The fluidized-bed catalytic cracking unit building its future environment

Fuel, Volume 90, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 3531-3541
Environmental Modeling of Catalytic Reactions in the Oil Refining Industry
The fluidized-bed catalytic cracking unit building its future environment
Gladys Jiménez-García (a), Ricardo Aguilar-López (b), Rafael Maya-Yescas (a)
rmayay@umich.mx
a Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Edificio V1, Ciudad Universitaria, 58060 Morelia Michoacán, Mexico
b Dpto. Biotecnología y Bioingeniería, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Avanzados, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, DF México, Mexico
Abstract
Historically FCC has been used to optimise production of light cycle oils, gasoline and olefins.  However, in the current environment, it is good to reexamine its mission. In order to integrate the FCC process in respect to current developments and environmental concerns, we must to see it as a very flexible process. This flexibility will require deeper knowledge about the environmental impact of process operation and production objectives, transport phenomena and catalytic reactions taking place inside the riser, the main reactor of the FCC converter, and energy balance integrating energy recovered/generated in the regenerator.
The purpose of this work is to briefly review some propositions about the use of FCC converters and how these aspects demand knowledge of riser reactors, a change in methodology to estimate effective reaction rates and catalyst activity, as well as control actions and its effect on the energy balance of the converter.
We try to draw attention to facts that need to be analysed in order to ensure the sustainable development of this important process in the near future.
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