Carbonizer/vaporizer/cracker

Figure 1. Thermal cracking apparatus a, carbonizer/vaporizer/cracker b, small vaporizer/cracker...

A major application of fluidized bed technology is to be found in the catalytic-cracking reactor, or Cat Cracker , which lies at the heart of the petroleum refining process. Here, the catalyst particles (which promote the breakdown of the large crude petroleum molecules into the smaller constituents of gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, etc.) are fluidized by the vaporized crude oil. An unwanted by-product of the reactions is carbon, which deposits on the particle surfaces, thereby blocking their catalytic action. The properties of the fluidized state are further exploited to overcome this problem. The catalyst is reactivated continuously by circulating it to another bed, where it is fluidized with air in which the carbon burns... 

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