Catalytic Cracking of Light Crude Oil to Light Olefins and Naphtha over E-Cat and MFI: Microactivity Test versus Advanced Cracking Evaluation and the Effect of High Reaction Temperature

Abstract

The catalytic cracking of light paraffinic crude oil with an API gravity of 51° was compared using two laboratory testing techniques, a fixed-bed microactivity test (MAT) unit and a fixed fluidized-bed advanced cracking evaluation (ACE) unit. Both units were operated using equilibrated FCC catalyst (E-Cat), MFI zeolite (ZSM-5), and E-Cat/MFI (equal mixture with MFI) at two temperatures (550 and 600 °C) and a constant catalyst-to-oil ratio of 4.0. Despite the different hydrodynamics in MAT and ACE reactors, both units gave similar catalyst ranking based on the conversion of 221+ °C feed fraction at 550 and 600 °C in the order of E-Cat > E-Cat/MFI > MFI, which is attributed to diffusion limitation of MFI catalyst. While both testing techniques showed variation in product yield structure (dry gas, LPG, naphtha, and unconverted 221+ °C) over the three catalysts, the ACE unit gave significantly higher coke yield compared with MAT. The highest yield of light olefins was obtained over E-Cat/MFI (29 wt %) at 600 ...