Hydrocarbon processing fluid catalytic cracking

A dephlegmator process can be used to recover ethylene—ethane and heavier hydrocarbons from fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit off-gas (Fig. 7). Pretreated feed gas is cooled to about 230 K and then further cooled and rectified in a dephlegmator to recover 90 to 98% of the ethylene, 99 % of the... 

Catalytic cracking is a very flexible process used to reduce the molecular weight of hydrocarbons. Today, fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) remains the dominant conversion process in petroleum refineries. Although FCC is sometimes considered to be a fully matured process, new challenges and opportunities in its application and a continuing stream of innovations in the process and catalyst field ensure that it will remain an important and dynamic process in the future of refining. 

Several hydrocarbon processes are available for upgrading resid hydrotreating, Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC), coking etc., some more capital intensive than others. The most widely prevalent process is the FCC process. Therefore any advances in processing resid in FCC units will have wide application. This paper deals with concepts for developments in resid cracking, particularly in resid FCC development, evaluation and application. 

Fig. 18.19. Fluid catalytic cracking—UOP LLC. Combustor style is used to crack process gas oils and moderately contaminated resids, while the two-stage unit is used for more contaminated oils. (Source Hydrocarbon Processing, 2004 Refining Process Handbook. CD-ROM. September 2004 copyright 2004 by Gulf Publishing Co., all rights reserved.)...

In petrochemical and oil refining operations, the zeolite is primarily responsible for the catalyst s activity, selectivity and stability (catalytic, thermal and hydrothermal). The fluid catalytic cracking process (FCC) is the most widely used of the oil refining process and is characterized by the use of a finely divided catalyst, which is moved through the processing unit. The catalyst particles are of such a size (about 70 pm) that when aerated with air or hydrocarbon vapor, the catalyst behaves like a liquid and can be moved easily through pipes. 

For some widely practiced processes, especially in the petroleum industry, reliable and convenient computerized models are available from a number of vendors or, by license, from proprietary sources. Included are reactor-regenerator of fluid catalytic cracking, hydro-treating, hydrocracking, alkylation with HF or H2SO4, reforming with Pt or Pt-Re catalysts, tubular steam cracking of hydrocarbon fractions, noncatalytic pyrolysis to ethylene, ammonia synthesis, and other processes by suppliers of catalysts. Vendors of some process simulations are listed in the CEP Software Directory (AIChE, 1994). 

Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) is one of the main industrial catalytic processes, in which heavy hydrocarbons are converted into lighter hydrocarbons. The main products are gasoline and light cycle oil. The reactions are carried out in an entrained flow reactor, in which the... 

R.F.Wormsbecher, W.-C. Cheng, G. Kim and R.H. Harding, Ch. 21, Vanadium Mobility in Fluid Catalytic Cracking, in Deactivation and Testing of Hydrocarbon-Processing... 

Henz, H. Avezevedo, F. Chamberlain, O. O Connor, P. Re-inventing fluid catalytic cracking. Hydrocarbon Processing, September... 

Combination processes (Table 2.10) link two light gaseous streams to form a larger higher valued fuel product. At least one of the gas streams used in the combination process is a reactive olefin hydrocarbon molecule produced via fluid catalytic cracking, coking or outside petrochemical operation. The major combination processes are alkylation, etherification and polymerization. 

Feedstocks to the coker generally consist of vacuum resids along with some slops (refinery or petrochemical waste streams) heavy FCC (fluid catalytic cracking) slurry oils, which contain unconverted hydrocarbons and traces of catalyst fines entrained from the reactor and asphalts. The coker is often the final disposition for many poor quality refinery process streams. As a result, the feedstock to the coker contains high levels of impurities. 

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