Catalytic cracking deactivation/regeneration

If deactivation is rapid and caused by a deposition and a physical blocking of the surface this process is often termed fouling. Removal of this solid is termed regeneration. Carbon deposition during catalytic cracking is a common example of fouling... 

THERMOFOR PROCESS. A moving-bed catalytic cracking process in which petroleum vapor is passed up through a reactor countercurrent to a flow of small beads or catalyst. The deactivated catalyst then passes through a regenerator and is recirculated. 

Non-stationary operations have found large scale industrial application. An important classical example is catalytic cracking, where oil is exposed with a short residence time to a rapidly deactivating zeolitic catalyst, which is regenerated in a second step by removal of deposited coke. A novel non-stationary process is selective butane oxidation over a regenerable oxidation catalyst (see Chapter 2). Undoubtedly we will see more examples of this type of process, in which the proper catalytic step and the regeneration of the catalytic sites occur in different compartments under different conditions. A nice application involves... 

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). 

The book also explores the application of various acidic catalysts, such as silica-alumina, zeolites (HY, HZSM-5, mordenite) or alkaline compounds such as zinc oxide. However, the main problem with catalytic cracking is that in the course of the cracking process all catalysts deactivate very quickly. Expensive zeolite catalysts increase the cost of waste plastics cracking process to the point where it becomes economically unacceptable since the catalyst becomes contained in coke residue and therefore cannot be recovered and regenerated. 

Recentlyr Schockaert and Proment [ref. 41] simulated the catalytic cracking of gasoil in both fluidized bed or riser reactors, connected with a fluidized bed regenerator. The kinetic model for the cracking was based upon the lO- lump loodel of Mobil [ ref 42 ]. Only one deactivation function was used for all the coking reactions and it was exponential in the coke content ... 

Depending on tlie time. scale of deactivation, the catalytic activity can be restored in different ways. For example, in fluid catalytic cracking, where the deactivation is very fast, a recirculating leacTor is used for continuous catalyst regeneration. However, if the deactivation is slow and constant conversion is desired 10 meet certain environmental regulations as in VOCoxidation, the temperature level can be used to compensate fur the loss of intrinsic catalytic activity. Under such additions, the deactivation effects are measured by the temperature increase required to maintain constant conversion. 

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