Production of Gasoline and Gaseous Olefins by Catalytic Cracking of Pyrolysis Oil

Co-processing of biomass in petroleum refineries is a promising approach for biofuel production. In this work fluid catalytic cracking of residue from a co-pyrolysis with sawdust and VGO (1:2) was investigated. The pyrolysis oil residue with a boiling range bigger than 350 °C was mixed in different ratios with VGO and could be processed successfully up to 20 m%. Crack gas amounts increased while gasoline and total fuel yields decreased compared to VGO cracking. The gasoline obtained has a high octane number and is oxygen free

PROCESSING OF PURE VEGETABLE OILS IN A CONTINUOUS FCC PILOT PLANT

The basic objective of the presented work is the application of vegetable oils as an alternative CO2-neutral feedstock for fluid catalytic cracking (FCC). The experimental test program was conducted in a fully continuously operated FCC pilot plant with intern CFB-design at Vienna University of Technology. Vegetable oils with the highest global production (soy bean oil, palm oil and rapeseed oil) were used. The addition of vegetable oil had hardly any influence on the cracking process. The gasoline achieved is oxygen free at high octane numbers

Influence of catalyst conditioning on products in a continuously operated FCC pilot plant

In the past, the industrially proven and well established process of FCC has been used primarily to increase the product yield of the gasoline fraction in the refinery process. Economic and political considerations caused a shift of interest to other FCC-products (light olefins and LCO for example (1)) and the use of alternative feedstocks like vegetable oils (2). Another way to obtain the varying desired results is the development of new FCC catalysts. In this study, one such, as of yet non-commercial catalyst was used. The focus lay on the relation between catalyst activity and related composition of the products obtained. The experiments were conducted in a fully continuous FCC pilot plant with internal CFB design at the University of Technology in Vienna (Fig.1, Table 1). The catalyst used in the experiments was supplied in its fresh (unconditioned) state. On one hand, the aim was to achieve an increase in the yield of liquid products. On the other hand, an increase in the quality of LCO was a major goal. This was to be achieved by lowering the aromatics content in the LCO. To this end, the activity of the catalyst had to be lowered significantly which was achieved by conditioning of the catalyst. The conditioning of the catalyst was done in several steps through thermal treatment (heat only) and steaming (H2O vapor). In between the conditioning steps, FCC experiments were conducted and the resulting product compositions compared. The results clearly show a shift in the product spectra and quality, while the total fuel yield (TFY) remained nearly constant at around 80%. This validates the idea, that a reduction in catalyst activity directly impacts product quantity and quality in the way described above (Fig.2). Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Thermal cracking of canola oil in a continuously operating pilot plant

Europe’s petroleum refining industry is challenged by increasing middle distillate demands and stagnating gasoline markets. In addition, politics enforce a step-by-step substitution of crude oil products by renewable energy sources. In the long term new technologies are needed to cope with this situation. FCC is a well-established refinery process. Valuable products are gaseous olefins, high-octane gasoline as well as LCO. LCO can be used as diesel blend, but consists of high amounts of aromatics at common operating conditions. Vegetable oils have proven to be well-suited alternative feedstocks for FCC. Due to their chemical composition, mild thermal cracking may be sufficient to produce high yields of middle distillates. Various studies using discontinuous reactors confirm this assumption (1). Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Bio-Gasoline from Jatropha Oil: New Applications for the FCC- Process

Jatropha curcas L. is a very drought-resistant plant, and jatropha oil can be ex-tracted from its seeds. Whilst not suitable for human consumption, we found that it is a promising feedstock for producing (bio)-gasoline. The oil was cracked in an inter-nally circulating FCC-reactor using a Grace Davison Ultima® catalyst. The total con-version was around 65%, with ca. 40% gasoline and ca. 25% crack gas (exact num-bers varied with reactor temperature). The gasoline has a RON \u3e 95 and oxy-gen \u3c 0.3% m. The crack-gas consisted of ca. 35% propylene, ca. 13% 1-butene and ca. 6% ethylene

Bio-Gasoline from Jatropha Oil: New Applications for the FCC- Process

Jatropha curcas L. is a very drought-resistant plant, and jatropha oil can be ex-tracted from its seeds. Whilst not suitable for human consumption, we found that it is a promising feedstock for producing (bio)-gasoline. The oil was cracked in an inter-nally circulating FCC-reactor using a Grace Davison Ultima® catalyst. The total con-version was around 65%, with ca. 40% gasoline and ca. 25% crack gas (exact num-bers varied with reactor temperature). The gasoline has a RON \u3e 95 and oxy-gen \u3c 0.3% m. The crack-gas consisted of ca. 35% propylene, ca. 13% 1-butene and ca. 6% ethylene

A novel production route and process optimization of biomass-derived paraffin wax for pharmaceutical application

The Biomass to Liquid (BtL) Fischer-Tropsch (FT) route converts lignocellulosic feedstock to renewable hydrocarbons. This, paper shows a novel production route for biomass-derived synthetic paraffin wax via gasification of lignocellulosic feedstock, Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) and hydrofining. The Fischer-Tropsch wax was fractionated, refined and analyzed with respect to compliance to commercial standards. The fractioned paraffin waxes were hydrofined using a commercial sulfide NiMo–Al2O3 catalyst and a trickle bed reactor. A parametric variation was performed to optimize the hydrofining process. It was shown that the produced medium-melt paraffin wax could fulfill the requirements for “Paraffinum solidum” defined by the European Pharmacopoeia (Ph. Eur). The high-melt wax fraction showed potential to be used as food packaging additive. Furthermore, the renewable wax was analyzed regarding PAH content and it was shown that the hydrofined wax was quasi-PAH-free

Fischer-Tropsch products from biomass-derived syngas and renewable hydrogen

Global climate change will make it necessary to transform transportation and mobility away from what we know now towards a sustainable, flexible, and dynamic sector. A severe reduction of fossil-based CO2 emissions in all energy-consuming sectors will be necessary to keep global warming below 2 °C above preindustrial levels. Thus, long-distance transportation will have to increase the share of renewable fuel consumed until alternative powertrains are ready to step in. Additionally, it is predicted that the share of renewables in the power generation sector grows worldwide. Thus, the need to store the excess electricity produced by fluctuating renewable sources is going to grow alike. The “Winddiesel” technology enables the integrative use of excess electricity combined with biomass-based fuel production. Surplus electricity can be converted to H2 via electrolysis in a first step. The fluctuating H2 source is combined with biomass-derived CO-rich syngas from gasification of lignocellulosic feedstock. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis converts the syngas to renewable hydrocarbons. This research article summarizes the experiments performed and presents new insights regarding the effects of load changes on the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Long-term campaigns were carried out, and performance-indicating parameters such as per-pass CO conversion, product distribution, and productivity were evaluated. The experiments showed that integrating renewable H2 into a biomass-to-liquid Fischer-Tropsch concept could increase the productivity while product distribution remains almost the same. Furthermore, the economic assessment performed indicates good preconditions towards commercialization of the proposed system

Catalyst Testing in a Continuously Operated Fluid Catalytic Cracking Pilot Plant

A cost-effective and risk-minimizing way to test out new plant configurations for refinery operators is the pretesting of catalysts and temperature changes in pilot plants, which are essential since refineries have to be adapted to climate change regulations in the upcoming decades. In this work, a fluid catalytic cracking pilot plant was used to test out three different catalysts at two different riser temperatures each. It was shown that all tests were conducted without any hardware changes beside the catalysts and that the obtained results corresponded to the advertised benefits of each catalyst according to the manufacturer. While the heavy residue catalyst produced more gasoline making it interesting for a fuel-focused refinery, the two gas boosting catalysts promoted different compounds of the gaseous products. These gaseous products can then be used for synthesizing polymers and other high-value products.MoP3-(10) page 1MoP3-(10) page 5