Effect of Resid Addition to Fluid Catalytic Cracking Feedstocks – Assessment in the Laboratory

ULISES SEDRAN; GABRIELA DE LA PUENTE; ALEJANDRA DEVARD

Hydrocarbon World

Touch Briefings

Año: 2010 vol. 5 p. 1 - 5

1753-3899

The problem to be solved The decrease in both the quality of crude oil and the demand of fuel oil, together with uncertainty in the oil supply in some countries, contribute to the increasing use of  residual feedstocks in refineries. While various commercial processes (e.g. hydrocracking, catalytic cracking, coking) are able to process them, the trend is particularly perceivable in the catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons (FCC) due to its versatility and high efficiency in the conversion of heavy molecular weight feedstocks. Moreover, at present, some FCC technologies exist that can process residual feedstocks exclusively. If resids are to be added to conventional vacuum gas oils (VGO) feedstocks, which is a rather standard operative strategy, then, it is necessary for refiners to know about their reactivity and their expected contribution to the product slate. Usually this matter is not explored adequately, even though it is very important because it can define the economic balance of the whole refinery, the evaluation and selection of catalysts and, consequently, the expected changes in operations