Advances in Fluid Catalytic Cracking

Published July 1991

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is the dominant refinery conversion process today and it continues to evolve to meet changing refinery needs. This report covers the technology and economics of a modern FCC plant. As a base case, we evaluate an FCC unit processing conventional vacuum gas oil (VGO) feedstock derived from Arabian Light crude oil.

Recent trends during the 1980s, including lead phase-out and the continually rising popularity of premium unleaded gasoline, increased the need for higher FCC gasoline octane. High-octane FCC operation also provides increased yields of light olefins, which are increasingly important as feedstocks to produce oxygenates (MTBE, TAME, ETBE). In this report, we review the options and economics for FCC gasoline octane enhancement.

There has been rapid growth in the cracking of residual material in the FCC during the 1980s. This is a consequence of heavier crude availability at the same time that residual fuel oil demand steadily declined throughout the industrialized world. In this report, we evaluate the technology and economics for a resid FCC unit processing Arabian Light atmospheric resid. We include a discussion of the role of FCC in modern refining and lists of worldwide FCC and related unit capacities. This report also includes reviews of FCC catalysts and the worldwide catalyst market, and FCC-related technologies for emissions reduction, power recovery and oxygen enrichment.

Other PEP Related Reports:

• Advances in Fluid Catalytic Cracking 195A
• High Olefins Fluid Catalytic Cracking Processes 195B