Attrition cracking

The mechanisms of comminution are complex involving breakage along particle cracks and fissures etc., and depend on the hardness and structure of the feed particle. The Institution of Chemical Engineers (London) produced a major report on comminution (IChem, 1975), which was followed by reviews by Bemrose and Bridgwater (1987), Prior etal. (1990) and Jones (1997). These reviews included sections on both the fundamental and practical aspects of comminution and attrition in process equipment, test methods and an extensive list of references. 

A well-defined bed of particles does not exist in the fast-fluidization regime. Instead, the particles are distributed more or less uniformly throughout the reactor. The two-phase model does not apply. Typically, the cracking reactor is described with a pseudohomogeneous, axial dispersion model. The maximum contact time in such a reactor is quite limited because of the low catalyst densities and high gas velocities that prevail in a fast-fluidized or transport-line reactor. Thus, the reaction must be fast, or low conversions must be acceptable. Also, the catalyst must be quite robust to minimize particle attrition. 

Figure 2. Time dependence of catalyst attrition in a submerged jet test (D, = 0.05 m, uor = 100 ms-1, dor = 2 mm, HA-HPV is a fresh catalyst whereas FCC is a spent cracking catalyst from a commercial unit. (From Werther and Xi, 1993.)...

Both devices described above were developed in order to test the friability of fluid-cracking catalysts. Nowadays the application of these or similar tests is a common procedure in the development of fluidized bed catalysts. Contractor et al. (1989), for example, used a submerged-jet test to compare the attrition resistance of newly developed VPO catalysts. In fact, such tests can be applied to any type of fluidized bed processes. Sometimes they have to be slightly modified to adapt them to the process under consideration. The drilled plate may, for example, be substituted by... 

We normally reuse cassette pieces, although each part is checked for damage. The most common causes of attrition are cracks in the center rings, and loose hose connections on the cassette base. We check each base with a metal hose connector to insure that the fit is still tight. These hose connectors were ob-... 

In the recent past, commercial cracking catalysts have tended to be high in density (low in pore volume) in order to reduce attrition and avoid air pollution problems, which tend to relate to catalyst density. Catalysts for FCC application are not considered to be diffusion limited and, therefore, higher-density catalysts are quite acceptable. 

In China, most of the traditional RFCC catalysts (such as Orbit, DVR, and MFC mentioned above) are based on alnmina matrix, and the most widely used materials for alumina matrix preparation are alumina sol and modified active alumina [4]. Alumina matrix combines the virtnes of alumina-sol (better attrition resistance and coke selectivity) and active alnmina (higher cracking activity), thus improving the cracking activity and selectivity of the catalysts. However, the coke selectivity of the alumina matrix is nnsatisfactory when processing resid feed due to the insufficient amount of meso/macropores and higher concentration of acid sites. 

Excessive vapor entrainment down the dipleg can increase erosion and possibly catalyst attrition. On the reactor side, excessive entrainment will send more cracked product vapors to the stripper. 

The choice and properties of the aeration gas are important factors for maintaining stable standpipe operation. The condensate source for steam aeration can cause several problems. If the steam is not kept dry, the condensate can lead to stress cracking of the tap piping, plugging of the tap nozzle with mud, erratic aeration rates, orifice erosion, and potentially catalyst attrition. Similar problems can occur with wet fuel gas as an aeration source. When possible, dry air and/or nitrogen are preferred rather than steam as aeration media for standpipes. However, in actual... 

Gwyn, J. E. (1969). On the Particle Size Distribution Function and the Attrition of Cracking Catalysts. AIChEJ., 15, 35. 

Powders possessing relatively high surface area and active sites can be intrinsically catalytically active themselves. Powders of nickel, platinum, palladium, and copper chromites find broad use in various hydrogenation reactions, whereas zeolites and metal oxide powders are used primarily for cracking and isomerization. All of the properties important for supported powdered catalysts such as particle size, resistance to attrition, pore size, and surface area are likewise important for unsupported catalysts. Since no additional catalytic species are added, it is difficult to control active site location however, intuitively it is advantageous to maximize the area of active sites within the matrix. This parameter can be influenced by preparative procedures. 

Edges or surface irregularities on particulate catalysts used in fluid- or fixed-bed applications are susceptible to attrition and erosion during reaction. The morphology of a typical fluid-bed cracking catalyst is shown in Fig. 9. The surface of spheres, extrudates, and tablets is relatively free of topological features, and thus physical losses are usually not a serious problem. 

Attrition- and Metal-Resistant Fluid Cracking Catalyst Prepared with Alumina Powder in the Matrix... 

Recent literature shows a growing trend to include free alumina in the formulation of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) products. Over the last dozen years, FCC catalysts containing free alumina have been cited in the open and patent literature for benefits including (1) enhanced catalyst reactivity and selectivity (1-3). (2) more robust operation in the presence of metals in the petroleum feedstock (4-7). (3) improved attrition resistance (8.9). (4) improved hydrothermal stability against steam deactivation during regeneration (2.8). (5) increased pore volume and decreased bulk density (8), and (6) reduction of SOx emissions (10). 

Alumina promoted FCC catalysts are commercially viable if, and only if, the alumina component produces the desired properties without detrimentally affecting the attrition resistance and the cracking activity of the finished catalyst particle. Previous work (8.9.11) indicated that attrition resistant catalysts containing alumina could be formed only if a highly dispersed, pseudoboehmitic alumina was used. Other studies have demonstrated catalytic performance improvement without determining the attrition character of the catalyst (1-7). 

Second, the alumina would not cause a serious deterioration of the attrition resistance of the microspheres. Third, the alumina-containing material had to have reasonable cracking activity as measured by conversion and product selectivity. 

Alcoa s rehydratable CP alumina powders can be used effectively to improve a viable FCC catalyst formulation. Well-formed microspheres which have superior attrition resistance can be fabricated by controlling the pH and viscosity of the FCC slurry. At this time, the preferred formulation uses CP-2 as the free alumina source and a silica sol which has aged at conditions conducive to the formation of chains of polysilicic acid aggregates. The addition of the rehydratable alumina can also have a beneficial effect on the cracking activity of the catalyst. The conversion and selectivity of a CP-2 formulated sample were comparable to a commercial grade catalyst and an experimental reference, which was alumina-free. After heavy metals poisoning, the CP-2 material had activity which was superior to the reference formulation. 

Moving bed gas adsorbers also have been proposed and used, patterned after moving bed gas oil crackers. In the Hypersorber of Figure 15.28, flows of gas and solids are countercurrent in a single vessel. After saturation, the solid is stripped with steam and removed at the bottom of the tower, and gas is lifted to cooling and adsorption zones. The control mechanism for solids flow and typical performance for ethylene recovery from cracked gases also are shown with the figure. Partly because of attrition losses and the advent of competitive processes for ethylene recovery, the Hyper-... 

The strength of most materials is greater in compression than in tension. It is therefore unfortunate that technical difficulties prevent the direct application of tensile stresses. The compressive stresses commonly used in comminution equipment do not cause failure directly but generate by distortion sufficient tensile or shear stress to form a crack tip in a region away from the point of primary stress application. This is an inefficient but unavoidable mechanism. Impact and attrition are the other basic modes of stress application. The distinction between impact and compression is referred to later. Attrition, which is commonly employed, is difficult to classify but is probably primarily a shear mechanism. 

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