Petroleum, catalytic cracking gasoline from

PET, see Polyethylene terephthalate Petit, Rowland, 524 Petroleum, catalytic cracking of, 100 composition of, 99-100 gasoline from. 99-100 history of, 99 refining of, 99-100 Pharmaceuticals, approval procedure for, 165 origin of, 164 Phenol(s), 599... 

The application of catalysis to the production of motor fuel by cracking of less volatile petroleum oils was first investigated in France by Eugene J. Houdry in the period 1927 to 1930. The results from these investigations clearly established the superiority of catalytically cracked gasoline over that made by the thermal processes the economic possibilities were also indicated. 

Any mercaptans boiling below 80°C are also readily dissolved in alkaline solutions (Eq. 18.32). A common process for the removal of dissolved mercaptans of this kind, especially from catalytically cracked gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas, is the Universal Oil Products (UOP) Merox process that also uses caustic soda for extraction. In this process, however, the mercaptans are then oxidized to disulfides using air assisted by a metal complex catalyst dissolved in the caustic soda (Eq. 18.34). 

In little more than half of the 25 years covered by this symposium, catalytic cracking has been developed from its first acceptance to a major industrial process. It has served to increase the amount and octane rating of gasoline and the amounts of valuable C3 and C gas components obtainable from petroleum feed stocks over those from thermal cracking alone. It is therefore of interest to seek an explanation of the nature of the products obtained in catalytic cracking in terms of the hydrocarbon and catalyst chemistry which has been developed within the past 25 years. 

FEEDSTOCKS. Gaseous or liquid petroleum-derived hydrocarbons or mixture of hydrocarbons from which gasoline, fuel oil. and petrochemicals are produced hy thermal or catalytic cracking. It is also called charging slock. Feedstocks commonly used include ethane, propane, butane, hutene. benzene, loluene. xylene, maphtha, and gas oils. 

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