Refinery Catalysts Market

Refinery Catalyst Market

The global refinery catalyst market is valued at USD 5.6 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 6.8 billion by 2029, growing at 4.0% cagr from 2024 to 2029.

The refinery catalyst market is projected to grow at a moderate rate during the forecast year. They are an essential part of systems where regulating heat is an important factor. Refinery catalysts enable efficient oil refining process by significantly enhancing its efficiency and sustainability.  The catalysts help in quickly converting low value crude oil into high-quality petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, and other fuels. The growth in this market is driven by various factors like increasing demand for cleaner fuels, high octane number requirement, and technological advancements. The innovation in catalyst composition will further allow improved conversion rates, higher selectivity, and better tolerance to impurities. The research is also driven by the need for best solution for sustainability and emission control.

Global Refinery Catalyst Market Trend

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Refinery Catalyst Market Dynamics

Driver: High octane number requirement

High octane fuels are essential for improving the engine performance and efficiency of vehicles. In recent years, the requirement of high-octane fuel is significantly increasing due to increasing awareness and growing consumer expenditure. These fuels are essential in resisting knock backs, which can damage engines. In addition, they improve the overall combustion process in modern, high-performance engines. These factors are in line with the growing demand of high-performance vehicles. They also help in increasing fuel efficiency and regulating emission. For producing high-octane fuels, refiners use advanced catalytic processes such as catalytic reforming and isomerization. High quality catalysts are needed for refining high-octane fuels. The growing need for such fuels is driving the refiners develop advanced catalyst technologies. This will directly drive the refinery catalyst market.

Restraint: Declining crude oil reserves

The ever-decreasing crude oil reserves are the largest restraint faced by the refinery catalyst market. The depleting fields pose a significant threat to refiners in securing reliable and sufficient supply of crude oil reserve for processing. The growing scarcity disrupts the refining operations and limits the reserves for performing refining process with the use of refinery catalysts. In addition, as the reserves decrease, the price for procuring crude oil increases. This increases the uncertainty of future of crude oil refining and the by products produced. The use of catalysts in refining will also suffer an impact due to the depleting reserves.

Opportunity: Shift towards renewable fuels

The increasing use of renewable fuels are providing catalyst manufacturers enough opportunity in the refinery catalyst market. The stringent environmental regulations are marking manufacturers increase their sustainability efforts for achieving green economy. This will drive the demand for catalysts which are used in processing renewable feedstocks like biofuels & biogas. They also help in converting biomass and waste materials into cleaner, high-quality transportation fuels with reduced emissions. Advancement of technology for improving conversion efficiency, selectivity, and sustainability to produce fuels will benefit the catalyst manufacturers. The increase in R&D will support refinery catalysts in penetrating new refining sectors for renewable energy along with maintaining environmental sustainability. 

Challenges: Rise of electric vehicles (EVs)

The growing market of Electric Vehicles (EVs) are hampering the growth in the market of refinery catalysts. The traditional vehicles majorly use petroleum based fuels, the adoption of EVs will limit the requirement of petroleum based products in the automotive sector. The increasing focus on environmental sustainability and carbon emission are influencing more and more use of EVs. Government organizations in some countries are also providing economic assistance to the manufacturers as well as the buyers of EVs. This will see an increase in manufacturing and demand of EVs, however, will decrease the sale of traditional petroleum based fuel vehicles. Thus, hampering the growth in the market of refinery catalysts.

Refinery Catalyst Market Ecosystem

By ingredient, zeolites are the fastest growing segment in refinery catalyst market, in 2023.

Zeolites, metals, and chemical compounds are often used as a catalyst in refining process. Among these zeolites captures a significant share in terms of volume and is also among the fastest growing refinery catalyst. Zeolites are porous in nature. These pores act as a trap for atoms and molecules, which lead to chemical reaction. In addition, their pore size is beneficial for selective catalytic reactions for certain molecules. Zeolites are highly reactive catalyst for oil refining. They are used in major refining processes like naptha isomerization, olefin alkylation, catalytic reforming, fluid catalytic cracking, and hydrocracking. Y-zeolite, ZSM-5, and mordenite are the most commonly used variants for the refining process.

By type, FCC catalyst captures the largest share in refinery catalyst market, in 2023.

FCC catalyst, hydrotreating catalyst, hydrocracking catalyst, catalytic reforming catalyst are the catalysts used in various refining processes. FCC catalyst is the most common refining process. In this process, heavy crude oils, like gas oils and residues are converted into valuable lighter products like gasoline and olefins. The use for FCC catalyst goes in hand with the growing demand for high octane fuels. They are most profitable in refining process due to their capability of producing high octane fuels and other petroleum feedstocks. The catalyst in this process is continuously circulated between the reactor and regenerator. A wide variety of feedstock can be handled by FCC units.

Asia Pacific accounted for the largest market share in the refinery catalyst market, in terms of value.

Based on region, Asia Pacific is a key market to produce refinery catalysts and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.5% in terms of value during the forecasted period. The availability of low-cost raw materials and labor, coupled with increasing domestic demand, makes the region an attractive investment destination for refinery catalyst manufacturers. The rising population, urbanization, industrialization, and growing concerns related to environmental sustainability are some of the factors that will drive the refinery catalyst market in this region. The leniency of regulations also drives the manufacturing market of refinery catalysts in Asia Pacific.

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Refinery Catalyst Market Players

Some of the key players operating in the refinery catalyst market include Albemarle Corporation (US), W R Grace (US), BASF (Germany), Haldor Topsoe (Denmark), Honeywell UOP (US), Clariant (Switzerland), Axens (France), Johnson Matthey (UK), China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) (China), and Shell Catalyst & Technologies (Netherlands) among others.

These companies have adopted various organic as well as inorganic growth strategies between 2019 and 2023 to strengthen their positions in the market. The expansion is the key growth strategy adopted by these leading players to enhance regional presence and develop product portfolios to meet the growing demand for refinery catalystfrom emerging economies.

Refinery Catalyst Scope

This report categorizes the global refinery catalyst market based on type, ingredient, and region.

Based on the type:

• FCC Catalysts
• Hydrotreating Catalysts
• Hydrocracking Catalysts
• Catalytic Reforming Catalysts
• Other Types

Based on the ingredients:

• Zeolites
• Metals
• Chemical Compounds

Based on the region:

• Asia Pacific
• Europe
• North America
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Recent Developments

• In November 2021, Axens launched its P/PR 200 Series. The new P/PR 200 Series allows for the option to short-load the unit, process additional naphtha, or extend the time-on-stream factor, all while enhancing average selectivity.
• In January 2024, The Albemarle Corporation has formally introduced Ketjen, a wholly owned subsidiary that creates customized, innovative catalyst solutions for the specialty chemicals, petrochemical, and refining industries. As a separate brand, Ketjen supports customers in spanning fluidized catalytic cracking, clean fuels, hydro-processing, organometallics, and curatives.
• In March 2023, Haldor Topsoe has built a new catalyst plant in Pasadena, Texas to produce catalysts for traditional refining as well as renewable diesel and jet fuel using its HydroFlex technology.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

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