the guarantee test, and the unit now runs at 50,500 b/d under the technical manager’s dated decision. Beside it, the guarantee’s life: 1,254 days to the test, 1,210 on stream. The next step says the vendor calls the guarantee void.

  2. 02Morning

    Eleven days over 1,800 ppm, and a vendor who declines any credit

    Process engineer

    He opens the vendor’s letter from the cut-away. Their review found total nitrogen above 1,800 ppm on 11 consecutive days, with a highest value of 2,194 ppm, and in their view that breaches the feed limit and voids the guarantee. The numbers are true. The question is whether they are the numbers the clause asks for.

  3. 03Morning

    Clause 6.3 averages 30 days, and sets no limit on a single day

    Guarantee reader

    The agents read the letter clause by clause against the records and show each step: the load found, twelve clauses read, 1,209 daily results worked, the vendor’s letter compared, the due date set. Clause 6.3 reads a rolling 30-day average of daily laboratory results. One clause, temperature excursions, needs a person. Rulings stay with the engineer.

  4. 04Before ruling

    The highest window comes to 1,743.3 ppm, 57 ppm under the limit

    Process engineer

    The test screen zooms on the summer’s daily results with the eleven high days marked, and moves a 30-day window across them. All 1,225 windows on the whole load are worked; the highest is 52,299 ÷ 30. One day has no result, and clause 6.4 carries the day before forward. Even at the worst value for that day, the average is 1,764.6 ppm.

  5. 05Before ruling

    The trip report holds an 11-minute gap the vendor could raise

    Process engineer

    Clause 7.3 is not clean, and the agent says so. During a compressor trip the temperature log has no data for 11 minutes while the data server changed over. The control room hand log says 768 °F, and the alarm journal shows no high temperature alarm. He agrees there is no record above the line, and has the gap written into the letter.

  6. 06Midday

    $9,600,000 × 7 ÷ 48 = $1,400,000, against the next supply

    Process engineer

    The claim shows the pro-rata sum with each figure cited: 48 guaranteed months, 41 used, the price of the load. Under it, what the vendor may say: still making product on it, only six whole months left, Bed 3 alone, the steeper climb. Lost production is not claimable under the letter. He proposes it, and it waits for the technical manager.

  7. 07Afternoon

    Countersigned after opening the trip report, lab results, order and letter

    Technical manager

    Her countersign stays disabled until she opens the four records herself. A ruling change clears her openings, so a changed letter has to be read again. Once she checks it, the panel shows the engineer’s proposal and her countersignature, and the claim moves to the contracts lead. She can send it back instead, with a reason.

  8. 08Afternoon

    Sent inside the window, 21 days before it closed

    Contracts lead

    He opens the guarantee letter, the vendor’s letter and the letter as it stands, then sends. Sent inside the window, reads the panel, with the vendor’s answer due in 30 days, and a line says the agents sent nothing. Nothing on the screen says the vendor will pay; the claim stays disputed. A copy of the letter as sent downloads for his own file.

Three things in the records a quick read of the vendor’s letter misses

Each one is on the screens above, with its passage.

Single days against an average

Eleven days over 1,800 ppm, averaging 2,031.9, still leave every 30-day window under the limit.

A day with no result

The letter itself says how to fill it, and the worst value still holds at 1,764.6 ppm.

A gap that hurts the claim

Eleven minutes of missing temperature data, named in the letter before the vendor finds it.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Around the reactor

Catalyst management after the claim: change-out planning, bids and spent bins

The rest of the unit’s catalyst year, on one record per bed.

Past cycles on a sliderThe same reactor at an earlier load, from a different vendor: Bed 3 at 748 °F with 37 °F left. The slider runs back through 19 years of cycles.
Notice windows with ownersFourteen windows across loads: guarantee ends, checks, claim notices, return copies. Each has an owner and a state, and one is already overdue.
Three offers on one basisPounds, freight and supervision leveled, cost per guaranteed month shown, and the past year’s feed run through each limit. One offer would have voided in the summer.
The reload, from the scheduleDump and load dates, spent weight at 1.25 times fresh, 313 bins, and the order date worked back from the vendor’s lead time.
Spent catalyst, bin to certificate912,500 lb shipped from 730,000 lb fresh. One manifest is 3,100 lb short, 1.6%, with no certificate, so that reclaimer is blocked from the next dump.
The evidence fileEleven records behind the claim, where each came from, and which this person has opened since the letter last changed.
Handover for the next engineerNine things an incoming engineer must know about the unit’s catalyst, each line opening its source.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

The engineer proposes, the manager checks, contracts sends

Nobody checks their own work, and a checker’s openings are counted per person.

Process engineer
Sees
The cut-away, the clauses and the 30-day test
Signs
Rules on readings, proposes the claim, reload dates and bid recommendations
Technical manager
Sees
The trip report, lab results, order and letter
Signs
Countersigns engineering; answers reactor operating questions sent to her
Contracts lead
Sees
The guarantee letter, the vendor’s letter and the claim as it stands
Signs
Sends, after opening all three
Waste coordinator
Sees
Manifests, weights and reclaimer certificates
Signs
Rules on each manifest; keeps a reclaimer blocked until a certificate closes it
Internal auditor
Sees
Each bed, clause and signature, read only
Signs
Nothing; takes a copy of the evidence file

demoSample data, from the working solution.

The agents

Seven agents test the guarantee, and none of them models the catalyst

Performance modeling stays with the vendor. The agents read records and work sums.

Load keeper

Keeps product, lot, pounds, depth and dates for each bed.

  • Leaves a missing value blank, never a guess
Guarantee reader

Tests each clause on the letter’s own basis.

  • Never says a guarantee holds
  • Never sends
Sums checker

Works the arithmetic from raw records.

  • Never picks a basis that suits the claim
Notice clock

Finds windows, names an owner and reminds.

  • Never serves a notice
Bid leveler

Puts offers on one basis and replays the feed through each limit.

  • Never picks a vendor
Spent tracker

Follows bins to manifest to certificate, with weights.

  • Never rules on a waste class
  • Never closes a shortfall
Handover writer

Writes what an incoming engineer must know, cited.

  • Never answers an operating question

Historian, lab, maintenance and ERP records behind each bed

Letters and procedures are your own copies.

Plant historianBed temperatures and guarantee tests
Lab systemDaily feed nitrogen, sulfur and metals
Maintenance systemLoading records and trip reports
Document managementGuarantee letters, notices and vendor replies
ERPPurchase orders and prices
Turnaround managementDump and load activities for the reload

What process engineers ask about catalyst management and guarantees

What is catalyst management for a refinery?

Catalyst management keeps every reactor’s loads, guarantees and spent handling on one record per bed. This solution draws each reactor as loaded, reads the vendor’s guarantee against your lab and historian records, owns each notice window, levels offers for the next load, and follows spent catalyst to its certificate.

How does it test a catalyst performance guarantee?

Clause by clause, on the letter’s own basis. If a clause averages over a period, the sums checker works every rolling window on the raw daily results and shows the highest. A missing day is handled as the letter says. Where the records are not clean, the agent says what it cannot show.

Does it predict end of run temperature or catalyst life?

No. Performance modeling stays with the vendor. The screens show the record: bed temperatures, the guarantee test, the vendor’s own forecast labeled as the vendor’s claim, and the climb so far as a stated sum.

Who sends a claim to the vendor?

A person. The engineer proposes, the technical manager opens the records and countersigns, and the contracts lead opens the letters and sends. Agents draft and never send.

Can it help with catalyst change-out planning?

Yes. It reads dump and load dates from the turnaround schedule, works spent weight and bins from the last dump, and works the order date back from the vendor’s lead time. A reclaimer with a missing certificate is blocked from the plan.

How does spent catalyst management work here?

The spent tracker matches bins to manifests to reclaimer certificates, with weights in and out. A shortfall over tolerance or a missing certificate stays open with the waste coordinator, who rules on it.

What happens when someone asks whether a bed can be pushed?

That is an operating question. The assistant gives no figures and sends it to the technical manager, who sees it in her queue.

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Bring one guarantee letter
and the vendor’s reply.

We’ll test its clauses with you on your own lab and historian records.

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