Search

Abstract: In an attempt to reduce the production of light cycle oil (LCO), a non-premium fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) product in North America, a large-pore catalyst containing rare-earth-exchanged Y (REY) zeolite, was used to crack two Canadian bitumen-derived crude heavy gas oils (HGOs) hydrotreated to different extents. For comparison, a regular equilibrium FCC catalyst with ultra-stable Y (USY) zeolite and a conventional western Canadian crude HGO were also included in the study. Cracking experiments were conducted in a fixed-bed microactivity test (MAT) reactor at 510 °C, 30 s oil injection time, and varying catalyst-to-oil ratios for different conversions. The results show that pre-cracking of heavy molecules with wide-pore matrix, followed by zeolite cracking, enhanced conversion at the expense of light and heavy cycle oils at a constant catalyst-to-oil ratio, giving improved product selectivities (e.g., higher gasoline and lower dry gas, LCO, and coke yields, in general, at a given conversion). To systematically assess the benefits of employing the specialty catalyst over the regular catalyst in cracking Canadian HGOs, individual product yields were compared at common bases, including constant catalyst-to-oil ratios, conversions, and coke yields for three feeds, and at maximum gasoline yield for one feed. In most cases, the preferred choice of large-pore zeolite-rich catalyst over its counterpart was evident. The observed cracking phenomena were explained based on properties of catalysts and characterization data of feedstocks, including their hydrocarbon type analyses by gas chromatograph with a mass-selective detector (GC-MSD). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study describes the effects of two catalysts, an octane-barrel and a bottoms-cracking catalyst, on the catalytic cracking of 10 oil-sands bitumen-derived feeds in fixed- and fluid-bed microactivity test (MAT) units, an Advanced Cracking Evaluation (ACE) unit, and a continuous riser pilot unit. This is part of a comprehensive study of the cracking behavior of Canadian vacuum gas oils. In general, at an equivalent catalyst/oil ratio, conversions decreased in the order ACE>fixed-bed MAT>fluid-bed MAT among the batch reactors. Between a batch reactor and the continuous riser, there existed a good correlation for a given product yield as well as for a given product quality, at a specific conversion. For the oil-sands-derived vacuum gas oils, the bottoms-cracking catalyst containing rare-earth-exchanged Y zeolite (REY) with a large-pore active matrix was more effective than the catalyst containing the rare-earth-exchanged ultrastable Y (REUSY) and ZSM-5 zeolites with an active matrix. The overall distribution of feed sulfur in cracked products, and the relationship of the sulfur content of feed with that of light cycle oil (LCO), confirmed the findings reported in the literature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]