Vanadium poisoning mechanism

Under FCCU operating conditions, almost 100% of the metal contaminants in the feed (such as nickel, vanadium, iron and copper porphyrins) are decomposed and deposited on the catalyst (2). The most harmful of these contaminants are vanadium and nickel. The deleterious effect of the deposited vanadium on catalyst performance and the manner in which vanadium is deposited on the cracking catalyst differ from those of nickel. The effect of vanadium on the catalyst performance is primarily a decrease in catalyst activity while the major effect of nickel is a selectivity change reflected in increased coke and gas yields (3). Recent laboratory studies (3-6) show that nickel distributes homogeneously over the catalyst surface while vanadium preferentially deposits on and reacts destructively with the zeolite. A mechanism for vanadium poisoning involving volatile vanadic acid as the... 

R. F. Uormsbecber, A. V. Peters, J. M. Maselli, Vanadium poisoning of cracking catalysts mechanism of poisoning and design of vanadium tolerant catalyst system, J. Catal, 100, (1986), pp. 130-137,... 

Deactivation of zeolite catalysts occurs due to coke formation and to poisoning by heavy metals. In general, there are two types of catalyst deactivation that occur in a FCC system, reversible and irreversible. Reversible deactivation occurs due to coke deposition. This is reversed by burning coke in the regenerator. Irreversible deactivation results as a combination of four separate but interrelated mechanisms zeolite dealu-mination, zeolite decomposition, matrix surface collapse, and contamination by metals such as vanadium and sodium. 

Vanadium, nickel and iron generally represent the heavy metal (Me) in the asphaltenes in Figure 8.2. The molecular weight of this type of compound varies between 420 and 520, i.e. from C27N4 - C33N4 [10]. During catalytic treatment of the crude oil residues, the destruction of asphaltenes and the formation of non-bonded heavy metals occur. A possible mechanism of catalyst poisoning will be presented in a later part of section 8.2. 

FCC catalysts are deactivated via several mechanisms," which all result in a loss in activity and a change in yield selectivity Catalyst will age, meaning change chemical and physical structure due to the (hydro) thermal conditions during the 10,000 to 50,000 reaction and regeneration cycles it will endure. The catalysts can also be poisoned, whereby the active sites are covered by coke and/or polars (nitrogen) that neutralize the catalytic activity or by metals (vanadium, nickel, sodium) which can destroy or alter the activity. 

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