Catalytic cracking process development

NEXCC [NEste Catalytic Cracking] catalytic cracking process developed by Neste Oil, Finland, from 1998. Novel engineering features permit the very short residence time of 0.7 to 2.2 sec. 

Deep catalytic cracking (DCC) is a catalytic cracking process which selectively cracks a wide variety of feedstocks into light olefins. The reactor and the regenerator systems are similar to FCC. However, innovation in the catalyst development, severity, and process variable selection enables DCC to produce more olefins than FCC. In this mode of operation, propylene plus ethylene yields could reach over 25%. In addition, a high yield of amylenes (C5 olefins) is possible. Figure 3-7 shows the DCC process and Table 3-10 compares olefins produced from DCC and FCC processes. ... 

Isodewaxing A catalytic dewaxing process developed by Chevron Research Technology. It incorporates catalysts that achieve both wax isomerization and shape-selective cracking. 

MSCC [Millisecond catalytic cracking] A fluid catalytic cracking process which uses an ultra-short contact time reaction system. It is claimed that less capital investment and higher liquid yields can be achieved using this process, compared with conventional FCC units. Developed by Bar-Co and now offered by UOP it has been operating since 1994. 

R2R A catalytic cracking process using an ultrastable zeolite catalyst with two-stage regeneration. Developed by Institut Frangais du Petrole and used at Idemitsu Kosan s refineries at Aichi and Hokaido. In 1994, 13 existing plants had been converted to this process. 

The first cracking catalysts were acid-leached montmorillonite clays. The acid leach was to remove various metal impurities, principally iron, copper, and nickel, that could exert adverse effects on the cracking performance of a catalyst. The catalysts were first used in fixed- and moving-bed reactor systems in the form of shaped pellets. Later, with the development of the fluid catalytic cracking process, clay catalysts were made in the form of a ground, sized powder. Clay catalysts are relatively inexpensive and have been used extensively for many years. 

Prior to 1938, gasoline was obtained from thermal-cracking plants then the Houdry fixed-bed catalytic cracking process led to the development of a fluidized-bed process by Standard Oil for the catalytic production of motor fuels (4-8). Acid-treated clays of the montmorilIonite type were the first fluid-cracking catalysts widely employed by the industry. However, the ever greater demand for aviation fuels during the 1939-1945 period prompted the search for more active and selective catalysts. Research on novel catalyst... 

Al-Enezi, G., Fawzi, N., and Elkamel, A. (1999) Development of regression models to control product yields and properties of the fluid catalytic cracking process. Petroleum Science e[ Technology, 17, 535. 

With the financial and technical help of those two oil companies, extensive development work on the catalytic cracking process was carried out on a laboratory and semiplant scale. This included the study of catalysts and the process variables, as well as the development of new engineering concepts which led to the first commercial application of this process in 1936. 

In present catalytic cracking processes the production of gasoline is accompanied by the formation of substantial amounts of coke, as well as the production of hydrogen and light hydrocarbons. As the control of the combustion of coke was the main problem facing the commercial development, the effects of variables are conveniently expressed in terms of coke formation in the following discussion. 

Prior to the development of the catalytic cracking process, aviation gasoline was produced by adding tetraethyllead to blends of commercial iso-octane (2,2,4-trimethyl-pentane) and selected straight-run petroleum fractions. 

Catalytic cracking processes evolved in the 1930s from research on petroleum and coal liquids. The petroleum work came to fruition with the invention of acid cracking. The work to produce liquid fuels from coal, most notably in Germany, resulted in metal sulfide hydrogenation catalysts. In the 1930, a catalytic cracking catalyst for petroleum that used solid acids as catalysts was developed using acid-treated clays. 

With this decision made, Ashland set out to develop a new residual oil conversion process which could effectively produce a greater amount of transportation fuel from each barrel of crude processed. It was concluded that a new process would take the best features from the fluid catalytic cracking process and couple them with innovative improvements in related key areas such as unique... 

It is no exaggeration to say that without catalysts Germany would have been in no condition to pursue its war effort until November 1918. Likewise, if Houdry had not developed in the early days of World War II its catalytic cracking process, the United States would have found it very hard to provide its bombers with light fuel. It was also through catalytic reforming that the United States managed to obtain from petroleum the toluene needed to produce TNT between 1941 and 1945. 

In the U.S. oil and natural gas were playing a significant role, together with coal, as early as the 1920s. It was obvious that, compared with coal, oil was a superior chemical feedstock since the hydrocarbons are present in a gaseous or liquid form. The problem was that crude oil is very unreactive this applies particularly to the paraffins which are main constituents of crude oil. The situation changed when thermal and, later, catalytic cracking processes were developed. 

CPP [Catalytic Pyrolysis Process] A Hybrid DCC-steam cracking process, developed by Stone and Webster and piloted in China. 

A significant application of FF on a commercial scale is the FF regenerator in fluid catalytic cracking processes. In Chapter 9, J. Chen, H. Cao, and T. Liu of Luoyang Petrochemical Engineering Corporation (LPEC) describe the development and design of four types of FF regenerators and the results of their commercial operation. More than 30 such units are in operation in China. 

D. L. Trimm in Fundamental Aspects of the Formation and Gasification of Coke in L. F. Albright, B. L. Crynes, W. H. Corcoran (eds.), Pyrolysis Theory and Industrial Practice , Academic Press, New York, 1983 L. F. Albright, B. L. Crynes, W. H. Corcoran (eds.), Pyrolysis Theory and Industrial Practice , Academic Press, New York, 1983 T. J. Ford, Ind. Eng. Chem. Fundam., 25, 240, 1986 Coastal Isobutane Cracking Process developed by Foster Wheeler P. B. Venuto and E. T. Habib, Fluid Catalytic Cracking with Zeolite Catalysts , Marcel Dekker, New York, 1979... 

J. Nishino, M. Itoh, T. Ishinomori, N. Knbota, and Y. Uemichi, Development of a catalytic cracking process for converting waste plastics to petrochemicals, J. Mater. Cycles Waste Manag. 5, 89 (2003). 

The chemical recycling of waste plastics consists of two processes the first is the degradation of waste plastics for the production of heavy oils, and the second is a catalytic cracking process that converts the heavy oils into useful hydrocarbons. To achieve these recycling goals, it remains necessary to develop efficient chemical recycling processes that can operate in a steam atmosphere. 

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