BIMF Oil Refining

pervect

Someone was asking me about a new Russian oil refining process from the Boreskov institute, known as the BIMF oil refiniing method, that is supposed to significantly reduce the cost of refining oil into gasoline when applied to new plants.

I really don't have much clue about chemical engineering, so I thought I'd post to this forum to see what comments other people had.

Some of the sources:

http://www.gateway2russia.com/st/art_206278.php
http://www.sanu.ac.yu/English/meetings/KATALIZAIV.htm

(the lecture cited in the later conference was SCIENTIFIC BASE AND TECHNOLOGY OF BIMF (“BORESKOV INSTITUTE MOTOR FUELS”) PROCESS
G.V. Echevsky , O.V. Kikhtyanin, D.G. Aksenov, and O.V. Klimov, Boreskov Institute of Catalysis, SB RAN, pr. Lavrentieva, 5, Novosibirsk, Russia )


Some of the questions I was asked: does this process look like it's on the "up and up"? If it is, is it ready for full-scale commercial exploitation (for instance, to replace some of the US refining capacity that was recently damaged), or is it still in the laboratory phase?