Evaluation of vanadium traps occluded in resid fluidized catalytic cracking (RFCC) catalyst for high gasoline yield

As crude oil becomes heavier, it contains more poisonous metals such as Ni, Fe and V and more Conradson carbon residue (CCR). More efficient metal traps are required to increase the gasoline yield. MgO, CaO, CeO2, MgTiO3, CaTiO3, Li2Ti2O7 and ZnTiO3 were evaluated for their capabilities to passivate vanadium compounds into non-poisonous compounds in the n-hexadecane and vacuum gas oil cracking reactions by measuring the yield for H2, dry gas, gasoline and coke. These vanadium traps were incorporated during the preparation of resid fluidized catalytic cracking (RFCC) catalyst. Mitchell deactivation method gave more reliable results because of its more uniform distribution of metals on the surface of RFCC catalysts. It was found that mixtures of CeO2 and MgO are best as a vanadium trap. The number of acid site, BET surface area, pore size distribution and pore volumes of prepared RFCC catalyst are dependent on the structure, amount and morphology of vanadium traps incorporated into the RFCC catalyst.