Are Fischer-Tropsch waxes good feedstocks for fluid catalytic cracking units?

The potential of a highly paraffinic Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) wax as a feedstock for Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) has been evaluated. A once-through microriser reactor was used to mimic realistic FCC conditions. FTS waxes are indeed attractive feedstocks for FCC. As a result of its high paraffinicity an interesting spectrum of products can be obtained by tuning process conditions and catalyst formulations. A high gasoline fraction (70 wt%) with an apparent high-quality motor octane number can be obtained. Also a relatively good diesel is expected. Due to the absence of sulfur and nitrogen in the feed extremely clean transportation fuels can be obtained that are additionally low on aromatics. The combination of an equilibrium catalyst with a steam-deactivated ZSM-5 additive yields high amounts of propene (16 wt%), isobutene (7 wt%) and n-C4-olefins (8 wt%).