Fluid catalytic cracking feed hydrotreatment and its severity impact on product yields and quality

This paper investigates the effect of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) feed hydrotreatment and its severity increase on product yields and quality obtained in a commercial and a laboratory MAT FCC units. The hydrotreatment of Ural heavy vacuum gas oil reduces not only sulfur, nitrogen, Conradson carbon and metals content in the FCC feed but also increases the mononuclear aromatic hydrocarbons content by 8% absolute at almost no change in the total aromatics content. Regardless of this 8% increase of the mononuclear aromatics in the hydrotreated FCC feed the conversion increase in both commercial and laboratory MAT units was only 2%. The severity increase in the FCC feed hydrotreater leads to a higher conversion in the FCC, higher hydrogen transfer rate that results in higher isobutane/butylenes ratio, lower gasoline olefins content, and higher gasoline motor octane number. The hydrotreatment of the Ural heavy vacuum gas oil exhibited the same changes in FCC catalyst selectivities: lower coke and LCO selectivities and higher gasoline selectivity in both commercial riser FCC unit that has between 2 and 3 s time on stream, and the fixed bed reactor MAT unit, that has 30 s time on stream.

► VGO hydrotreatment increased monoaromatics content by 8%.
► VGO hydrotreatment increased FCC conversion by 2% in a commercial FCCU.
► VGO hydrotreatment increased FCC conversion by 2% in a laboratory MATU.
► VGO hydrotreatment increases FCC selectivity of gasoline and hydrogen transfer.
► VGO hydrotreatment decreases FCC selectivities of coke and LCO.