Advance in China fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process

Abstract

Since the first Chinese fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit was commercialized in 1965, these milestone innovations and developments have been achieved in the historical sequence events of zeolite catalyst-riser FCC process, residue FCC process, DCC (deep catalytic cracking) process, multi-cascade riser FCC process and the ongoing high-selective FCC process in China. In the course of the development of Chinese FCC technology, many breakthroughs have been made, such as the quantities of FCCU increased dramatically from the blank beginning, the technical level of FCCU enhanced higher and higher, the capacity of FCCU grew larger and larger, and the R&D on FCC technology was from the tracking mode to the independent innovation mode. Up to now, the total capacity of FCCU in China has been reached 150 Mt/a, in which the residue ratio of FCCU feedstock is around 40%. The outputs of FCCU are roughly taking up the components of 70%, 30% and 40% to gasoline pool, diesel pool and propylene pool respectively, as well as raw materials of alkylation units and etherificationunits. Now FCC is playing a decisive role in the aspects of heavy oil processing, higher light oil recovery, products qualification improving, and better economic benefits in the oil industry of China.