Chloride removal absorbents
Chloride removal absorbents play a critical role in protecting refinery equipment and maintaining safe, reliable operations. Chlorides are highly corrosive compounds that can damage plant infrastructure, accelerate corrosion, and ultimately lead to costly equipment failures and serious health and safety risks.
In oil refineries, chlorides are commonly found in crude oil feedstocks and in the outlet streams of catalytic reformers. The reformer is often the primary source, as chlorides are intentionally introduced to optimise catalyst performance.
Johnson Matthey provides a range of high-performance fixed-bed chloride removal absorbents designed to efficiently remove both organic and inorganic chlorides from liquid and gas streams. Our advanced PURASPEC™ technologies help refineries minimise corrosion, protect critical equipment, and improve operational reliability — supporting our vision for a cleaner and healthier world.
Johnson Matthey’s next generation ultra high-capacity chloride guard
Refineries are facing increasing pressure to operate more efficiently while protecting critical downstream units from the damaging effects of trace chlorides. Johnson Matthey’s next generation chloride removal technology has been developed to meet these challenges, delivering a step change in performance and total cost of ownership.
Building on a well-established chloride removal platform, this latest generation delivers up to double the chloride capacity of conventional solutions. This is achieved through precision-engineered active ingredient distribution, proprietary morphology design, and an advanced manufacturing process, enabling significantly longer operating cycles without compromising protection.
By extending bed life and minimising shutdowns, this technology helps refiners cut operating costs, reduce waste, and improve unit availability — all while maintaining strong protection for downstream catalysts and equipment.
PURASPECTM CLEARTM chloride absorbents deliver an unbeatable capacity for the removal of organic and inorganic chlorides in liquid and gas duties. The absorbent materials are carefully developed to prevent the formation of organic chlorides or green oils which can result in premature and very expensive outages of equipment and refinery processes.
PURASPEC absorbents are formulated to provide market leading capacities and long life while being robust towards hydrocarbon fouling and liquid entrainment. PURASPEC absorbents keep a refinery corrosion-free and prevent fouling, which affects refinery’s operability and profitability.
PURASPEC chloride absorbents offer a suite of customized solutions for:
Hydrogen chloride (HCl) removal
PURASPEC products are designed to provide market leading capacity, making them an easy choice for a full-bed or as part of an optimized solution. These products are specially formulated to have an excellent selectivity and to minimise side reactions, often seen with alumina-based absorbents.
Organo-chlorides (RCl) removal
Over the last several years, the requirement for RCl has become more frequent with our customers wanting a solution for complete chloride removal. Increasingly, customers are reporting RCl to be a contributing factor for on-going corrosion and operational issues. Johnson Matthey has addressed this and developed a range of PURASPEC absorbents capable of achieving very high total chloride removal levels and the longest run lengths achievable in the industry. These products can be used solely or in combination with other PURASPEC absorbents to meet specific requirements of our customers.
Johnson Matthey’s representatives should be consulted to determine which product is most appropriate for any given application/duty and how to maximise its utilisation.
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