Studies of Steam Cracking of Heavy Oil in the Presence of Iron- and Molybdenum-Containing Disperse Catalysts in a Flow Type Reactor

Abstract

Steam cracking of heavy oil was studied at 425 °C and 2.0 MPa in the presence of disperse catalysts based on iron and molybdenum in a slurry reactor. The catalysts were prepared via in situ decomposition of water soluble precursors of the metal salts. In the steam cracking, the yield of a total of liquid products increased against that in thermal cracking (80 and 77 wt %, respectively). The use of disperse monometal catalysts (iron- and molybdenum-containing), as well as the bimetal catalyst for catalytic steam cracking (CSC) of heavy oil resulted in an increase in the total of liquid products yield up to 85–92 wt %. In addition, CSC provided a higher yield of light fractions (T boil <350 °C) than steam and thermal cracking processes, as well as a decrease in viscosity and density in comparison to those of the raw feedstock.