KBR and Shell Global Solutions plan to expand their hydroprocessing technology alliance, the companies announced on Wednesday.

In addition to hydrocracking and hydrotreating, KBR will now market, sell and provide technology and design packages for Shell's deep-flash, high-vacuum unit distillation and thermal conversion technologies.

KBR said the new alliance terms will help refinery operators that want to improve their distillation performance to optimize assets, minimize expenditures and capital investment, and debottleneck operations.

To meet those goals, refiners can use deep cut vacuum distillation to maximize the recovery of distillate from residue.

Also, with the falling demand for residue fuel oil, refiners can use thermal conversion technologies to convert the bottom barrel to higher value products, company officials said.

“The expansion of the alliance underscores our success to date and allows us to deliver a much broader refinery scope of value-focused technology,” said John Derbyshire, president of KBR Technology. “The addition of these technologies enables us to better address refiners’ long-term needs for margin improvement, while continuing to meet environmental requirements.”

“Our early successes demonstrate that refiners value the synergies between KBR’s technology and engineering experience and Shell’s operating and catalyst experience,” added Süleyman Özmen, vice president of refining and chemical licensing for Shell Global Solutions.