Refinery Nonconventional Feedstocks: Influence of the Coprocessing of Vacuum Gas Oil and Low Density Polyethylene in Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit on Full Range Gasoline Composition

CATEGORY: GASOLINE
Energy Fuels, 2014, 28 (2), pp 1579–1593, DOI: 10.1021/ef4020394
Refinery Nonconventional Feedstocks: Influence of the Coprocessing of Vacuum Gas Oil and Low Density Polyethylene in Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit on Full Range Gasoline Composition
Andrew O. Odjo *†, Angela N. García ‡, and Antonio Marcilla ‡
† Proxion Process U.K. Ltd., Manchester M32 0RS, United Kingdom
‡ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Alicante, 03080 Alicante, P.O. Box 99, Spain
Andrew.Odjo@proxionprocess.com
Abstract
A refinery’s fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit is a major contributor to the total commercial grade gasoline pool.
FCC gasoline contains, mainly, paraffins, naphthenes, olefins, aromatics, as well as undesirables such as sulfur and sulfur containing compounds in low quantities. The proportions of these components in FCC gasoline determine its quality as well as the performance of the associated downstream units. Increasing demand for cleaner and lighter fuels creates an urgent need not only for novel processing technologies but also for alternative refinery and petrochemical feedstocks. Current and future clean gasoline requirements include increased isoparaffins contents, reduced olefin contents, reduced aromatics, reduced benzene, and reduced sulfur contents.
Researchers studied the effect of processing an unconventional refinery feedstock, composed of a blend of vacuum gas oil (VGO) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) on FCC full range gasoline yields and compositional spectrum including its paraffins, isoparaffins, olefins, napthenes, and aromatics contents distribution within a range of operating variables of temperature and catalyst-feed oil ratio using spent equilibrium FCC Y-zeolite based catalyst in a FCC pilot plant operated at the University of Alicante’s Research Institute of Chemical Process Engineering (RICPE).
The coprocessing of the oil-polymer blend led to the production of gasoline with very similar yields and compositions as those obtained from the base oil, although, in some cases, the contribution of the feed polymer content as well as the processing variables on the gasoline compositional spectrum were appreciated.
Full Text Source (Subscription or Fee): http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ef4020394