Abstract
The present study is a follow-up to a recent authors contribution which describes the effect of the C/O (catalyst/oil) ratio on catalytic cracking activity and catalyst deactivation. This study, while valuable, was limited to one fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst. The aim of the present study is to consider the C/O effect using three FCC catalysts with different activities and acidities. Catalysts were characterized in terms of crystallinity, total acidity, specific surface Area (SSA), temperature programmed ammonia desorption (NH3-TPD), and pyridine chemisorption. 1,3,5-TIPB (1,3,5-tri-isopropyl benzene) catalytic cracking runs were carried out in a bench-scale mini-fluidized batch unit CREC (chemical reactor engineering centre) riser simulator. All data were taken at 550 °C with a contact time of 7 s. Every experiment involved 0.2 g of 1,3,5-TIPB with the amount of catalyst changing in the 0.12–1 g range. The resulting 0.6–5 g oil/g cat ratios showed a consistent 1,3,5-TIPB conversion increasing first, then stabilizing, and finally decreasing modestly. On the other hand, coke formation and undesirable benzene selectivity always rose. Thus, the reported results show that catalyst density affects both catalyst coking and deactivation, displaying an optimum C/O ratio, achieving maximum hydrocarbon conversions in FCC units.
Highlights
The fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) process is one of the most important feedstock conversion units in the oil refinery industry.FCC is a major contributor to the production of gasoline [1,2,3,4,5]
Every experiment involved 0.2 g of 1,3,5-TIPB with the amount of catalyst changing in the 0.12–1 g range
Catalytic cracking endothermic reactions are accompanied with coke formation
Summary
The FCC process is one of the most important feedstock conversion units in the oil refinery industry.FCC is a major contributor to the production of gasoline [1,2,3,4,5]. The optimization of FCC riser and downer unit operation may enhance product selectivity, minimizing coke formation and reducing operational costs [11,12,13] With this end in mind, kinetic descriptions of catalytic cracking reactions with different degrees of simplifications have been considered for the cracking of both VGO (vacuum gas oil) and model compounds [14,15,16,17,18]. Micro activity units (MAT), confined fluid bed reactors (CFBRs) (e.g., advanced cracking evaluation (ACE)), and pilot plant riser units [19,20] have been employed in these studies This has led to kinetic models with kinetic parameters accounting for feedstock type, catalyst usage, and reactor type [15,17]
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