BioFlux™ Thermal Pretreatment technology
Unlocking low-cost feedstocks and leading conversion costs for SAF production
Sulzer’s BioFlux Thermal Pretreatment Technology (TPT) enables the use of challenging feedstocks such as used cooking oil and animal fats for the production of sustainable fuels. By drastically reducing contaminants like metals, phosphorus, and chlorides, BioFlux prepares fats, oils, and greases (FOGs) for efficient hydroprocessing. The result: reliable production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at significantly lower costs and carbon intensity.
Enables low-cost feedstocks
Processes even highly contaminated fats and oils, including Category 1 tallow
Superior economics
Cuts hydrogen use by up to 50%, lowers CAPEX/OPEX, and unlocks renewable naphtha revenues
Proven and flexible technology
Operates at scale with standard refinery equipment, no catalysts needed
Main benefits
Up to 15% lower production costs compared to conventional processes, thanks to natural gas savings and renewable naphtha credits
Up to 96% metals, 99% phosphorus, 99.9% chlorides, and 50% of oxygen eliminated, enabling smooth hydroprocessing
No catalyst required
Capable of pretreating difficult waste fats and oils, including Category 1 tallow
Enables co-processing of bio-feedstocks in existing hydrotreaters
Key characteristics
Almost complete conversion of triglycerides to free fatty acids and PIONAs, improving downstream processing
Uses familiar refinery equipment
Rapid deployment from concept to engineering to modular plant supply within 24 months
Seamlessly integrates with hydrotreating and hydrogen generation for optimized economics and sustainability
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GT‑DWC is a unique distillation technique called dividing wall column, that produces three or more purified products in a single tower that otherwise in conventional way is done by 2-3 columns in series.
A vertical wall splits typically the mid‑section into two functional zones so the column can pre‑fractionate the feed on one side while the other side refines the middle cut (heart‑cut) from the top and the bottom cuts. Compared with a conventional in-series distillation columns, this integrated column reduces investment by half of the equipment count, and its internal arrangement reduces remixing that lower the utility consumption as well.
When comparing with the normal column with a side draw, GT-DWC produces the heart‑cut where it is most concentrated with contamination from top & bottom products, and achieves the same (or better) product specs as by the multi-column system.
A two‑column sequence inevitably wastes duty by splitting and then remixing components between shells, causing thermal inefficiency that drives up utility consumptions for reboiling and condensing. GT‑DWC® consolidates that work inside one shell, so the separation is done once without such thermal inefficiency, with one reboiler and one condenser. That means fewer separation efficiency losses, lower internal flows, and smaller overall duty. Where applicable, GT-DWC typically provide 20-30% energy saving comparing with two-column system with the same or better product separation quality.
Yes. GT‑DWC is often a revamp enabler because it replaces two columns with one shell, freeing plot space and reducing energy consumption. It can also be applied for revamping an existing column with sidedraw to greatly improve the middle heartcut purity/quality that benefit its value and downstream units. Sulzer high-efficiency tower internals and proprietary DWC design are key to guarantee the success of the revamp. Dynamic simulation is used to validate start‑up/shutdown procedures as well as the feed variation to prove controllability within your existing utility envelope.
Sulzer supplies the full set of trays or structured packings, along with distributors, collectors, and when needed, custom wall hardware. The internals are engineered to maintain pressure balance and uniform liquid/vapor distribution on both sides of the wall—this is critical to prevent maldistribution, channeling, or cross‑leakage that can degrade efficiency. Selection (trays vs. packing) depends on capacity, turndown, fouling tendency, and pressure drop targets; our design team sizes distributors/redistributors and sealing elements to keep performance stable across the operating range.
Yes. A single shell creates a clean condenser ↔ reboiler pairing that a heat pump can bridge: the overhead releases heat while condensing; VoltaSplit™ lifts that heat to the reboiler temperature replacing a large share of steam with electricity and reusing condenser heat that would otherwise be rejected.
GT‑DWC excels when there is a meaningful middle cut (heart‑cut) to recover, and when the alternative would be a two‑column arrangement. Typical examples include aromatics heart‑cuts, naphtha splitter, reformate splitter, iso/normal-separation column, and light/medium hydrocarbon fractionations where three product slates are needed. As a rule of thumb, if your feed has a clear light, middle, and heavy region—and the middle product purity/yield matters—GT‑DWC is a strong candidate.
We pair a standard temperature/reflux control structure with additional loops to maintain vapor/liquid splits around the dividing wall. It ensures high controllability, and robust operation even facing the feed variation. Dynamic simulation is used to test disturbances (feed swings, utility changes) and to finalize startup/shutdown sequences before commissioning.
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