WO1982004063A1 - Reformage a la vapeur d'huiles carbo-metalliques - Google Patents

Reformage a la vapeur d'huiles carbo-metalliques Download PDF

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Publication number
WO1982004063A1
WO1982004063A1 PCT/US1981/000662 US8100662W WO8204063A1 WO 1982004063 A1 WO1982004063 A1 WO 1982004063A1 US 8100662 W US8100662 W US 8100662W WO 8204063 A1 WO8204063 A1 WO 8204063A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
catalyst
feed
nickel
coke
range
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1981/000662
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English (en)
Inventor
Oil Inc Ashland
Original Assignee
Hettinger William P Jr
Kovach Stephen M
Myers George D
Zandona Oliver J
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Hettinger William P Jr, Kovach Stephen M, Myers George D, Zandona Oliver J filed Critical Hettinger William P Jr
Priority to EP19810901650 priority Critical patent/EP0078796A1/fr
Priority to PCT/US1981/000662 priority patent/WO1982004063A1/fr
Priority to AU73250/81A priority patent/AU7325081A/en
Publication of WO1982004063A1 publication Critical patent/WO1982004063A1/fr

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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G47/00—Cracking of hydrocarbon oils, in the presence of hydrogen or hydrogen- generating compounds, to obtain lower boiling fractions
    • C10G47/24—Cracking of hydrocarbon oils, in the presence of hydrogen or hydrogen- generating compounds, to obtain lower boiling fractions with moving solid particles
    • C10G47/30—Cracking of hydrocarbon oils, in the presence of hydrogen or hydrogen- generating compounds, to obtain lower boiling fractions with moving solid particles according to the "fluidised-bed" technique
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G11/00—Catalytic cracking, in the absence of hydrogen, of hydrocarbon oils
    • C10G11/14—Catalytic cracking, in the absence of hydrogen, of hydrocarbon oils with preheated moving solid catalysts
    • C10G11/18—Catalytic cracking, in the absence of hydrogen, of hydrocarbon oils with preheated moving solid catalysts according to the "fluidised-bed" technique
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
    • C10G—CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION, OLIGOMERISATION, POLYMERISATION; RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES
    • C10G47/00—Cracking of hydrocarbon oils, in the presence of hydrogen or hydrogen- generating compounds, to obtain lower boiling fractions
    • C10G47/32—Cracking of hydrocarbon oils, in the presence of hydrogen or hydrogen- generating compounds, to obtain lower boiling fractions in the presence of hydrogen-generating compounds
    • C10G47/34—Organic compounds, e.g. hydrogenated hydrocarbons

Definitions

  • This invention relates to processes for converting heavy hydrocarbon oils into lighter fractions, and especially to processes for converting heavy hydrocarbons containing high concentrations of coke precursors and heavy metals into gasoline and other liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
  • gasoline and other liquid hydrocarbon fuels boil in the range of about 100 to about 650°F.
  • the crude oil from which these fuels are made contains a diverse mixture of hydrocarbons and other compounds which vary widely in molecular weight and therefore boil over a wide range.
  • crude oils are known in which 30 to 60% or more of the total volume of oil is composed of compounds boiling at temperatures above 650°F.
  • crudes in which about 10% to about 30% or more of the total volume consists of compounds so heavy in molecular weight that they boil above 1025°F or at least will not boil below 1025°F at atmospheric pressure.
  • Crude oil in the natural state contains a variety of materials which tend to have quite troublesome effects on FCC processes, and only a portion of these troublesome materials can be economically removed from the crude oil.
  • these troublesome materials are coke precursors ⁇ such as asphaltenes, polynuclear aromatics, etc.), heavy metals (such as nickel, vanadium, iron, copper, etc.), lighter metals (such as sodium, potassium, etc.), sulfur, nitrogen and others. Certain of these, such as the lighter metals, can be economically removed by desalting operations, which are part of the normal procedure for pretreating crude oil for fluid catalytic cracking.
  • the heavy metals can accumulate on the catalyst to the point that they unfavorably alter the con-position of the catalyst and/or the nature of its effect upon the feedstcock.
  • vanadium tends to form fluxes with certain components of commonly used FCC catalysts, lowering the melt ing point of portions of the catalyst particles sufficiently so that they begin to sinter and become ineffective crack ing catalysts. Accumulations of vanadium and other heavy metals, especially nickel, also "poison" the catalyst.
  • An oil such as a crude or crude fraction or other oil that is particularly abundant in nickel and/or other metals exhibiting similar behavior, while containing relatively large quantities of coke precursors, is referred to herein as a carbo-metallic oil, and represents a particular challenge to the petroleum refiner.
  • the coke-forming tendency or coke precursor content of an oil can be ascertained by determining the weight percent of carbon ramaining after a sample of that oil has been pyrolyzed.
  • the industry accepts this value as a measure of the extent to which a given oil tends to form non-catalytic coke when employed as feedstock in a catalytic cracker.
  • Two established tests are recognized, the Conradson Carbon and Ramsbottom Carbon tests, the former being described in ASTM D189-76 and the latter being described in ASTM Test No. D524-76.
  • Conradson carbon values on the order of about 0.05 to about 1.0 are regarded as indicative of acceptable feed.
  • the present invention is concerned with the use of hydrocarbon feedstocks which have higher Conradson carbon values and thus exhibit substantially greater potential for coke formation than the usual feeds.
  • the various heavy metals are not of equal catalyst poisoning activity, it is convenient to express the poisoning activity of an oil containing a given poisoning metal or metals in terms of the amount of a single metal which is estimated to have equivalent poisoning activity.
  • the heavy metals content of an oil can be expressed by the following formula (patterned after that of W. L. Nelson in Oil and Gas Journal, page 143, October 23, 1961) in which the content of each metal present is expressed in parts per million of such metal, as metal, on a weight basis, based on the weight of feed:
  • the heavy metal content of feedstock for FCC processing is controlled at a relatively low level, e.g., about 0.25 ppm Nickel Equivalents or less.
  • the present invention is concerned with the processing of feedstocks containing metals substantially in excess of this value and which therefore have a significantly greater potential for accumulating on and poisoning catalyst.
  • the above formula can also be employed as a measure of the accumulation of heavy metals on cracking catalyst, except that the quantity of metal employed in the formula is based on the weight of catalyst (moisture free basis) instead of the weight of feed.
  • the metal content of the catalyst is maintained at a level which may for example be in the range of about 200 to about 600 ppm Nickel Equivalents.
  • the process of the present invention is concerned with the use of catalyst having a substantially larger metals content, and which therefore has a much greater than normal tendency to promote dehydrogenation, aromatic condensation, gas production or coke formation. There fore, such higher metals accumulation is normally regarded as quite undesirable in FCC processing.
  • VGO vacuum gas oil
  • feedstock a fraction of crude oil which boils at about 650°F to about 1,000°F, such fractions being relatively free of coke precursors and heavy metal contamination.
  • VGO vacuum gas oil
  • Such feedstock known as "vacuum gas oil” (VGO) is generally prepared from crude oil by distilling off the fractions boiling below about 650°F at atmospheric pressure and then separating by further vacuum distillation from the heavier fractions a cut boiling between about 650°F and about 900° to 1025°F.
  • the vacuum gas oil is used as feedstock for conventional FCC processing.
  • the heavier fractions are normally employed for a variety of other purposes, such as for instance production of asphalt, residual fuel oil, #6 fuel oil, or marine Bunker C fuel oil, which represents a great waste of the potential value of this portion of the crude oil, especially in light of the great effort and expense which the art has been willing to expend in the attempt to produce generally similar materials from coal and shale oils.
  • the present invention is aimed at the simultaneous cracking of these heavier fractions containing substantial quantities of both coke precursors and heavy metals, and possibly other troublesome components, in conjunction with the lighter oils, thereby increasing the overall yield of gasoline and other hydrocarbon liquid fuels from a given quantity of crude.
  • the present invention by no means constitutes the first attempt to develop such a process, but the long standing recognition of the desirability of cracking carbo-metallic feedstocks, along with the slow progress of the industry toward doing so, show the continuing need for such a process. It is believed that the present process is uniquely advantageous for dealing with the problem of treating such carbo-metallic oils in an economically and technically sound manner.
  • RRC Reduced Crude Conversion
  • the oils disclosed as capable of being cracked by the methods of these applications are carbo-metallic oils of which at least about 70 percent boils above 650 °F and which contain a carbon residue on pyrolysis of at least about 1 and at least about 4 parts per million of nickel equivalents of heavy metals. Examples of these oils are crude oils, topped crudes, reduced crudes, residua, and extracts from solvent deasphalting.
  • the cracking reaction for the method disclosed in application Serial No. 94,216 is sufficiently severe to convert 50% or more of the feedstock to gasoline per pass and produce coke in the amount of 6 to 14% by weight based on weight of fresh feed.
  • the ratio of weight of catalyst to weight of feedstock is from about 3 to about 18, coke is laid down on the catalyst in amounts in the range of about 0.3 to about 3 percent by weight based on the weight of the catalyst, and heavy metals accumulate on the catalyst to a concentration of from about 3000 to about 30,000 ppm nickel equivalents.
  • the term "heavy metals" re fers to nickel, vanadium, copper and iron, although trace amounts of other heavy metal elements may sometimes be present.
  • the total amount of heavy metals in a carbo-metallic oil feed is usually comprised principally of nickel and vanadium (more than 90 weight percent based on weight of total heavy metals). Although the feed may contain principally either nickel or vanadium, vanadium is often present relative to nickel at weight ratios of 1.0 or greater.
  • the heavy metal inventory of the feed transfers almost quantitatively from the feedstock oil to the catalyst particles. Although the heavy metals initially tend to deposit near the surface of a porous catalyst matrix, significant proportions of these metals migrate to the interior of the catalyst matrix where they can deposit on zeolite or other catalytic promoters carried within the matrix.
  • the heat of combustion of coke depends upon the concentration of hydrogen in the coke and the ratio of CO 2 to CO in the products of combustion. Carbon produces 13,910 BTU per pound when burned to CO 2 and only 3,962 BTU per pound when burned to CO. Hydrogen produces 61,485 BTU per pound when burned to H 2 O.
  • the heats of combustion of coke for three representative levels of hydrogen and four different ratios of CO 2 /CO are given in the following table:
  • catalysts of the zeolite or molecular sieve type are crystalline aluminosilicates made up of tetra-coordinated aluminum atoms associated through oxygen atoms with silicon atoms in the crystalline structure. They have been shown to be more adversely affected by coke in respect to loss of cracking activity, than are certain other catalysts, such as for example, the non-zeolite, silica-alumina catalysts.
  • the ratio of CO 2 to CO may be decreased to no more than about 4 and preferably to less than about 3 in order to reduce the amount of energy released within the regenerator, while optionally providing a flue gas high enough in CO content to be a useful fuel.
  • the CO/CO 2 ratio may be increased by providing chlorine in an oxidizing atmosphere within the regenerator the concentration of chlorine preferably being in the range of about 100 to about 400 ppm.
  • carbo-metallic oils can vary widely in their Conradson carbon content. Such varying content of carbon residue in the feedstock, along with variations in riser operating conditions such as catalyst to oil ratio and others, can result in wide variations of the percent coke found on the spent catalyst. Accordingly, where the feed and riser operating conditions are such as to produce rather large coke yields, necessitating the burning of very substantial amounts of coke from the catalyst in regeneration, such as at least about 0.5 weight percent based on the catalyst, or more, chlorine additives may prove useful in controlling the heat load in the regenerator.
  • One object of the present invention is to provide a catalytic cracking method for converting carbo-metallic oils to liquid fuels wherein a steam reforming reaction is provided within the conversion zone to reduce the amount of coke deposited on the catalyst and increase the amount of hydrogen available in the product vapors.
  • Another object of the invention is to provide a catalytic cracking process involving contacting in a progressive flow reactor a carbo-metallic oil feed and a conversion catalyst in the presence of a sufficient amount of reduced nickel on the catalyst and a sufficient amount of water relative to the amountof feed and catalyst to provide a steam reforming reaction generating significant amounts of labile hydrogen in the conversion zone of the reactor.
  • Still another object of the invention is to provide a carbo- metallic oil conversion process wherein high ratios of water to carbo-metalli oil feed are provided in the conversion zone and high levels of reduced nickel are provided on the conversion catalyst so as to decrease coke yield and increase gasoline yield.
  • a further object of the invention is to provide a carbo-metallic oil conversion process which includes provision for reducing nickel deposited on the conversion catalyst from the oxide form provided by the regenerator to a reduced form prior to contact between the conversion catalyst and the carbc-metallic oil feed, and thereby provide increased volume percent yields of both gasoline boiling range products and liquid fuels boiling above the gasoline range.
  • a still further object of the invention is to provide a carbo- metallic oil conversion process which includes provisions for reducing oxidized heavy metals on the conversion catalyst passing from the regeneration zone to the conversion zone and for introducing water into the conversion zone so as to cause steam reforming in the presence of a carbo-metallic oil feed and a conversion catalyst having substantially more than 600 ppm nickel deposited thereon.
  • nickel deposited on the catalyst during the conversion reaction is reduced from the oxide state formed in the regenerator and the catalyst with deposited nickel in a reduced state is contacted with an oil feed in the presence of water at relatively high weight ratios of water to feed. This process decreases the amount of coke accumulating on the cracking catalyst and increases the selective cracking provided by the catalyst in the presence of high nickel accumulations.
  • this coke may then be consumed by a steam reforming reaction which may be illustrated by the fol lowing equation:
  • this invention pro vides a process for generating labile hydrogen in the riser so as to reduce the conversion of hydrogen deficient carbo-metallic oils to coke. Simultaneously, the labile hydrogen generated helps convert these heavy carbonaceous materials to useful pro ducts having increased hydrogen to carbon ratios.
  • the invention contemplates using an equilibrium cracking catalyst having lev els of deposited nickel greater than 2000 ppm, preferably greater than 3000 ppm, more preferably greater than 6000 ppm, and most preferably in the range of 7000 to 20,000 ppm, to crack and re form carbo-metallic oil feeds in the presence of steam at weight ratios of water to feed up to 1.0, preferably up to 0.5, more preferably up to 0.3, and most preferably in the range of 0.2 0.3.
  • these weight ratios correspond to the follow ing respective ratios of water partial pressure to feed partial pressure in the riser: up to 14:1, preferably up to 7:1, more preferably up to 4:1, and most preferably in the range of about 3:1 to 4:1.
  • the water may be introduced into the riser either directly or with the feed and as either liquid water or steam.
  • the water contacts the nickel containing catalyst and the feed under conversion conditions such that the steam is reformed in the riser to provide the labile hydrogen and the feed is converted in the presence of this labile hydrogen to provide increased yields of gasoline and other liquid fuel products.
  • nickel accumulating on the catalyst is placed in an oxidized state in the regenerator and is still in that state when it is introduced into the riser from the regenerated catalyst stan ⁇ pipe. It has been found that in this oxidized state, little if any steam reforming will take place in the riser, even at catalyst residence times in excess of 10 seconds.
  • the oresent invention contemplates treating the catalyst from the regenerator with a reducing gas so that the nickel on the catalyst is in a reduced state at the time the catalyst is brought into contact with the feed and/or water.
  • Treatment of regenerated catalyst with reducing gas may take place either in an upstream portion of the riser before significant amounts of feed and/or water are introduced or in a separate vessel or system between the riser wye and the regenerated catalyst outlet of the regenerator. In either case, care should be taken to prevent any backflow of hydrogen toward the regenerator.
  • carbon on the regenerated catalyst is preferably less than 0.25 weight percent, more preferably less than 0.1 weight percent, and most preferably less than 0.05 weight percent.
  • the amount of vanadium present on the catalyst also is preferably minimized because large ratios of vanadium to nickel may interfere with the steam reforming reaction.
  • the ratio of vanadium to nickel both in the feed and on the catalyst is preferably less than about 3.0, more preferably less than about 2.0 and most preferably about 1.0 or less.
  • the invention preferably employs a catalyst having both a relatively high surface area and a relatively high pore volume.
  • the high surface area provides places for adsorption of coke precursors and deposition of heavy metals without undue covering of cracking sites whxle the high pore volume makes blockage of pore passageways by these materials less likely.
  • the surface area of the catalyst is preferably greater than 40 square meters per gram, more preferably greater than 80 square meters per gram, and most preferably in the range of 30 to 250 square meters per gram.
  • the pore volume of the catalyst is preferably greater than 0.2 cc/gm, more preferably at least 0.3 cc/gm and most preferably at least about 0.5 cc/gm.
  • the steam reforming conditions employed in the prior art usually involve relatively high pressures, relatively low temperatures, an absence of coke deposition on the reforming catalyst and relatively long contact times between catalyst and reactants
  • the process conditions of the present invention are at what might be considered the opposite extreme, namely, low pressure, high temperature, high coke deposition and short contact times.
  • the carbo-metallic oil conversion process disclosed herein employs riser pressures of preferably less than 100 psia and more preferably in the range of about 35 to about 45 psia; catalyst temperatures at the inlet to the riser of preferably greater than 1000°F and more preferably the range of 1200 to 1400°F; coke levels on the catalyst of up to about 3 weight percent and preferably in the range of about 0.3 to about 1.0 weight percent based on weight of catalyst; and contact times of preferably less than 3 seconds and more preferably in the range of 0.5 to 2 seconds.
  • the process may be operated without added hydrogen in the reaction chamber. If desired, and preferably, the process may be operated without prior hydrotreating of the feed and/or without other process of removal of asphaltenes of metals from the feed, and this is true even where the carbo- metallic oil as a whole contains more than about 4, or more than about 5 cr even more than about 5.5 ppm Nickel Equivalents by weight of heavy metal and has a carbon residue on pyrolysis greater than about 1% or greater than about 2% by weight. Moreover, all of the converter feed, as above described, may be cracked in one and the same conversion chamber.
  • the cracking reaction may be carried out with a catalyst which has previously been used (recycled, except for such replacement as required to compensate for normal losses and deactivation) to crack a carbo-metallic feed under the above described conditions.
  • Heavy hydrocarbons not cracked to gasoline in a first pass may be recycled with or without hydrotreating for further cracking in contact with the same kind of feed in which they were first subjected to cracking conditions, and under the same kind of conditions; but operation in a substantially once-through or single pass mode (e.g. less than about 15% by volume of recycle based on volume of fresh feed) is preferred.
  • Fig. 1 is a graph showing the relationship between catalyst relative activity and volume percent MAT conversion.
  • Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for carrying out the process of the invention.
  • Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of another apparatus for carrying out the process of the invention. Best and Other Illustrative Modes for Carrying Out the Invention
  • a process for converting carbo-metallic feedstocks containing 650°F material and having a residue on pyrolysis of at least about one and containing at least about four ppm nickel equivalents of heavy metals comprising bringing said feedstock in contact with a cracking catalyst in a progressive flow reactor under conditions whereby light products and coke are formed and coke and heavy metals deposit onto the catalyst.
  • the spent catalyst is regenerated by contacting it with an oxygen-containing gas under conditions whereby at least a portion of said coke is converted to carbon oxides and the regenerated catalyst is recycled to the reactor for contact with fresh feed.
  • nickel deposits on the catalyst are reduced from the oxide state provided by the regenerator and the catalyst with deposited nickel in the reduced state is contacted with a carbo-metallic oil feed in the presence of water at relatively high weight ratios of water to feed. While not intending to be bound by any one theory or hypothesis for the improvements realized, it is believed that the reduced nickel on the conversion catalyst in the presence of an oxygen deficient carbo-metallic oil feed and relatively high mole ratios of water to feed result in steam reforming reactions in which hydrocarbon molecules react with water to form carbon oxides and labile hydrogen.
  • the initial level of nickel on the conversion catalyst may be deposited on the catalyst by the carbo-metallic oil feed itself during the conversion process of the invention or by some other means, such as prior use of the catalyst in an FCC process employing a nickel containing feed, such as a VGO mixed with a relatively small amount of reduced crude or other nickel containing fraction.
  • deposited nickel is used in this specification to distinguish catalyst in which nickel might otherwise be present in the materials from which the catalyst composition is made, such as natural clays or other components containing nickel. Any such nickel that might incidentally be present inthe catalyst composition is usually tied up in compounds or covered over by catalyst matrix material so as not to be in a sufficiently active form for purposes of the present invention.
  • the deposited nickel should be present in the form of relatively large crystallites of reduced nickel, the largest dimension of which is preferably greater than about 10, more preferably greater than about 20, and most preferably greater than about 40 angstrom units.
  • Nickel crystallites of this size may be present either on the zeolitic component or the matrix comoonent of the catalyst. It is fur ther believed that the formation of such nickel crystallites, as opposed to a monolayer of nickel atoms, requires deposited nickel levels substantially greater than 600 ppm and more likely greater than about 1000 ppm.
  • a preferred catalyst for practicing the invention comprises an equilibrium conversion catalyst having levels of deposited nickel of at least 2000 ppm, preferably at least 3000 ppm, more preferably in the range of 6000 to 30,000 ppm, and most preferably in the range of 7000 to 20,000 ppm.
  • the nickel deposits on the catalyst are placed in an oxidized state.
  • catalyst from the regenerator is treated with a reducing gas so that the nickel on the regenerated catalyst is in a reduced state at the time it is introduced into the conversion zone of the riser. Without this reduction treatment, it is believed that little, if any, steam reforming will take place in the riser.
  • Treatment of the regenerated catalyst with reducing gas may take place either in the regenerated catalyst standpipe, in a separate vessel or system between the regenerated catalyst outlet of the regenerator and the riser wye, and/or in an upstream section or reducing zone of the riser itself. If an explosive reducing gas is used, care should be taken to prevent any backflow toward the regenerator or a component discharging gases to the regenerator, such as the regenerated catalyst stripper and portions of the regenerated catalyst standpipe upstream of the reducing vessel or zone.
  • the amount of reducing gas used is preferably sufficient to provide almost a pure reducing atmosphere in contact with the nickel deposits on the catalyst.
  • the reducing gas may also serve as a lift gas to assist in transporting catalyst along or up the riser to the point at which the reduced catalyst is mixed with the feed and water components.
  • the amount of reducing gas does not provide sufficient catalyst lift, other lift gases, such as steam and/or liquid water, may be used.
  • it is preferably to keep the partial pressure of these additional lift gases relatively low relative to the reducing gas so as to keep the reducing atmosphere as pure as practicable. It is particularly desirable to keep the amount of water used for lifting to a minimum because the presence of water, either as liquid or steam, may interfere with the reducing reaction.
  • the preferred reducing gases for practicing the invention include hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and/or natural gas.
  • reducing gas also contemplates materials which are liquid at ambient conditions but vaporize at riser conditions, such as portions of the feedstock itself. Because the other gases specified are explosive at regenerator conditions, it is preferable to use carbon monoxide as the reducing gas where there may be at least some backflow into the regenerator, such as when using the lower section of the regenerated catalyst standpipe as a reducing zone. In this arrangement, the carbon dioxide formed by the reduction reaction and the excess carbon monoxide over that consumed in the reduction reaction may pass back into the regenerator and be discharged from the system with the regenerator flue gases.
  • a preferred source of carbon monoxide is the flue gas from the first stage of a two stage regenerator which is operated with an oxygen deficient first stage and a relatively high CO/CO 2 ratio as explained elsewhere in this specification.
  • the reducing reaction with carbon monoxide is preferably controlled so as to avoid depositing signifi cant amounts of carbon on the catalyst since such carbon depos its may preferentially migrate to and cover steam reforming nickel sites.
  • the reducing zone is isolated from the regenerator, such as in the bottom of the riser or in a separate reducing vessel, the reducing gas is preferably hydrogen for the reasons explained more fully below.
  • the reduced catalyst is contacted with the carbo-metallic feed in the presence of steam at weight ratios of water to feed up to 1.0, preferably up to 0.5, more preferably in the range from about 0.15 to about 0.35 and most preferably in the range of about 0.2 to about 0.3. Based on an average hydrocarbon molecular weight of about 275 in the feed, these weight ratios correspond approximately to the following respective ratios of water partial pressure to feed partial pressure in the riser: up to about 14:1, preferably up to about 7:1, more preferably in the range from about 2:1 to about 5:1, and most preferably in the range of about 3:1 to 4:1.
  • the water may be introduced initially into the riser either directly or with the feed and as either liquid water or steam.
  • the water contacts the nickel containing catalyst and the carbo- metallic oil feed under conversion conditions such that the steam is reformed in the riser to provide labile hydrogen and the feed is converted in the presence of this labile hydrogen to provide increased yields of gasoline and other liquid fuel products.
  • the labile hydrogen reacts with the cracked fra ⁇ ments to increase the hydrogen/carbon ratio of the carbonaceous fragments and provide useful liquid fuel products.
  • these carbonaceous fragments combine to form heavy hydrocarbon deposits which are non-strippabl and comprise one of the coke components on spent catalyst.
  • carbon on the regenerated catalyst is preferably less than 0.25 weight percent, more preferably less than 0.1 weight percent, and most preferably less than 0.05 weight percent.
  • the amount of vanadium present on the catalyst also is preferably minimized be cause large ratios of vanadium to nickel may interfere with the steam reforming reaction.
  • the weight ratio of vanadium to nickel, which is about the same as the atomic ratio, both in the feed and on the catalyst is preferably less than about 3.0, more preferably less than about 2.0 and most preferably about 1.0 or less.
  • any outside process streams used in practicing the invention such as those that may be used to provide diluent and/or lift gases in the riser, preferably do not contain significant amounts of hydrogen sulfide.
  • the catalyst employed in the carbo-metallic oil conversion pro cess preferably has a high surface area to provide places for the adsorption of coke precursors and the deposition of heavy metals without undue covering of catalytic sites, whether for steam reforming or catalytic cracking.
  • the catalyst also pref erably has a high pore volume so that blockage of pore passage ways by accumulations of heavy metals and coke precursors is less likely to occur.
  • catalysts for the present invention preferably have surface areas of at least 40 square meters per gram, more preferably at least 80 square meters per gram and most preferably in the range of 80 to 250 square meters per gram, and pore volumes of at least about 0.2 cc/gm, more preferably at least about 0.3 cc/gm, still more preferably in the range of about 0.2 to 0.5 cc/gm and most preferably at least about 0.5 cc/gm.
  • the process conditions of the present invention for steam reforming include relatively low pressures, relatively high temperatures, relatively large amounts of deposited coke, and relatively short contact times between catalyst and the feed and steam reactants.
  • pressures in the riser are preferably less than about 100 psia and more preferably in the range of about 35 to about 45 psia
  • catalyst temperatures at the inlet to the riser are preferably greater than 1000°F and more preferably in the range of 1200 to 1400°F
  • coke levels on the catalyst leaving the riser may be up to about 3 weight percent based on weight of catalyst and more preferably in the range of about 0.3 to about 1.0 weight percent
  • catalyst temperatures at the exit from the riser are preferably greater than 900°F and more preferably in the range of about 1000 to about 1100°F
  • the contact time between catalyst and feed is preferably less than about 3 seconds and more preferably in the range of 0.5 to 2 seconds.
  • the prior art suggests that the steam reforming of hydrocarbons to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide mixtures requires highly active and stable catalysts with high concentrations of nickel, say in the range of 10-40 weight percent. These catalysts are stabilized by the addition of alkali metal compounds such as potassium oxide.
  • the catalyst used in practicing the present invention utilizes nickel concentrations of 0.5-2 wt% with emphasis placed on the elimination of as much of the alkali metals and their salts as practicable from the feedstock and the catalyst.
  • the second area of major difference between the process of this invention and conventional steam reforming is related to carbon deposition on catalyst. In conventional steam reforming, a fixed catalyst bed is used and carbon deposition must be kept to almost nil because relativelylow levels of coke and/or carbide formation lower catalyst activity to unacceptable levels.
  • the method of this invention employs a large circulating inventory of catalyst which is continuously regenerated so that the coke and/or carbon deposition does not adversel affect the lone term activity of the catalyst for steam reforming.
  • the prior art suggests that nickel deposits on conversion catalyst tend to increase coke production by catalyzing adverse dehydrogenation/coking reactions.
  • the steam reforming process of the present invention sufficiently predominates over such countervailing coking reactions to provide significant decreases in the overall coke make of the carbo-metallic oil conversion process.
  • the amount of contaminant coke which is that coke produced by both cracking and dehydrogenation reactions, may be reduced by as much as one half or more compared to the same conversion process in the same equipment but without reducing the nickel on the catalyst and with water present in amounts less than 0.15 weight percent relative toveight of feed.
  • the consumption of coke by the steam reforming reaction of the process may also reduce the levels of Conradson coke on spent catalyst fed to the regenerator from the spent catalyst stripper. Furthermore, the presence of reduced catalyst and relatively high levels of water in the conversion zone are believed to greatly enhance the selective cracking activity of the conversion catalyst itself.
  • the carbo-metallic feed in the form of a pump able liquid, is brought into contact with hot conversion catalyst in a weight ratio of catalyst to feed in the range of about 3 to about 18 and preferably more than about 6.
  • the feed in said mixture undergoes a conversion step which includes cracking while the mixture of feed and catalyst is flowing through a progressive flow type reactor.
  • the reactor includes an elongated reaction chamber which is at least partly vertical or inclined and in which the feed material, resultant products and catalyst are maintained in contact with one another while flowing as a dilute phase or stream for a predetermined riser residence time in the range of about 0.5 to about 10 seconds.
  • the feed, catalyst, and other materials may be introduced into the reaction chamber at one or more points along its length.
  • the reaction is conducted at a temperature of about 900° to about 1400°F, measured at the reaction chamber exit, under a total pressure of about 10 to about 50 psia (pounds per square inch absolute) under conditions sufficiently severe to provide a conversion per pass in the range of about 50% or more and to lay down coke on the catalyst in an amount in the range of about 0.3 to about 3% by weight of catalyst and preferably at least about 0.5%.
  • the overall rate of coke production, based on weight of fresh feed is in the range of about 4 to about 14. by weight.
  • the cata The present invention provides increased levels of labile hydrogen in the riser without the necessity of hydrotreating the feed and/or the use of hydrocracking processes which require large amounts of hydrogen at high pressure and expensive high pressure hydrocracking equipment.
  • the amounts of hydrogen produced are sufficiently large to provide the quantities of hydrogen needed for recycling the product as the reducing gas for the process.
  • the steam reforming process of the invention may provide 50 times or more hydrogen by weight based on weight of feed as compared to the same conversion process in the same conversion apparatus but in the absence of reduced catalyst and with less than 0.15 weight percent water based on weight of feed.
  • the dry gas product from the conversion process may be comprised of 30 or more weight percent hydrogen based on total weight of dried gas.
  • the conversion process and apparatus must also take into account the increased volumes both of vapor product in the riser and of dry gas product.
  • steam reforming may increase the total vapor product volume by as much as two or three times and result in contact times of less than 0.5 seconds in pre-existing riser designs.
  • the capacity of vapor product and dry gas handling equipment may have to be increased to accommodate the larger volumes of hydrogen produced by the process.
  • the present invention is notable in providing a simple, relatively straightforward and highly productive approach to the conversion of carbo-metallic feed, such as reduced crude or the like, to various lighter products such as gasoline-
  • the carbo-metallic feed comprises or is composed of oil which boils above about 650 ⁇ F.
  • Such oil is characterized by a heavy metal content of at least about 4, preferably more than about 5, and most preferably at least about 5.5 ppm of lyst is separated from the products, is stripped to remove high boiling components and other entrained or adsorbed hydrocarbons and is then regenerated with oxygen-containing combustion-supporting gas under conditions of time, temperature and atmosphere sufficient to reduce the carbon on the regenerated catalyst to about 0.25% or less and preferably about 0.05% or less by weight.
  • the process may be operated without added hydrogen in the reaction chamber. If desired, and preferably, the process may be operated without prior hydrotreating of the feed and/or without other process of removal of asphaltenes of metals from the feed, and this is true even where the carbo-metallic oil as a whole contains more than about 4, or more than about 5 or even more than about 5.5 ppm Nickel Equivalents by weight of heavy metal and has a carbon residue on pyrolysis greater than about 1%, greater than about 1.4% or greater than about 2% by weight. Moreover, all of the converter feed, as above described, may be cracked in one and the same conversion chamber.
  • the cracking reaction may be carried out with a catalyst which has previously been used (recycled, except for such replacement as required to compensate for normal losses and deactivation) to crack a carbo-metallic feed under the above described conditions.
  • Heavy hydrocarbons not cracked to gasoline in a first pass may be recycled with or without hydrotreating for further cracking in contact with the same kind of feed in which they were first subjected to cracking conditions, and under the same kind of conditions; but operation in a substantially once-through or single pass mode (e.g. less than about 15% by volume of recycle based on volume of fresh feed) is preferred.
  • the catalyst is projected in a direction established by the elongated reaction chamber or an extension thereof, while the products, having lesser momentum, are caused to make an abrupt change of direction, resulting in an abrupt, substantially instantaneous ballistic separate of products from catalyst.
  • the thus separated catalyst is then stripped, regenerated and recycled to the reactor as above described.
  • the converter feed contains 650°F+ material which has not been hydrotreated and is characterized in part by containing at least about 5.5 parts per million of Nickel Equivalents of heavy metals.
  • the converter feed is brought together not only with the above mentioned cracking catalyst, but also wit ⁇ additional gaseous material including steam whereby the resultant suspension of catalyst and feed also includes gaseous material wherein the ratio of the partial pressure of the added gaseous material relative to that of the feed is in the range of about 0.25 to about 4.0.
  • the vapor residence time is in the range of about 0.5 to about 3 seconds when practicing this embodiment or aspect of the invention.
  • This preferred embodiment or aspect and the one referred to in the preceding paragraph may be used in combination with one another or separately.
  • the carbo-metallic feed is not only brought into contact with the catalyst, but also with one or more additional materials including particularly liquid water in a weight ratio relative to feed ranging from about 0.04 to about 0.25, more preferably about 0.04 to about 0.2 and still more preferably about 0.05 to about 0.15.
  • additional materials including particularly liquid water in a weight ratio relative to feed ranging from about 0.04 to about 0.25, more preferably about 0.04 to about 0.2 and still more preferably about 0.05 to about 0.15.
  • Such addi tional materials, including the liquid water may be brought into admixture with the feed prior to, during or after mixing the feed with the aforementioned catalyst, and either after or, preferably, before, vaporization of the feed.
  • the feed, catalyst and water e.g.
  • the progressive flow type reactor which may or may not be a reactor embodying the above described ballistic separation, at oneor more points along the reactor. While the mixture of feed, catalyst and steam produced by vaporization of the liquid water flows through the reactor, the feed undergoes the above mentioned conversion step which includes cracking.
  • the feed material, catalyst, steam and resultant products are maintained in contact with one another in the above mentioned elongated reaction chamber while flowing as a dilute phase or stream for the above mentioned predetermined riser residence time which is in the range of about 0.5 to about 10 seconds, preferably about 0.5 to about 2 seconds.
  • the present invention provides a process for the continuous catalytic conversion of a wide variety of carbo- metallic oils to lower molecular weight products, while maximizing production of highly valuable liquid products, and making it possible, if desired, to avoid vacuum distillation and other expensive treatments such as hydrotreating.
  • the invention is applicable to carbo-metallic oils, whether of petroleum origin or not. For example, provided they have the requisite boiling range, carbon residue on pyrolysis and heavy metals content, the invention may be applied to the processing of such widely diverse materials as heavy bottoms from crude oil, heavy bitumen crude oil, those crude oils known as "heavy crude” which approximate the properties of reduced crude, shale oil, tar sand extract, products from coal liquification and solvated coal, atmospheric and vacuum reduced crude, extracts and/or bottoms (raffinate) from solvent deasphalting, aromatic extract from lube oil refining, tar bottoms, heavy cycle oil, slop oil, other refinery waste streams and mixtures of the foregoing.
  • Such mixtures can for instance be prepared by mixing available hydrocarbon fractions, including oils, tars, pitches and the like. Also, powdered coal may be suspended in the carbo-metallic oil.
  • Persons skilled in the art are aware of techniques for demetalation of carbo- metallic oils, and demetalated oils may be converted using the invention; but it is an advantage of the invention that it can employ as feedstock carbo-metallic oils that have had no prior demetalation treatment.
  • the invention can be applied to hydrotreated feedstocks; but it is an advantage of the invention that it can successfully convert carbo-metallic oils which have had substantially no prior hydrotreatment.
  • the preferred application of the process is to reduced crude, i.e., that fraction of crude oil boiling at and above 650°F, along or in admixture with virgin gas oils. While the use of material that has been subjected to prior vacuum distillation is not excluded, it is an advantage of the invention that it can satisfactorily process material which has had no prior vacuum distillation, thus saving on capital investment and operating costs as compared to conventional FCC processes that require a vacuum distillation unit.
  • a carbo- metallic oil feedstock at least about 70%, more preferably at least about 85% and still more preferably about 100% (by volume) of which boils at and above about 650°F. All boiling temperatures herein are based on standard atmospheric pressure conditions.
  • 650°F+ material In carbo-metallic oil partly or wholly composed of material which boils at and above about 650°F, such material is referred to herein as 650°F+ material; and 65C°F+ material which is part of or has been separated from an oil containing component boiling above and below 650°F may be referred to as a 650°F+ fraction.
  • 650°F+ material In carbo-metallic oil partly or wholly composed of material which boils at and above about 650°F, such material is referred to herein as 650°F+ material; and 65C°F+ material which is part of or has been separated from an oil containing component boiling above and below 650°F may be referred to as a 650°F+ fraction.
  • the terms "boils above” and "650 o F+” are not intended to imply that all of the material characterized by said terms will have the capability of boiling.
  • the carbo- metallic oils contemplated by the invention may contain material which may not boil under any conditions; for example
  • the feed comprises at least about 70% by volume of material which boils above about 650°F
  • the 70% in question may include some material which will not boil or volatilize at any temperature. These non-boilable materials when present, may frequently or for the most part be concentrated in portions of the feed which do not boil below about 1000°F, 1025°F or higher.
  • at least about 10%, more preferably about 15%, and still more preferably at least about 20% (by volume) of the 650°F+ fraction will not boil below about 1000 o F or 1025°F
  • all or any part of the material not boiling below about 1000°F or 1025°F may or may not be volatile at and above the indicated temperatures.
  • the contemplated feeds or at least the 650 ⁇ F+ material therein, have a carbon residue on pyrolysis of at least about 2 or greater.
  • the Conradson carbon content may be in the range of about 2 to about 12 and most frequently at least about 4. A particularly common range is about 4 to about 8. Those feeds having a Conradson carbon content greater than about 6 may need special means for controlling excess heat in the regenerator.
  • the feed has an average composition characterized by an atomic hydrogen to carbon ratio in the range of about 1.2 to about 1.9, and preferably about 1.3 to about 1.8.
  • the carbo-metallic feeds employed in accordance with the invention, or at least the 650°F+ material therein, may contain at least about 4 parts per million of Nickel Equivalents, as defined above, of which at least about 2 parts per million is nickel (as metal, by weight).
  • Carbo-metallic oils within the above range can be prepared from mixtures of two or more oils, some of which do and some of which do not contain the quantities of Nickel Equivalents and nickel set forth above. It should also be noted that the above values for Nickel Equivalents and nickel represent time-weighted averages for a substantial period of operation of the conversion unit, such as one month, for example.
  • the carbo-metallic oils useful in the invention may and usually do contain significant quantities of heavy, high boiling compounds containing nitrogen, a substantial portion of which may be basic nitrogen.
  • the total nitrogen content of the carbo-metallic oils may be at least about 0.05% by weight. Since craclcing catalysts owe their cracking activity to acid sites on the catalyst surface or in its pores, basic nitrogen-containing compounds may temporarily neutralize these sites, poisoning the catalyst. However, the catalyst is not permanently damaged since the nitrogen can be burned off the catalyst during regeneration, as a result of which the acidity of the active sites is restored.
  • the carbo-metallic oils may also include significant quantities of pentane insolubles, for example at least about 0.5% by weight, and more typically 2% or more or even about 4% or more. These may include for instance asphaltenes and other materials.
  • Alkali and alkaline earth metals generally do not tend to vaporize in large quantities under the distillation conditions employed in distilling crude oil to prepare the vacuum gas oils norma lly used as FCC feedstocks. Rather, these metals remain for the most part in the "bottoms" fraction (the non-vaporized high boiling portion) which may for instance be used in the production of asphalt or other by-products.
  • bottoms the non-vaporized high boiling portion
  • reduced crude and other carbo- raetallic oils are in many cases bottoms products, and therefore may contain significant quantities of alkali and alkaline earth metals such as sodium. These metals deposit upon the catalyst during cracking.
  • these metals may undergo interactions and reactions with the catalyst (including the catalyst support) which are not normally experienced in processing VGO under conventional FCC processing conditions. If the catalyst characteristics and regeneration conditions so require, one will of course take the necessary precautions to limit the amounts of alkali and alkaline earth metal in the feed, which metals may enter the feed not only as brine associated with the crude oil in its natural state, but also as components of water or steam which are supplied to the cracking unit.
  • the content of such metals (hereinafter collectively referred to as "sodium") in the feed can be maintained at about 1 ppm or less, based on the weight of the feedstock.
  • the sodium level of the feed may be keyed to that of the catalyst, so as to maintain the sodium level of the catalyst which is in use substantially the same as or less than that of the replacement catalyst which is charged to the unit.
  • the carbo-metallic oil feedstock constitutes at least about 70% by volume of material which boils above about 650°F, and at least about 10% of the material which boils above about 650°F will not boil below about 1025°F.
  • the average composition of this 650°F+ material may be further characterized by: (a) an atomic hydrogen to carbon ratio in the range of about 1.3 to about 1.8; (b) a Conradson carbon value of at least about 2; (c) at least about four parts per million of Nickel Equivalents, as defined above, of which at least about two parts per million is nickel (as metal, by weight); and (d) at least one of the following: (i) at least about 0.3% by weight of sulfur, (ii) at least about 0.05% by weight of nitrogen, and (iii) at least about 0.5% by weight of pentane insolubles.
  • the preferred feed will include all of (i), (ii), and (iii), and other components found in oils of petroleum and non-petroleum origin may also be present in varying quantities providing they do not prevent operation of the process.
  • the present invention has the definite advantage that it can successfully produce large conversions and very substantial yields of liquid hydrocarbon fuels from carbo-metallic oils which have not been subjected to any substantial amount of cracking.
  • at least about 85%, more preferably at least about 90% amd most preferably substantially all of the carbo-metallic feed introduced into the present process is oil which has not previously been contacted with cracking catalyst under cracking conditions.
  • the process of the invention is suitable for Operation in a substantially once-through or single pass mode.
  • the volume of recycle, if any, based on the volume of fresh feed is preferably about 15% or less and more preferably about 10% or less.
  • the weight ratio of catalyst to fresh feed (feed which has not previously been exposed to cracking catalyst under cracking conditions) used in the process is in the range of about 3 to about 18.
  • Preferred and more preferred ratios are about 4 to about 12, more preferably about 5 to about 10 and still more preferably about 6 to about 10, a ratio of about 10 presently being considered most nearly optimum.
  • controlling the catalyst to oil ratio at relatively low levels within the aforesaid ranges tends to reduce the coke yield of the process, based on fresh feed.
  • the ratio between the number of barrels per day of plant through-put and the total number of tons of catalyst undergoing circulation throughout all phases of the process can vary widely.
  • daily plant through-put is defined as the number of barrels of fresh feed boiling above about 650°F which that plant processes per average day of operation to liquid products boiling below about 430°F.
  • about 8 to about 12 tons of catalyst are under circulation in the process per 1000 barrels per day of plant through-put.
  • this ratio is in the range of about 2 to 3.
  • While the present invention may be practiced in the range of about 2 to about 30 and more typically about 2 to about 12 tons of catalyst inventory per 1000 barrels of daily plant through-put, it is preferred to carry out the process of the present invention with a very small ratio of catalyst weight to daily plant through-put. More specifically, it is preferred to carry out the process of the present invention with an inventory of catalyst that is sufficient to contact the feed for the desired residence time in the above indicated catalyst to oil ratio while minimizing the amount of catalyst inventory, relative to plant through-put, which is undergoing circulation or being held for treatment in other phases of the process such as, for example, stripping, regeneration and the like. Thus, more particularly, it is preferred to carry out the process of the present invention with about 2 to about 5 and more preferably about 2 tons of catalyst inventory or less per thousand barrels of daily plant through-put.
  • catalyst may be added continuously or periodically, such as, for example, to make up for normal losses of catalyst from the system.
  • catalyst addition may be conducted in conjunction with withdrawal of catalyst, such as, for example, to maintain or increase the average activity level of the catalyst in the unit.
  • the rate at which virgin catalyst is added to the unit may be in the range of about 0.1 to about 3, more preferalby about 0.15 to about 2, and most preferably to about 0.2 to about 1.5 pounds per barrel of feed. If on the other hand equilibrium catalyst from FCC operation is to be utilized, replacement rates as high as about 5 pounds per barrel can be practiced.
  • the process may be practiced with catalyst bearing accumulations of heavy metal (s) in the form of elemental metal (s), oxide (s), sulfide(s) or other compounds which heretofore would have been considered quite intolerable in conventional FCC-VGO ooerations.
  • ODeration of the process with catalyst bearing heavy metals accumulations in the range of about 3,000 or more ppm Nickel Equivalents, on the average, is contemplated.
  • the concentration of Nickel Equivalents of metals on catalyst can range up to about 50,000 ppm or higher. More specifically, the accumulation may be in the range of about 3,000 to about 30,000 ppm, preferably in the range of 3,000 to 20,000 ppm, and more preferably about 3,000 to about 12,000 ppm.
  • oils may be pretreated with a sorbent to reduce the levels of these contaminants to the aforementioned or lower values.
  • Such upgrading processes are described in U.S. Patent No. 4,263,128 of April 21, 1981, in the name of David B. Bartholic, and in International Patent Application No. PCT/US81/00357 filed in the U.S.
  • the equilibrium concentration of heavy metals in the circulating inventory of catalyst can be controlled (including maintained or varied as desired or needed) by manipulation of the rate of catalyst addition discussed above.
  • addition of catalyst may be maintained at a rate which will control the heavy metals accumulation on the catalyst in one of the ranges set forth above.
  • a catalyst having a relatively high level of cracking activity providing high levels of conversion and productivity at low residence times.
  • the conversion capabilities of the catalyst may be expressed in terms of the conversion produced during actual operation of the process and/or in terms of conversion produced in standard catalyst activity tests.
  • conversion is expressed in liquid volume percent, based on fresh feed.
  • the preferred catalyst may be defined as one which, in its virgin or equilibrium state, exhibits a specified activity expressed as a percentage in terms of MAT (micro-activity test) conversion.
  • the foregoing percentage is the volume percentage of standard feedstock which a catalyst under evaluation will convert to 430°F end point gasoline, lighter products and coke at 900°F, 16 WHSV (weight hourly space velocity, calculated ona moisture free basis, using clean catalyst which has been dried at 1100°F, weighed and then conditioned, for a period of at least 8 hours at about 25°C and 50% relative humidity, until about one hour or less prior to contacting the feed) and 3C/0 (catalyst to oil weight ratio) by ASTM D-32 MAT test D-3907-80, using an appropriate standard feedstock, e.g. a sweet light primary gas oil, such as that used by Davison, Division of W. R. Grace, having the following analysis and properties: API Gravity at 60°F, degrees 31.0
  • FBP 834 The gasoline end point and boiling temperature-volume percent relationships of the product produced in the MAT conversion test may for example be determined by simulated distillation techniques, for example modifications of gas chromate graphic "Sim-D", ASTM D-2887-73. The results of such simulations are in reasonable agreement with the results obtained by subjecting larger samples of material to standard laboratory distillation techniques. Conversion is calculated by subtracting from 100 the volume percent (based on fresh feed) of those products heavier than gasoline which remain in the recovered product.
  • relative activity is a ratio obtained by dividing the weight of a standard or reference catalyst which is or would be required to produce a given level of conversion, as compared to the weight of an operating catalyst (whether proposed or actually used) which is or would be required to produce the same level of conversion in the same or equivalent feedstock under the same or equivalent conditions.
  • Said ratio of catalyst weights may be expressed as a numerical ratio, but preferably is converted to a percentage basis.
  • the standard catalyst is preferably chosen from among catalysts useful for conducting the present invention, such as for example zeolite fluid cracking catalysts, and is chosen for its ability to produce a predetermined level of conversion in a standard feed under the conditions of temperature, WHSV, catalyst to oil ratio and other conditions set forth in the preceding description of the MAT conversion test and in ASTM D-32 MAT test D-3907-80. Conversion is the volume percentage of feedstock that is converted to 430°F end point gasoline, lighter products and coke. For standard feed, one may employ the above-mentioned light primary gas oil, or equivalent.
  • a "standard catalyst curve" a chart or graph of conversion (as above defined) vs. reciprocal WHSV for the standard catalyst and feedstock.
  • a sufficient number of runs is made under ASTM D-3907-80 conditions (as modified above) using standard feedstock at varying levels of WHSV to prepare an accurate "curve" of conversion vs. WHSV for the standard feedstock.
  • This curve should traverse all or substantially all of the various levels of conversion including the range of conversion within which it is expected that the operating catalyst will be tested. From this curve, one may establish a standard WHSV for test comparisons and a standard value of reciprocal WHSV corresponding to that level of conversion which has been chosen to represent 100% relative activity in the standard catalyst.
  • the aforementioned reciprocal WHSV and level of conversion are, respectively, 0.0625 and 75%.
  • a relative activity of 0.5, or 50% means that it would take twice the amount of the operating catalyst to give the same conversion as the standard catalyst, i.e., the production catalyst is 50% as active as the reference catalyst.
  • Relative activity at a constant level of conversion is also equal to the ratio of the Weight Hourly Space Velocity (WHSV) of an operational or "test" catalyst divided by the WHSV of a standard catalyst selected for its level of conversion at MAT conditions.
  • WHSV Weight Hourly Space Velocity
  • a MAT conversion versus relative activity curve may be developed.
  • One such curve utilizing a standard catalyst of 75 volume percent conversion to represent 100 percent relative activity is shown in Fig. 1.
  • the catalyst may be introduced into the process in its virgin form or, as previously indicated, in other than virgin form; e.g. one may use equilibrium catalyst withdrawn from another unit, such as catalyst that has been employed in the cracking of a different feed.
  • equilibrium catalyst withdrawn from another unit such as catalyst that has been employed in the cracking of a different feed.
  • the preferred catalysts may be described on the basis of their activity "as introduced” into the process of the present invention, or on the basis of their "as withdrawn” or equilibrium activity in the process of the present invention, or on both of these bases.
  • a preferred activity level of virgin and non-virgin catalyst "as introduced” into the process of the present invention is at least about 60% by MAT conversion, and preferably at least about 20%, more preferably at least about 40% and still more preferably at least about 60% in terms of relative activity.
  • An acceptable "as withdrawn” or equilibrium activity level of catalyst which has been used in the process of the present invention is at least about 20% or more, but about 40% or more and preferably about 60% or more are preferred values on a relative activity basis, and an activity level of 60% or more on a MAT conversion basis is also contemplated. More preferably, it is desired to employ a catalyst which will, under the conditions of use in the unit, establish an equilibrium activity at or above the indicated level. The catalyst activities are determined with catalyst having less than 0.01 coke, e.g. regenerated catalyst.
  • a particularly preferred class of catalysts includes those which have pore structures into which molecules of feed material may enter for adsorption and/or for contact with active catalytic sites within or adjacent the pores.
  • Various types of catalysts are available within this classification, including for example the layered silicates, e.g. smectites. Although the most widely available catalysts within this classification are the well-known zeolite-containing catalysts, non-zeolite catalysts are also contemplated.
  • the preferred zeolite-containing catalysts may include any zeolite, whether natural, semi-synthetic or synthetic, alone or in admixture with other materials which do not significantly impair the suitability of the catalyst, provided the resultant catalyst has the activity and pore structure referred to above.
  • the virgin catalyst may include the zeolite, component associated with or dispersed in a porous refractory inorganic oxide carrier, in such case the catalyst may for example contain about 1% to about 60%, more preferably about 15 to about 50%, and most typically about 20 to about 45% by weight, based on the total weight of catalyst (water free basis) of the zeolite, the balance of the catalyst being the porous refractory inorganic oxide alone or in combination with any of the known adjuvants for promoting or suppressing various desired and undesired reactions.
  • zeolite components of the zeolite- containing catalysts will be those which are known to be useful in FCC cracking processes. In general, these are crystalline aluminosilicates, typically made up of tetra coordinated aluminum atoms associated through oxygen atoms with adjacent silicon atoms in the crystal structure.
  • zeolite as used in this disclosure contemplates not only aluminosilicates, but also substances in which the alumii.um has been partly or wholly replaced, such as for instance by gallium and/or other metal atoms, and further includes substances in which all or part of the silicon has been replaced, such as for instance by germanium. Titanium and zirconium substitution may also be practiced.
  • the zeolite may be ion exchanged, and where the zeolite is a component of a catalyst composition, such ion exchanging may occur before or after incorporation of the zeolite as a component of the composition.
  • Suitable cations for replacement of sodium in the zeolite crystal structure include ammonium (decomposable to hydrogen), hydrogen, rare earth metals, alkaline earth metals, etc.
  • suitable ion- exchange procedures and cations which may be exchanged into the zeolite crystal structure are well known to those skilled in the art.
  • Examples of the naturally occurring crystalline alumino- silicate zeolites which may be used as or included in the catalyst for the present invention are faujasite, mordenite, clinoptilote, chabazite, analcite, crionite, as well as levynite, dachiardite, paulingite, noselite, ferriorite, heulandite, scolccite, stibite, harmotome, phillipsite, brewsterite, flarite, datolite, gmelinite, caumnite, leucite, lazurite, scaplite, mesolite, ptolite, nephline, matrolite, offretite and sodalite.
  • Examples of the synthetic crystalline aluminosilicate zeolites which are useful as or in the catalyst for carrying out the present invention are Zeolite X, U.S. Patent No. 2,882,244; Zeolite Y, U.S. Patent No. 3,130,007; and Zeolite A, U.S. Patent No. 2,882,243; as well as Zeolite B, U.S. Patent No. 3,008,803; Zeolite D, Canada Patent No. 661,981; Zeolite E, Canada Patent No. 614,495; Zeolite F, U.S. Patent No. 2,996,358; Zeolite H, U.S. Patent No. 3,010,789; Zeolite J. U.S. Patent No.
  • the crystalline aluminosilicate zeolites having a fauja- site-type crystal structure are particularly preferred for use in the present invention. This includes particularly natural faujasite and Zeolite X and Zeolite Y.
  • the crystalline aluminosilicate zeolites such as synthetic faujasite, will under normal conditions crystallize as regularly shaped, discrete particles of about one to about ten microns in size, and, accordingly, this is the size range frequently found in commerical catalysts which can be used in the invention.
  • the particle size of the zeolites is from about 0.1 to about 10 microns and more preferably is from about 0.1 to about 2 microns or less.
  • zeolites prepared in situ from calcined kaolin may be characterized by even smaller crystallites. Crystalline zeolites exhibit both an interior and an exterior surface area, the latter being defined as "portal" surface area, with the largest portion of the total surface area being internal.
  • portal surface area we refer to the outer surface of the zeolite crystal through which reactants are considered to pass in order to convert to lower boiling products.
  • Blockages of the internal channels by, for example, coke formation, blockages of entrance to the internal channels by deposition of coke in the portal surface area, and contamination by metals poisoning, will greatly reduce the total zeolite surface area. Therefore, to minimize the effect of contamination and pore blockage, crystals larger than the normal size cited above are preferably not used in the catalysts of this invention-
  • zeolite-containing catalysts are available with carriers containing a variety of metal oxides and combination thereof, include for example silica, alumina, magnesia, and mixtures thereof and mixtures of such oxides with clays as e.g. described in U.S. Patent No. 3,034,948.
  • One may for example select any of the zeolite-containing molecular sieve fluid cracking catalysts which are suitable for production of gasoline from vacuum gas oils.
  • certain advantages may be attained by judicious selection of catalysts having marked resistance to metals.
  • a metal resistant zeolite catalyst is, for instance, described in U.S. Patent Mo.
  • the catalyst contains 1-40 weight percent of a rare earth-exchanged zeolite, the balance being a refractory metal oxide having specified pore volume and size distribution.
  • Other catalysts described as "metals-tolerant" are described in the above mentioned Cimbala, et al., article.
  • a useful catalyst may have a skeletal density of about 150 pounds per cubic foot and an average particle size of about 60-70 microns, with less than 10% of the particles having a size less than about 40 microns and less than 80% having a size less than about 50-60 microns.
  • the AGZ-290, GRZ-1, CCZ-220 and Super DX catalysts referred to above are products of W. R. Grace and Co.
  • F-87 and FOC-90 are products of Filtrol, while HFZ-20 and HEZ-55 are products of Engelhard/Houdry.
  • the above are properties of virgin catalyst and, except in the case of zeolite content, are adjusted to a water free basis, i.e. based on material ignited at 1750°F.
  • the zeolite content is derived by comparison of the X-ray intensities of a catalyst sample and of a standard material composed of high purity sodium Y zeolite in accordance with draft #6, dated January 9, 1978, of proposed ASTM Standard Method entitled "Determination of the Faujasite Content of a Catalyst".
  • the Super D family and especially a catalyst designated GRZ-1 are particularly preferred.
  • Super DX has given particularly good results with Arabian light crude.
  • the GRZ-1 although substantially more expensive than the Super DX at present, appears somewhat more metals- tolerant.
  • the best catalysts for carrying out the present invention are those which are characterized by matrices with feeder pores having large minimum diameters and large mouths to facilitate diffusion of high molecular weight molecules through the matrix to the portal surface area of molecular sieve particles within the matrix.
  • Such matrices preferably also have a relatively large pore volume in order to soak up unvaporized portions of the carbo-metallic oil feed- Thus significant numbers of liquid hydrocarbon molecules can diffuse to active catalytic sites both in the matrix and in sieve particles on the surface of the matrix.
  • catalysts having a total pore volume greater than 0.2 cc/gm, preferably at least 0.4 cc/gm, more preferably at least 0.6 cc/gm and most preferably in the range of 0.7 to 1.0 cc/gm, and with matrices wherein at least 0.1 cc/gm, and preferably at least 0.2 cc/gm, of said total pore volume is comprised of feeder pores having diameters in the range of about 400 to about 6000 angstrom units, more preferably in the range of about 1000 to about 6000 angstrom units.
  • Additives may be introduced into the riser, the regenerator or other conversion system components to passivate the non-selective catalytic activity of heavy metals deposited on the conversion catalyst.
  • Preferred additives for practicing the pres ent invention include those disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. ______, filed simultaneously herewith in the name of William P. Hettinger, Jr., and entitled PASSIVATING HEAVY METALS IN CARBO-METALLIC OIL CONVERSION, the entire disclosure of said U.S. application being incorporated herein by reference.
  • Catalysts for carrying out the present invention may also employ other metal additives for controlling the adverse effects of vanadium as described in PCT International Application Serial No. PCT/US81/00356 filed in the U.S. Receiving Office on March 19, 1981, in the names of Ashland Oil, Inc., et al., and entitled "Immobilization of Vanadia Deposited on Catalytic Materials During Carbo-Metallic Oil Conversion".
  • the manner in which these other metal additives are believed to interact with vanadium is set forth in said PCT international application, the entire disclosure fo which is incorporated herein by reference.
  • a particularly preferred catalyst also includes vanadium traps as disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 252,967 filed April 10, 1981, in the names of William P.
  • the process of the present invention can be conducted in the substantial absence of tin and/or antimony or at least in the presence of a catalyst which is substantially free of either or both of these metals.
  • the process of the present invention may be operated with the above described carbo-metallic oil, catalyst ana water as substantially the sole materials charged to the reaction zone.
  • the charging of additional materials is not excluded.
  • the charging of recycled oil to the reaction zone has already been mentioned.
  • still other materials fulfilling a variety of functions may also be charged.
  • the carbo-metallic oil and catalyst usually represent the major proportion by weight of the total of all materials charged to the reaction zone.
  • Certain of the additional materials which may be used perform functions which offer significant advantages over the process as performed with only the carbo-metallic oil and catalyst. Among these functions are: controlling the effects of heavy metals and other catalyst contaminants; enhancing catalyst activity; absorbing excess heat in the catalyst as received from the regenerator; disposal of pollutants or conversion thereof to a form or forms in which they may be more readily separated from products and/or disposed of; controlling catalyst temperature; diluting the carbo-metallic oil vapors to reduce their partial pressure and increase the yield of desired products; adjusting feed/catalyst contact time; donation of hydrogen to a hydrogen deficient carbo-metallic oil feed- stock for example as disclosed in copending application Serial No.
  • additional materials which are in gaseous (including vaporous) form in the reaction zone in admixture with the catalyst and vapors of feed and products.
  • the increased volume of material in the reaction zone resulting from the presence of such additional materials tend to increase the velocity of flow through the reaction zone with a corresponding decrease in the residence time of the catalyst and oxidized heavy metals borne thereby. Because of this reduced residence time, there is less opportunity for reduction of the oxidized heavy metals to elemental form and therefore less of the harmful elemental metals are available for contacting the feed and products.
  • Added materials may be introduced into the process in any suitable fashion, some examples of which follow. For instance, they may be admixed with the carbo-metallic oil feedstock prior to contact of the latter with the catalyst. Alternatively, the added materials may, if desired, be admixed with the catalyst prior to contact of the latter with the feedstock. Separate portions of the added materials may be separately admixed with both catalyst and carbo-metallic oil. Moreover, the feedstock, catalyst and additional materials may, if desired, be brought together substantially simultaneously. A portion of the added materials may be mixed with catalyst and/or carbo- metallic oil in any of the above described ways, while additional portions are subsequently brought into admixture.
  • a portion of the added materials may be added to the carbo-metallic oil and/or to the catalyst before they reach the reaction zone, while another portion of the added materials is introduced directly into the reaction zone.
  • the added materials may be introduced at a plurality of spaced locations in the reaction zone or along the length thereof, if elongated.
  • the amount of additional materials which may be present in the feed, catalyst or reaction zone for carrying out the above functions, and others, may be varied as desired; but said amount will preferably be sufficient to substantially heat balance the process.
  • These materials may for example be introduced into the reaction zone in a weight ratio relative to feed of up to about 0.4, preferably in the range of about 0.02 to about 0.4, more Oreferably about 0.03 to about 0.3 and most preferably about 0.05 to about 0.25.
  • H 2 O may be attained by introducing H 2 O to the reaction zone in the form of steam or of liquid water or a combination thereof in a weight ratio relative to feed in the range of about 0.04 or more, or more preferably about 0.05 to about 0.1 or more.
  • the water used for these purposes may or may not contain one or more water soluble additives.
  • H 2 O tends to inhibit reduction of catalyst-borne oxides, sulfites and sulfides to the free metallic form which is believed to promote condensation-dehydrogenation with consequent promotion of coke and hydrogen yield and accompanying loss of product.
  • H 2 O may also, to some extent, reduce deposition of metals onto the catalyst surface.
  • H 2 O tends to increase the acidity of the catalyst by Bronsted acid formation which in turn enhances the activity of the catalyst. Assuming the H 2 O as supplied is cooler than the regenerated catalyst and/or the temperature of the reaction zone, the sensible heat involved in raising the temperature of the H 2 O upon contacting the catalyst in the reaction zone or elsewhere can absorb excess heat from the catalyst. Where the H 2 O is or includes recycled water that contains for example about 500 to about 5000 ppm of H 2 S dissolved therein, a number of additional advantages may accrue.
  • the ecologically unattractive H 2 O need not be vented to the atmosphere, the recycled water does not require further treatment to remove K 2 O and the H 2 O may be of assistance in reducing coking of the catalyst, by passivation of the heavy metals, i.e. by conversion thereof to the sulfide form which has a lesser tendency than the free metals to enhance coke and hydrogen production.
  • the presence of H 2 O can dilute the carbo-metallic oil vapors, thus reducing their partial pressure and tending to increase the yield of the desired products.
  • H 2 O is useful in combination with other materials in generating hydrogen during cracking ; thus it may be able to act as a Jiydrogen donor for hydrogen deficient carbo-metallic oil feedstocks.
  • the H 2 O may also serve certain purely mechanical functions such as: assisting in the atomizing or dispersion of the feed; competing with high molecular weight molecules for adsorption on the surface of the catalyst, thus interrupting coke formation; steam distillation of vaporizable product from unvaporized feed material; and disengagement of product from catalyst upon conclusion of the cracking reaction. It is particularly preferred to bring together H 2 O, catalyst and carbo- metallic oil substantially simultaneously. For example, one may admix H 2 O and feedstock in an atomizing nozzle and immediately direct the resultant spray into contact with the catalyst at the downstream end of the reaction zone.
  • liquid water be brought into intimate admixture with the carbo-metallic oil in a weight ratio of about 0.04 to about 0.25 at or prior to the time of introduction of the oil into the reaction zone, whereby the water (e.g., in the form of liquid water or in the form of steam produced by vaporization of liquid water in contact with the oil) enters the reaction zone as part of the flow of feedstock which enters such zone.
  • the foregoing is advantageous in promoting dispersion of the feedstock.
  • the heat of vaporization of the water which heat is absorbed from the catalyst, from the feedstock, or from both, causes the water to be a more efficient heat sink than steam alone.
  • the weight ratio of liquid water to feed is about 0.04 to about 0.2 more preferably about 0.05 to about 0.15.
  • the liquid water may be introduced into the process in the above described manner or in other ways, and in either event the introduction of liquid water may be accompanied by the introduction of additional amounts of water as steam into the same or different portions of the reaction zone or into the catalyst and/or feedstock.
  • the amount of additional steam may be in a weight ratio relative to feed in the range of about 0.01 to about 0.25, with the weight ratio of total H 2 O (as steam and liquid water) to feedstock being about 0.3 or less.
  • the charging weight ratio of liquid water relative to steam in such combined use of liquid water and steam may for example range from about 15 which is presently preferred, to about 0.2. Such ratio may be maintained at a predetermined level within such range or varied as necessary or desired to adjust or maintain heat balance.
  • the dehydrogenation-condcnsation activity of heavy metals may be inhibited by introducing hydrogen sulfide gas into the reaction zone.
  • Hydrogen may be made available for hydrogen deficient carbo-metallic oil feedstocks by introducing into the reaction zone either a conventional hydrogen donor diluent such as a heavy naphtha or relatively low molecular weight carbon-hydrocarbon fragment contri butors, including for example: light paraffins; low molecular weight alcohols and other compounds which permit or favor intermolecular hydrogen transfer; and compounds that chemically combine to generate hydrogen in the reaction zone such as lay reaction of carbon monoxide with water, or with alcohols, or with olefins, or with other materials or mixtures of the foregoing.
  • a conventional hydrogen donor diluent such as a heavy naphtha or relatively low molecular weight carbon-hydrocarbon fragment contri butors, including for example: light paraffins; low molecular weight alcohols and other compounds which permit or favor intermolecular hydrogen
  • additional materials including water
  • other materials such as nitrogen or other inert gases, light hydrocarbons, and others
  • acting as diluents to reduce feed partial pressure and/or as heat sinks to absorb excess heat present in the catalyst as received from the regeneration step may perform any of the above-described functions for which they are suitable, including without limitation, acting as diluents to reduce feed partial pressure and/or as heat sinks to absorb excess heat present in the catalyst as received from the regeneration step.
  • the foregoing is a discussion of some of the functions which can be performed by materials other than catalyst and carbo-metallic oil feedstock introduced into the reaction zone, and it should be understood that other materials may be added or other functions performed without departing from the spirit of the invention.
  • the invention may be practiced in a wide variety of apparatus.
  • the preferred apparatus includes means for rapidly vaporizing as much feed as possible and efficiently admixing feed and catalyst (although not necessarily in that order), for causing the resultant mixture to flow as a dilute suspension in a progressive flow mode, and for separating the catalyst from cracked products and any uncracked or only partially cracked feed at the end of a predetermined residence time or times, it being preferred that all or at least a substantial portion of the product should be abruptly separated from at least a portion of the catalyst.
  • the apparatus may include, along its elongated reaction chamber, one or more points for introduction of carbo-metallic feed, one or more points for introduction of catalyst, one or more points for introduction of additional material, one or more points for withdrawal of products and one or more points for withdrawal of catalyst.
  • the means for introducing feed, catalyst and other material may range from oper pipes to sophisticated jets or spray nozzles, it being preferred to use means capable of breaking up the liquid feed into fine droplets.
  • the catalyst, liquid water (when used) and fresh feed are brought together in an apparatus similar to that disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 969,601 of George D. Myers, et al., filed December 14, 1978, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Accordingly to a particularly preferred embodiment based on a suggestion which is understood to have emanated from Mr. Stephen M.
  • the liquid water and carbo-metallic oil prior to their introduction into the riser, are caused to pass through a propeller, apertured disc, or any appropriate high shear agitating means for forming a "homogenized mixture" containing finely divided droplets of oil and/or water with oil and/or water present as a continuous phase.
  • the reaction chamber or at least the major portion thereof, be more nearly vertical than horizontal and have a length to diameter ratio of at least about 10, more preferably about 20 or 25 or more.
  • a vertical riser type reactor is preferred. If tubular, the reactor can be of uniform diameter throughout or may be provided with a continuous orstep-wise increase in diameter along the reaction path to maintain or vary the velocity along the flow path.
  • the charging means (for catalyst and feed) and the reactor configuration are such as to provide a relatively high velocity of flow and dilute suspension of catalyst.
  • the vapor or catalyst velocity in the riser will be usually at least about 25 and more typically at least about 35 feet per second. This velocity may range up to about 55 or about 75 feet or about 100 feet per second or higher.
  • the vapor velocity at the top of the reactor may be higher than that at the bottom and may for example be about 80 feet per second at the top and about 40 feet per second at the bottom.
  • the velocity capabilities of the reactor will in general be sufficient to prevent substantial build-up of catalyst bed in the bottom or other portions of the riser, whereby the catalyst loading in the riser can be maintained below about 4 or 5 pounds, as for example about 0.5 pounds, and below about 2 pounds, as for example 0.8 pounds, per cubic foot, respectively, at the upstream (e.g., bottom) and downstream (e.g., top) ends of the riser.
  • the progressive flow mode involves, for example, flowing of catalyst, feed and products as a stream in a positively controlled and maintained direction established by the elongated nature of the reaction zone. This is not to suggest however that there must be strictly linear flow. As is well known, turbulent flow and "slippage" of catalyst may occur to some extent especially in certain ranges of vapor velocity and some catalyst loadings, although it has been reported advisable to employ sufficiently low catalyst loadings to restrict slippage and back-mixing.
  • the reactor is one which abruptly separates a substantial portion or all of the vaporized cracked products from the catalyst at one or more points along the riser, and preferably separates substantially all of the vaporized cracked products frcm the catalyst at the downstream end of the riser.
  • the riser tube is provided with a substantially unobstructed discharge opening at its downstream end for discharge of catalyst.
  • An exit port in the side of the tube adjacent the downstream end receives the products.
  • the discharge opening communicates with a catalyst flow path which extends to the usual stripper and regenerator, while the exit port communicates with a product flow path which is substantially or entirely separated from the catalyst flow path and leads to separation means for separating the products from the relatively small portion of catalyst, if any, which manages to gain entry to the product exit port.
  • a ballistic separation apparatus and techniques as above described are found in U.S. Patents 4,066,533 and 4,070,159 to Myers, et al., the disclosures of which patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
  • the mode of catalyst/product separation presently deemed best for practicing the present invention is disclosed in a U.S. Patent Application Serial No. , filed simultaneously herewith in the names of Paul W. Walters, Roger M. Benslay, and Dwight F. Barger, entitled CARBO-METALLIC OIL CONVERSION WITH BALLISTIC SEPARATION.
  • the ballistic separation step preferably includes at least a partial reversal of direction by the product vapors upon discharge from the riser tube; that is, the product vapors make a turn or change of direction which exceeds 90° at the riser tube outlet.
  • the lip of the cup is slightly upstream of, or below the downstream end or top of the riser tube, and the cup is preferably concentric with the riser tube.
  • the feedstock is customarily preheated, often to temperatures significantly higher than are required to make the feed sufficiently fluid for pumping and for introduction into the reactor. For example, preheat temperatures as high as about 700° or 800°F have been reported. But in our process as presently practiced it is preferred to restrict preheating of the feed, so that the feed is capable of absorbing a larger amount of heat from the catalyst while the catalyst raises the feed to conversion temperature, at the same time minimizing utilization of external fuels to heat the feedstock. Thus, where the nature of the feedstock permits, it may be fed at ambient temperature. Heavier stocks may be fed at preheat temperatures of up to about 600°F, typically about 200°F to about 500°F, but higher preheat temperatures are not necessarily excluded.
  • the catalyst fed to the reactor may vary widely in temperature, for example from about 1100° to about 1600°F, more preferably about 1200° to about 1500°F and most pref erably about 1300° tb about 1400°F, with about 1325° to about 1375°F being considered optimum at present.
  • the conversion of the carbo- metallic oil to lower molecular weight products may be conducted at a temperature of about 900° to about 1400°F, measured at the reaction chamber outlet.
  • the reaction temperature as measured at said outlet is more preferably maintained in the range of about 965° to about 1300°F, still more preferably about 975° to about 1200°F, and most preferably about 980° to about 1150°F.
  • all of the feed may or may not vaporize in the riser.
  • the pressure in the reactor may, as indicated above, range from about 10 to about 50 psia, preferred and more preferred pressure ranges are about 15 to about 45 and about 35 to about 45.
  • the partial (or total) pressure of the feed may be in the range of about 3 to about 30, more preferably about 7 to about 25 and most preferably about 10 to about 17 psia.
  • the feed partial pressure may be controlled or suppressed by the introduction of gaseous (including vaporous) materials into the reactor, such as for instance the steam, water and other additional materials described above.
  • the process may for example be operated with the ratio of feed partial pressure relative to total pressure in the riser in the range of about 0.2 to about 0.8, more typically about 0.3 to about 0.7 and still more typically about 0.4 to about 0.6, with the ratio of added gaseous material (which may include recycled gases and/or steam resulting from introduction of H 2 O to the riser in the form of steam and/or liquid water) relative to total pressure in the riser correspondingly ranging from about 0.8 to about 0.2, more typically about 0.7 to about 0.3 and still more typically about 0.6 to about 0.4.
  • the ratio of feed partial pressure relative to total pressure in the riser in the range of about 0.2 to about 0.8, more typically about 0.3 to about 0.7 and still more typically about 0.4 to about 0.6
  • added gaseous material which may include recycled gases and/or steam resulting from introduction of H 2 O to the riser in the form of steam and/or liquid water
  • the ratio of the partial pressure of the added gaseous material relative to the partial pressure of the feed may be in the range of about 0.25 to about 4.0, more typically about 0.4 to about 2.3 and still more typically about 0.7 to about 1.7.
  • the residence time of feed and product vapors in the riser may be in the range of about 0.5 to about 10 seconds, as described above, preferred and more preferred values are about 0.5 to about 6 and about 1 to about 4 seconds, with about 1.5 to about 3.0 seconds currently being considered about optimum.
  • the process may be operated with a riser vapor residence time of about 2.5 seconds or less by introduction of copious amounts of gaseous materials into the riser, such amounts being sufficient to provide for example a partial pressure ratio of added gaseous materials relative to hydrocarbon feed of about 0.8 or mere.
  • the process may be operated with said residence time being about 2 seconds or less, with the aforesaid ratio being in the range of about 1 to about 2.
  • the catalyst riser residence time may or may not be the same as that of the vapors.
  • the ratio of average catalyst reactor residence time versus vapor reactor residence time i.e., slippage, may be in the range of about 1 to about 5, more preferably about 1 to about 4 and most preferably about 1 to about 3, with about 1 to about 2 currently being considered optimum.
  • slippage there will usually be a small amount of slippage, e.g., at least about 1.05 or 1.2. In an operating unit there may for example be a slippage of about 1.1 at the bottom of the riser and about 1.05 at the top.
  • the vapor riser residence time and vapor catalyst contact time are substantially the same for at least about 80%, more preferably at least about 90% and most preferably at least about 95% by volume of the total feed and product vapors passing through the riser.
  • the combination of catalyst to oil ratio, temperatures, pressures and residence times should be such as to effect a substantial conversion of the carbo-metallic oil feedstock. It is an advantage of the process that very high levels of conversion can be attained in a single pass; for example the conversion may be in excess of 50% and may range to about 90% or higher. Preferably, the aforementioned conditions are maintained at levels sufficient to maintain conversion levels in the range of about 60 to about 90% and more preferably about 70 to about 85%. The foregoing conversion levels are calculated by subtracting from 100% the percentage obtained by dividing the liquid volume of fresh feed into 100 times the volume of liquid product boiling at and above 430°F (tbp, standard atmospheric pressure).
  • coke laydown may be in excess of about 0.3, more commonly in excess of about 0.5 and very frequently in excess of about 1% of coke by weight, based on the weight of moisture free regenerated catalyst. Such coke laydown may range as high as about 2%, or about 3%, or even higher.
  • the present process includes stripoing of spent catalyst after disengagement of the catalyst from product vapors.
  • Stripping agents and conditions for stripping spent catalyst may require somewhat more severe conditions than are commonly employed. This may result, for example, from the use of a carbo- metallic oil having constituents which do not volatilize under the conditions prevailing in the reactor, which constituents deposit themselves at least in part on the catalyst. Such adsorbed, unvaporized material can be troublesome fromat least two standpoints.
  • the gases (including vapors) used to strip the catalyst can gain admission to a catalyst disengagement or collection chamber connected to the downstream end of the riser, and if there is an accumulation of catalyst in such chamber, vaporization of these unvaporized hydrocarbons in the stripper can be followed by adsorption on the bed of catalyst in the chamber. More particularly, as the catalyst in the stripper is stripped of adsorbed feed material, the resultant feed material vapors pass through the bed of catalyst accumulated in the catalyst collection and/or disengagement chamber and may deposit coke and/or condensed material on the catalyst in said bed.
  • the condensed products can create a demand for more stripping capacity, while the coke can tend to increase regeneration temperatures and/or demand greater regeneration capacity.
  • stripping may for example include reheating of the cata lyst, extensive stripping with steam, the use of gases having a temperature considered higher than normal for FCC/VGO operations, such as for instance flue gas from the regenerator, as well as other refinery stream gases such as hydro- treater off-gas (H 2 S containing), hydrogen and others.
  • gases having a temperature considered higher than normal for FCC/VGO operations such as for instance flue gas from the regenerator, as well as other refinery stream gases such as hydro- treater off-gas (H 2 S containing), hydrogen and others.
  • the stripper may be operated at a temperature of about 350°F using steam at a pressure of about 150 psig and a weight ratio of steam to catalyst of about 0.002 to about 0.003.
  • the stripper may be operated at a temperature of about 1025°F or higher.
  • Substantial conversion of carbo-metallic oils to lighter products in accordance with the invention tends to produce sufficiently large coke yields and coke laydown on catalyst to require some care in catalyst regeneration.
  • this weight percentage is about 0.1% or less and more preferably about 0.05% or less, especially with zeolite catalysts.
  • the amounts of coke which must therefore be burned off of the catalysts when processing carbo-metallic oils are usually substantially greater than would be the case when cracking VGO.
  • coke when used to describe the present invention should be understood to include any residual unvaporized feed or cracking product, if any such material is present on the catalyst after stripping.
  • Regeneration of catalyst burning away of coke deposited on the catalyst during the conversion of the feed, may be performed at any suitable temperature in the range of about 1100° to about 1600°F, measured at the regenerator catalyst outlet. This temperature is preferably in the range of about 1200° to about 1500°F, more preferably about 1275° to about 1425°F and optimally about 1325°F to about 1375°F.
  • the process has been operated, for example, with a fluidized regenerator with the temperature of the catalyst dense phase in the range of about 1300° to about 1400°F.
  • Regeneration is preferably conducted while maintaining the catalyst in one or more fluidized beds in one or more fluidization chambers.
  • Such fluidized bed operations are characterized, for instance, by one or more fluidized dense beds of ebulliating particles having a bed density of, for example, about 25 to about 50 pounds per cubic foot.
  • Fluidization is maintained by passing gases, including combustion supporting gases, through the bed at a sufficient velocity to maintain the particles in a fluidized state but at a velocity which is sufficiently small to prevent substantial entrainment of particles in the gases.
  • the lineal velocity of the fluidizing gases may be in the range of about 0.2 to about 4 feet per second and preferably about 0.2 to about 3 feet per second.
  • the average total residence time of the particles in the one or more beds is substantial, ranging for example from about 5 to about 30, more preferably about 5 to about 20 and still more preferably about 5 to about 10 minutes. From the foregoing, it may be readily seen that the fluidized bed regeneration of the present invention is readily distin ⁇ uishable from the short contact, low-density entrainment type regeneration which has been practiced in some FCC operations.
  • excess oxygen is meant an amount in excess of the stoichiometric requirement for burning all .of the hydrogen to water, all of the carbon to carbon dioxide and all of the other combustible components, if any, which are present in the above- mentioned selected portion of the coke immediately prior to regeneration, to their highest stable state of oxidation under the regenerator conditions.
  • the gaseous products of combustion conducted in the presence of excess oxygen will normally include an appreciable amount of free oxygen.
  • free oxygen unless removed from the by-product gases or converted to some other form by a means or process other than regeneration, will normally manifest itself as free oxygen in the flue gas from the regenerator unit.
  • the amount of free oxygen will normally be not merely appreciable but substantial, i.e., there will be a concentration of at least about 2 mole percent of free oxygen in the total regeneration flue gas recovered from the entire, completed regeneration operation. While such technique is effective in attaining the desired low levels of carbon on regenerated catalyst, is has its limitations and difficulties as will become apparent from Heat released by combustion of coke in the regenerator is absorbed by the catalyst and can be readily retained thereby until the regenerated catalyst is brought into contact with fresh feed.
  • the amount of regenerator heat which is transmitted to fresh feed by way of recycling regenerated catalyst can substantially exceed the level of heat input which is appropriate in the riser for heating and vaporizing the feed and other materials, for supplying the endothermic heat of reaction for cracking, for making up the heat losses of the unit and so forth.
  • the amount of regenerator heat transmitted to fresh feed may be controlled, or restricted where necessary, within certain approximate ranges.
  • the amount of heat so transmitted may for example be in the range of about 500 to about 1200, more particularly about 600 to about 900, and more particularly about 650 to about 850 BTUs per pound of fresh feed.
  • the aforesaid ranges refer to the combined heat, in BTUs per pound of fresh feed, which is transmitted by the catalyst to the feed and reaction products (between the contacting of feed with the catalyst and the separation of product from catalyst) for supplying the heat of reaction (e.g., for cracking) and the difference in enthalpy between the products and the fresh feed.
  • the heat made available in the reactor by the adsorption of coke on the catalyst nor the heat consumed by heating, vaporizing or reacting recycle streams and such added materials as water, steam naphtha and other hydrogen donors, flue gases and inert gases, or by radiation and other losses.
  • One or a combination of techniques may be utilized in this invention for controlling or restricting the amount of regeneration heat transmitted via catalyst to fresh feed. For example, one may add a combustion modifier to the cracking catalyst in order to reduce the temperature of combustion of coke to carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide in the regenerator. Moreover, one may remove heat from the catalyst through heat exchange means, including for example, heat exchangers (e.g., steam coils) built into the regenerator itself, whereby one may extract heat from the catalyst during regeneration. Heat exchangers can be built into catalyst transfer lines, such as for instance the catalyst return line from the regenerator to the reactor, whereby heat may be removed from the catalyst after it is regenerated.
  • heat exchangers e.g., steam coils
  • the amount of heat imparted to the catalyst in the regenerator may be restricted by reducing the amount of insulation on the regenerator to permit some heat loss to the surrounding atmosphere, especially if feeds of exceedingly high coking potential are planned for processing; in general, such loss of heat to the atmosphere is considered economically less desirable than certain of the other alternatives set forth herein.
  • One may also inject cooling fluids into portions of the regenerator other than those occupied by the dense bed, for example water and/or steam, whereby the amount of inert gas available in the regenerator for heat absorption and removal is increased.
  • Another suitable and preferred technique for controlling or restricting the heat transmitted to fresh feed via recycled regenerated catalyst involves maintaining a specified ratio between the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide formed in the regenerator while such gases are in heat exchange contact or relationship with catalyst undergoing regeneration.
  • all or a major portion by weight of the coke present on the catalyst immediately prior to regeneration is removed in at least one combustion zone in which the aforesaid ratio is controlled as described below.
  • at least the major portion more preferably at least about 65o and more preferably at least about 30% by weight of the coke on the catalyst is removed in a combustion zone in which the molar ratio of CO 2 to CO is maintained at a level substantially below 5, e.g., about 4 or less.
  • the CO/CO 2 molar ratio should be at least about 0.25 and preferably at least about 0.3 and still more preferably about 1 or more or even 1.5 or more.
  • the sub-process of regeneration may be carried out to the above-mentioned low levels of carbon on regenerated catalyst with a deficiency of oxygen; more specifically, the total oxygen supplied to the one or more stages of regeneration can be and preferably is less than the stoichiometric amount which would be required to burn all hydrogen in the coke to H 2 O and to burn all carbon in the coke to CO 2 . If the coke includes other combustibles, the aforementioned stoichiometric amount can be adjusted to include the amount of oxygen required to burn them.
  • Still another particularly preferred technique for controlling or restricting the regeneration heat imparted to fresh feed via recycled catalyst involves the diversion of a portion of the heat borne by recycled catalyst to added materials introduced into the reactor, such as the water, steam, naphth , other hydrogen donors, flue gases, inert gases, and other gaseous or vaporizable materials which may be introduced into the reactor.
  • added materials introduced into the reactor such as the water, steam, naphth , other hydrogen donors, flue gases, inert gases, and other gaseous or vaporizable materials which may be introduced into the reactor.
  • Many otherwise desirable and useful cracking catalysts are particularly susceptible to deactivation at high temperatures, and among these are quite a few of the costly molecular sieve or zeolite types of catalyst.
  • the crystal structures of zeolites and the pore structures of the catalyst carriers generally are somewhat susceptible to thermal and/or hydrothermal degradation.
  • the use of such catalysts in catalytic conversion processes for carbo-metallic feeds creates a need for regeneration techniques which will not destroy the catalyst by exposure to highly severe temperatures and steaming.
  • Such need can be met by a multi-stage regeneration process which includes conveying spent catalyst into a first regeneration zone and introducing oxidizing gas thereto.
  • the amount of oxidizing gas that enters said first zone and the concentration of oxygen or oxygen bearing gas therein are sufficient for only partially effecting the desired conversion of coke on the catalyst to carbon oxide gases.
  • the partially regenerated catalyst is then removed from the first regeneration zone and is conveyed to a second regeneration zone.
  • Oxidizing gas is introduced into the second regeneration zone to provide a higher concentration of oxygen or oxygen-containing gas than in the first zone, to complete the removal of carbon to the desired level.
  • the regenerated catalyst may then be removed from the second zone and recycled to the reactor for contact with fresh feed.
  • An example of such multi-stage regeneration process is described in U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 969,602 of George D. Myers, et al., filed December 14, 1978, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. Another example may be found in U.S. Patent 2,938,739.
  • Multi-stage regeneration offers the possibility of combining oxygen deficient regeneration with the control of the CO:CO 2 molar ratio.
  • about 50% or more, more preferably about 65% to about 95%, and more preferably about 80% to about 95% by weight of the coke on the catalyst immediately prior to regeneration may be removed in one or more stages of regeneration in which the molar ratio of CO:CO 2 is controlled in the manner described above.
  • the last 5% or more, or 10% or more by weight of the coke originally present, up to the entire amount of coke remaining after the preceding stage or stages, can be removed in a subsequent stage of regeneration in which more oxygen is present.
  • multi-stage regeneration is particularly beneficial in that it provides another convenient technique for restricting regeneration heat transmitted to fresh feed via regenerated catalyst and/or reducing the potential for thermal deactivation, while simultaneously affording an opportunity to reduce the carbon level on regenerated catalyst to those very low percentages (e.g., about 0.1% or less) which particularly enhance catalyst activity.
  • a two-stage regeneration process may be carried out with the first stage burning about 80% of the coke at a bed temperature of about 1300°F to produce CO and CO 2 in a molar ratio of CO/CO 2 of about 1 and the second stage burning about 20% of the coke at a bed temperature of about 1350°F to produce substantially all CO 2 mixed with free oxygen.
  • a particularly preferred embodiment of the invention is two-stage fluidized regeneration at a maximum temperature of about 1400 F with a reduced temperature of at least about 10 or 20°F in the dense phase of the first stage as compared to the dense phase of the second stage, and with reduction of carbon on catalyst to about 0.05% or less or even about 0.025% or less by weight in the second zone.
  • catalyst can readily be regenerated to carbon levels as low as 0.01% by this technique, even though the carbon on catalyst prior to regeneration is as much as about 1%.
  • the catalyst discharged from the regenerator may be stripped with appropriate stripping gases to remove oxygen containing gases.
  • stripping may for instance be conducted at relatively high temperatures, for example about 1350° to about 1370°F, using steam, nitrogen or other inert gas as the stripping gas (es).
  • nitrogen and other inert gases is beneficial from the standpoint of avoiding a tendency toward hydrcthcrmal catalyst deactivation which may result from the use of steam.
  • a unit design in which system components and residence times are selected to reduce the ratio of catalvst reactor residence time relative to catalyst regenerator residence time will tend to reduce the ratio of the times during which the catalyst is respectively under reduction conditions and oxidation conditions. This too can assist in maintaining desired levels of selectivity.
  • the metals content of the catalyst is being managed successfully may be observed by monitoring the total hydrogen plus methane produced in the reactor and/or the ratio of hydrogen to methane thus produced.
  • the hydrogen to methane mole ratio should be less than about 1 and preferably about 0.6 or less, with about 0.4 or less being considered about optimum.
  • the hydrogen to methane ratio may range from about 0.5 to about 1.5 and average about 0.8 to about 1.
  • Careful carbon management can improve both selectivity (the ability to maximize production of valuable products), and heat productivity.
  • the techniques of metals control described above are also of assistance in carbon management.
  • the usefulness of water addition in respect to carbon management has already been spelled out in considerable detail in that part of the specification which relates to added materials for introduction into the reaction zone.
  • those techniques which improve dispersion of the feed in the reaction zone should also prove helpful, these include for instance the use of fogging or misting devices to assist in dispersing the feed.
  • Catalyst to oil ratio is also a factor in heat management.
  • the reactor temperature may be controlled in the practice of the present invention by respectively increasing or decreasing the flow of hot regenerated catalyst to the reactor in response to decreases and increases in reactor temperature, typically the outlet temperature in the case of a riser type reactor-
  • the automatic controller for catalyst introduction is set to maintain an excessive catalyst to oil ratio, one can expect unnecessarily large rates of carbon production and heat release, relative to the weight of fresh feed charged to the reaction zone.
  • Relatively high reactor temperatures are also beneficial from the standpoint of carbon management. Such higher temperatures foster more complete vaporization of feed and disengagement of product from catalyst.
  • Carbon management can also be facilitated by suitable restriction of the total pressure in the reactor and the partial pressure of the feed.
  • relatively small decreases in the aforementioned pressures can substantially reduce coke production. This may be due to the fact that restricting total pressure tends to enhance vaporization of high boiling components of the feed, encourage cracking and facilitate disengagement of both unconverted feed and higher boiling cracked products from the catalyst. It may be of assistance in this regard to restrict the pressure drop of equipment downstream of and in communication with the reactor. But if it is desired or necessary to operate the system at higher total pressure, such as for instance because of operating limitations (e.g., pressure drop in downstream equipment) the above described benefits may be obtained by restricting the feed partial pressure. Suitable ranges for total reactor pressure and feed partial pressure have been set forth above, and in general it is desirable to attempt to minimize the pressure within these ranges.
  • a particularly desirable mode of operation from the standpoint of carbon management is to operate the process in the vented riser using a hydrogen donor if necessary, while maintaining the feed partial pressure and total reactor pressure as low as possible, and incorporating relatively large amounts of water, steam and if desired, other diluents, which provide the numerous benefits discussed in greater detail above.
  • a hydrogen donor if necessary, while maintaining the feed partial pressure and total reactor pressure as low as possible, and incorporating relatively large amounts of water, steam and if desired, other diluents, which provide the numerous benefits discussed in greater detail above.
  • liquid water, steam, hydrogen donors, hydrogen and other gaseous or vaporizable materials are fed to the reaction zone, the feeding of these materials provides an opportunity for exercising additional control over catalyst to oil ratio.
  • the practice of increasing or decreasing the catalyst to oil ratio for a given amount of decrease or increase in reactor temperature may be reduced or eliminated by substituting either appropriate reduction or increase in the charging ratios of the water, steam and other gaseous or vaporizable material, or an appropriate reduction or increase in the ratio of water to steam and/or other gaseous materials introduced into the reaction zone.
  • Heat management includes measures taken to control the amount of heat released in various parts of the process and/or for dealing successfully with such heat as may be released. Unlike conventional FCC practic using VGO, wherein it is usually a problem to generate sufficient heat during regenera tion to heat balance the reactor, the processing of carbo- metallic oils generally produces so much heat as to require careful management thereof.
  • Heat management can be facilitated by various techniques associated with the materials introduced into the reactor.
  • heat absorption by feed can be maximized by minimum preheating of feed, it being necessary only that the feed temperature be h5.gh enough so that it is sufficiently fluid for successful punning and dispersion in the reactor.
  • the catalyst is maintained in a highly active state with the suppression of coking (metals control), so as to achieve higher conversion, the resultant higher conversion and greater selectivity can increase the heat absorption of the reaction.
  • higher reactor temperatures promote catalyst conversion activity in the face of more refractory and higher boiling constituents with high coking potentials. While the rate of catalyst deactivation may thus be increased, the higher temperature of operation tends to offset this loss in activity.
  • riser reactor 2 chrough inlet line 1, at which point it is mixed with hot regenerated catalyst coming from regenerator 9 through lines 26, 5, 65 and 66 and a stripping vessel 14 and a reducing vessel 60.
  • the feedstock is catalytically cracked in passing up riser 2 and the product vapors are ballistically separated from catalyst particles in vessel 3.
  • Riser 2 is of the vented type having an open upper end 40 surrounded by a cup-like member 42 which preferably stops just below the upper end 40 of the riser so that the lip of the cup is slightly upstream of the open riser tube as shown in Fig. 2.
  • a pair of product vapor lines 44, 46 communicate with the interior of the cup so as to discharge product vapors entering the cup from the vapor space of vessel 3.
  • the cup forms an annulus 47 around and concentric to the upper end of the riser tube
  • the transverse cross-sectional area of annulus 47 is preferably less than, more preferably about 60% or less of, the transverse cross-sectional area of riser tube 2.
  • cyclone separators 48, 50 having overhead conduits 52, 54, respectively, which convey the vapors to line 4 through a common header 56.
  • the amount of particle carry over with this flow reversal structure may be reduced by a factor of about 5 or more relative to carry over with the basic vented riser arrangement described in U.S. Patents 4,066,533 and 4,070,159. Due to this reduction in carry over, cyclone separators 48 and 50 may comprise only a single cyclone stage instead of having multiple stages as usually required to prevent excessive carry over of catalyst fines into the overhead vapor line in prior vented riser applications.
  • the catalyst, contaminated with coke, is removed from separator vessel 3 and passed into stripper 19 through line 7. Stripped catalyst is introduced into bed 23 in upper zone 10 of regenerator 9 through line 36. The rate of flow of catalyst into zone 10 is controlled by valve 8.
  • Makeup catalyst whether virgin or used, is introduced through lines 30 and 31 into solids feeder 33 and then through line 32.
  • Oxidizing gas such as air, is introduced into zone 10 through line 21.
  • a portion of the coke on the catalyst is burned in zone 10 and the partially regenerated catalyst flows downwardly through conduit 18 into lower regeneration zone 25.
  • An oxidizing gas such as air, is introduced into regeneration zone 25 through line 11.
  • the oxidizing gas flows through gas distribution plate 15 and thus into the bed 16 of catalyst particles.
  • This mixture passes upwardly through the bed 16 of coke-contaminated catalyst particles, fluidizing it as well as reacting with the coke, and passes through perforated plate 17 into the bed of catalyst particles in zone 10.
  • the perforations in the plate 17 are large enough so that the upwardly flowing gas readily passes therethrough into zone 10.
  • the pressure difference between the upper and lower zones prevents catalyst particles from passing downwardly through the plate.
  • Gases within the regenerator comprising combustion products, nitrogen and possibly additives for combustion control, such as steam and/or chlorine, are separated from suspended catalyst particles by a separator (not shown) and then pass out of the regenerator through line 24.
  • Regenerated catalyst is removed from zone 25 through conduit 26 for return to riser 2 through the stripper 14, the rate of removal being controlled by valve 6.
  • a stripping gas such as steam is introduced into stripper 19 through line 20 to remove volatiles from the catalyst. The volatiles pass from the stripper through line 7 into vessel 3 and then out through line 4.
  • a stripper gas such as steam is introduced into stripper 14 through line 12 to remove absorbed nitrogen from the regenerated catalyst before it is returned to the reactor 2.
  • the stripped gases pass through line 26 into the regenerator 9.
  • the amount of oxidizing gas and catalyst are controlled so that the amount of oxidizing gas passing into zone 25 is greater than that required to convert all the coke on the catalyst in this zone to carbon dioxide, and the amount of oxidizing gas passing upwardly from zone 25 into zone 10 together with the oxidizing gas added to zone 10 from line 21 is insufficient to convert all the coke in zone 10 to carbon dioxide.
  • Zone 10 therefore will contain some CO.
  • the regenerated catalyst is usually fed directly from the regenerated catalyst standpipe 5 into the bottom of the riser 2 where it is immediately mixed with the feed.
  • a separate catalyst reducing vessel 60 is provided to treat the regenerated catalyst with a reducing gas supplied to the vessel through a supply line 61 containing an inlet valve 62. Excess reducing gas and/or products of the reducing reaction are discharged throug an overhead vent line 63 containing an outlet valve 64. It is preferable to provide a sufficient rate of reducing gas through vessel 60 to keep the catalyst fluidized and provide intimate contact between the particulate catalyst and the reduc ing gas.
  • a reduced catalyst standpipe 65 which has an upper leg 66 containing a slide valve 67 and a lower leg 68 containing a slide valve 69.
  • the section of riser between lower leg 68 and upper leg 66 comprises a reducing zone 70 near the bottom of riser 2 to which reducing gas may be supplied by a line 71 having a riser inlet valve 72.
  • a supply header 74 is connected both to line 61 and 71 and may also be used to supply both reducing gas and additional lift gases to the bottom of the riser through line 71.
  • Riser reducing zone 70 may be used alone to reduce regenerated catalyst fed to the riser or in combination with the reducing vessel 60 as a supplemental reducing zone to further treat regenerated catalyst contacted initially with the reducing gas in vessel 60.
  • line 12 to stripper 14 is usually employed to introduce a stripping medium into the stripper, it is also contemplated by the invention that this line may be usedto supply carbon monoxide to the stripper vessel 14 for purposes of reduc ing regenerated catalyst in stripper 14 and in upstream regenerated catalyst standpipe 26.
  • a portion of the flue gas discharged through line 24 from the upper zone 10 of the regenerator may be cooled, compressed and recycled to line 12 as a source of reducing gas for reducing catalyst in the regenerated catalyst standpipe and/or stripper.
  • FIG. 3 A particularly preferred embodiment is described in Fig. 3 where reference numeral 80 identifies a feed control valve in feedstock supply pipe 82.
  • Supply pipe 83 (when used) introduces liquid water and/or an additive solution into the feed.
  • Heat exchanger 81 in supply pipe 82 acts as a feed preheater, whereby preheated feed material may be delivered to a feed line 84 near the bottom of a riser reactor 90.
  • Catalyst is delivered to the reactor through catalyst stand pipe 86, the flow of catalyst being regulated by a control valve 87 and suitable automatic control equipment (not shown) with which persons skilled in the art of designing and operating riser type cracking units are familiar.
  • a reducing zone 91 is provided in the bottom section of the riser between the outlet of regenerated catalyst standpipe 36 and the feed inlet 84. Reducing gas is introduced into this zone throug a line 85 which may be connected to line 150 which contains hydrogen and possibly methane and other reducing gases separated from liquid product by the receiver 142 discussed below. If additional lift gas is need, some of the water and/or feed from lines 82 and 83 may be introduced into the bottom of the riser through an alternate feedline 38. Some or all of the water in line 83 may be provided by the water discharge line 148 containing water separated frrm product liquid and gases by receiver 142.
  • the reactor is equipped with a disengagement vessel 92 similar to the disengagement vessel 3 of the reactor shown in Fig. 2. Catalyst departs disengagement vessel 92 through stripper 94. Spent catalyst passes from stripper 94 to regenerator 101 via spent catalyst transfer pipe 97 having a slide valve 98 for controlling flow.
  • Regenerator 101 is divided into upper chamber 102 and lower chamber 103 by a divider panel 104 intermediate the upper and lower ends of the regenerator vessel.
  • the spent catalyst from transfer pipe 97 enters upper chamber 102 in which the catalyst is partially regenerated.
  • a funnel-like collector 106 having a bias-cut upper edge receives partially regenerated catalyst from the upper surface of the dense phase of catalyst in upper chamber 102 and delivers it, via drop leg 107 having an outlet 110, beneath the upper surface of the dense phase of catalyst in lower chamber 103.
  • drop leg 107 instead of internal catalyst drop leg 107, one may use an external drop leg. Valve moans in such external drop leg can control the residence time and flow rate in and between the upper and lower chambers.
  • Make up catalyst and/or catalyst or regenerator additives may be added to the uppor chamber 102 and/or the lower chamber 103 through addition lines 99 and 100 respectively.
  • Air is supplied to the regenerator through an air supply pipe 113. A portion of the air travels through a branch supply pipe 114 to bayonet 115 which extends upwardly into the interior of plenum 111 along its central axis. Catalyst in chamber 103 has access to the space within plenum 111 be tween its walls and bayonet 115. A smaller bayonet (not shown) in the aforementioned space fluffs the catalyst and urges it upwardly toward a horizontally arranged ring dis tributor (not shown) adjacent the open top of plenum 111 where it opens into chamber 103.
  • air heater 117 at least during start-up with VGO
  • inlet 118 of the ring distributor which may be provided with holes, nozzles or other apertures which produce an upward flow of gas to fluidize the partially regenerated catalyst in chamber 103.
  • the air in chamber 103 completes the regeneration of the partially regenerated catalyst received via drop leg 107.
  • the amount of air supplied is sufficient so that the resultant combustion gases are still able to support combustion upon reaching the top of chamber 103 and entering chamber 102.
  • Drop leg 107 extends through an enlarged aperture in panel 104, to which is secured a gas distributor 120 which is concentric with and surrounds a drop leg.
  • Combustion supporting gases from chamber 103 which have been partially depleted, are introduced via gas distributor 120 into upper regenerator chamber 102 where they contact incoming coked catalyst from coked catalyst transfer pipe 97.
  • Apertured probes 121 in gas distributor 120 assist in achieving a uniform distribution of the partially depleted combustion supporting gas into upper chamber 102.
  • Supplemental air or cooling fluids may be introduced into upper chamber 102 through a supply pipe 122, which may also discharge through gas distributor 120.
  • Fully regenerated catalyst with less than about 0.25% carbon, preferably less than about 0.1% and more preferably less than about 0.05%, is discharged from lower regenerator chamber 103 through regenerated catalyst stripper 128, whose outlet feeds into catalyst standpipe 86.
  • regenerated catalyst is returned to riser 91 for contact with additional fresh feed.
  • regenerator not only smooths out variations in catalyst regenerator residence time but is also uniquely of assistance in restricting the quantity of regeneration heat which is imparted to the fresh feed while yielding a regenerated catalyst with low levels of coke for return to the riser.
  • the combustion temperature and the ratio of CO 2 to CO in the lower chamber are readily controlled.
  • the regeneration off gases are discharged from upper chamber 102 via gas pipe 123, regulator valve 124, catalyst fines trap 125 and outlet 126.
  • the vapor products from disengagement vessel 92 may be processed in any convenient manner such as by discharge through vapor line 131 to fractionator 132.
  • Fractionator 132 includes a bottoms outlet 133, side outlet 134, flush oil stripper 135, and stripper bottom line 136 connected to pump 137 for discharging flush oil.
  • Overhead product from stipper 135 returns to fractionator 132 via line 138.
  • the main overhead discharge line 139 of the fractionator is connected to an overhead receiver 142 having a bottoms line 143 feeding into pump 144 for discharging gasoline product. A portion of this product may be returned to the fractionator via recirculation line 145, the flow being controlled by valve 146.
  • the receiver 142 also includes a water receiver 147 and a water discharge line 148.
  • the gas outlet 150 of the overhead receiver discharges a stream which is mainly below C 5 , but containing some C 5 , C 6 and C 7 material. If desired, the C 5 and above material in the gas stream may be separated by compression, cooling and fractionation, and recycled to receiver 142.
  • the oxidizing gas, such as air, introduced into regeneration zone 103 through line 114 may be mixed with a cooling spray of water from a conduit 109.
  • the mixture of oxidizing gas and atomized water flows through bayonet 115 and thus into the lower bed of catalyst particles.
  • the apertures in distributor 120 are large enough so that the upwardly flowing gas readily passes therethrough into zone 102. However, the perforations are sized so that the pressure difference between the upper and lower zones prevents catalyst particles from passing downwardly through the distributor.
  • the bayonet 115 and distributor are similarly sized. Gases exiting the regenerator comprise combustion products, nitrogen, steam formed by combustion reactions and/or from vaporizing water added to the regenerator, and oxides of sulfur and other trace elements. These gases are separated from suspended catalyst particles by a cyclone separator (not shown) and then pass out of the regenerator through discharge conduit 123.
  • regenerators of the type shown in Figs. 2 and 3 which have countercurrent flow and are well-suited for producing combustion product gases having a low ratio of CO 2 to CO, which helps lower regeneration temperatures in the presence of high carbon levels.
  • Examples 1-4 These examples describe tests illustrating the effectiveness of the steam reforming reaction provided by the invention.
  • the testing apparatus was comprised of a Vicor reaction tube having an inside diameter of about 22 millmeters and including a preheating zone and a reaction zone heated by a surrounding furnace.
  • a bed comprised of 20 grams of unpacked test catalyst was supported for contact with a vaporous feed and water mixture in a reaction zone extending along the reaction tube for about 3 inches During performance of the tests, the catalyst bed was maintained at a temperature of about 950°F and a vaporous mixture of n-heptane and water was first passed through the preheating zone where it was preheated to about 950°F before passing through the catalyst bed in the reaction zone.
  • n-heptane was fed into the reaction tube at an addition rate of 6.5 milliliters per hour and premixed with water upstream of the preheating zone at a mole ratio of about 14:1. This provided a contact time between the reactant mixture and the catalyst bed of about
  • Examples 1 and 2 employed a Super DX catalyst available from the Davison Division of W. R. Grace and Co. This catalyst had a surface area of about 89 square meters per gram and a pore volume of about 0.25 cc/gm, and was pretreated so as to contain about 300 ppm of deposited vanadium and about 19,000 ppm of deposited nickel.
  • the catalyst employed in Examples 1 and 2 employed a Super DX catalyst available from the Davison Division of W. R. Grace and Co. This catalyst had a surface area of about 89 square meters per gram and a pore volume of about 0.25 cc/gm, and was pretreated so as to contain about 300 ppm of deposited vanadium and about 19,000 ppm of deposited nickel.
  • the catalyst employed in Examples 1 and 2 employed a Super DX catalyst available from the Davison Division of W. R. Grace and Co. This catalyst had a surface area of about 89 square meters per gram and a pore volume of about 0.25 cc/gm, and was pre
  • 3 and 4 was comprised of microspheres of calcined kaolin clay having a surface area of about 8 square meters per gram and a pore volume of about 0.10 cc/gm, and was pretreated so as to contain about 25,400 ppm of deposited vanadium and about 5,200 ppm of deposited nickel.
  • the particulate material of Examples 3 and 4 is referred to here as a "catalyst", it is substantially an inert material exhibiting in its virgin state a microactivity of less than 20, preferably about 10.
  • the catalysts of Examples 1 and 3 were treated with an oxidizing medium comprised of passing air over the catalyst at about 950°F until the exiting gas was substantially free of carbon oxides (at leasu 1 hour).
  • the catalysts of Examples 2 and 4 were similarly treated with a reducing medium comprised of passing one liter of hydrogen over the catalyst at about 950°F. This amount of hydrogen was sufficient to reduce only about 60 percent of the vanadium pentoxide found on the catalyst of Example 4.
  • the re suits of the steam reforming tests with n-heptane and water passed over the catalysts of Examples 1-4 are set forth in Tables I and II.
  • Example 2 Contrary to Examples 1, 3 and 4, the conversion reaction of Example 2 was so rapid and complete that the capacity of the gaseous product collecting system was filled within a 10 minute reaction period and no significant amount of liquid condensate was produced.
  • the volume percent of feed converted to product during each of these examples is given on the second line of Table II.
  • Table II shows the percentage of product provided by five of the principal reaction mechanisms that can occur in riser cracking namely, thermal cracking reactions, catalytic cracking reactions due to acid sites on the catalyst (acid cracking), metal dehydrogenation reactions, metal steam reforming reactions, and methane forming reactions. This table also gives the rate of conversion by each of these reaction mechanisms. As readily apparent from a comparison of the data in Examples 1 and 2, reduced nickel relative to oxidized nickel on a conversion catalyst gives a much higher rate and level of conversion, and a significant proportion of the conversion with reduced nickel is due to metal steam reforming reactions.
  • Example 2 a volume percent conversion of 96.6, of which 32.1 percent was provided be metal steam reforming, was realized in Example 2 as compared to a volume percent conversion of 7.6, of which 0.3 percent was provided by metal steam reforming, realized in Example 1.
  • An even more dramatic illustration of the metal steam reforming reaction of the present invention is provided by a comparison between Examples 1 and 2 of the metal steam reforming conversion rate and the acid cracking conversion rate. These rates increased in Example 2 relative to Example 1 by factors of about 1200 and about 6.6 respectively. While the level of conversion increased, the amount of coke deposited on the catalyst decreased by a factor of about 3 with the reduced catalyst of Example 2 as compared with the oxidized catalyst of Example 1.
  • the amount of excess hydrogen generated by the metal steam reforming reaction is also significant in that this hydrogen can be separated from the vapor product stream of a conversion process and recycled as a source of reducing gas for the oxidized nickel on regenerated catalyst.
  • a comparison of the hydrogen data in Table I shows that the reduced conversion catalyst of Example 2 produced about 36 times more hydrogen per weight of feed converted than did the oxidized conversion catalyst of Example 1.
  • Examples 3 and 4 are included to illustrate the adverse effects of high vanadium to nickel ratios on the metal steam reforming reaction.
  • significant steam reforming would be expected at a nickel level of 5200 ppm
  • the presence of vanadium at a weight ratio to nickel of almost 5:1 interferes with this reaction.
  • metal dehydrogenation reactions predominate over steam reforming reactions in both Examples 3 and 4.
  • the presence of vanadium pentoxide on the oxidized catalyst caused certain abnormalitie as indicated by the footnotes to this table.
  • the mole percentage of product from metal dehydrogenation is believed to be low because some of the hydrogen was consumed in reducing vanadium pan toxide to vanadium trioxide.
  • Example 5 A carbo-metallic feed at a temperature of about 450°F is introduced at a rate of about 2070 pounds per hour into the bottom zone of a vented riser reactor where it is mixed with steam, liquid water and a zeolite catalyst at a temperature of about 1275°F.
  • the catalyst to oil ratio by weight is about 11:1.
  • the carbo-metallic feed has a heavy metal content of about 5 parts per million nickel equivalents which is comprised of about 4 ppm nickel and about 5 ppm vanadium. This feed has a sulfur content of about one percent and a Conradson carbon content of about 7 percent. About 85 percent of the feed boils above 650°F and about 20 percent of the feed boils above 1025 ⁇ F.
  • the liquid water and steam are injected into the riser at a rate of about 120 and 400 pounds per hour respectively to provide a mole ratio of water to feed of about 4.
  • the temperature at the riser outlet is about 1000°F and the pressure within the riser is about 40 psia.
  • the partial pressure of feed and steam are about 8 psia and about 32 psia respectively.
  • the catalyst containing about 1 percent by weight of coke and about 0.01 weight percent sulfur is removed from the reactor and introduced into a stripper where it is contacted with steam at a temperature of about 1000°F to remove volatiles adsorbed onto the catalyst.
  • the stripped catalyst is introduced into the upper zone of a two-zone regenerator as shown in Fig. 1 at a rate of 23,000 pounds per hour. Each zone contains about
  • Air is introduced into the lower zone at a rate of about 1400 pounds per hour.
  • the lower zone produces 85 pounds of CO 2 per hour and no measurable amount of CO, and is at a temperature of about 1340°F.
  • Air is introduced into the upper zone at a rate of about 1200 pounds per hour together with flue gases from the lower zone.
  • the upper zone produces 540 pounds of CO 2 per hour and 112 pounds of CO per hour, and it is at a temperature of about 1330°F.
  • the regenerator flue gases contain 3400 ppm sulfur oxides and CO 2 and CO in a mole ratio of 3.6.
  • the catalyst removed from the lower zone and recycled to the reactor riser contains about 0.03 percent coke by weight. and about 10,000 ppm nickel equivalents of which about 8,000 ppm is nickel and about 10,000 ppm is vanadium.
  • a hydrogen treatment vessel is provided between the regenerator and the riser as shown in Fig. 2 to reduce nickel oxide on the regenerated catalyst before it is contacted with fresh feed and water.
  • a relatively pure hydrogen atmosphere is maintained in the hydrogen treatment vessel and hydrogen is consumed at the rate of about 6 pounds per hour in reducing about 182 pounds of nickel per hour from its oxide form (NiO) to elemental nickel (Ni).
  • the amount of coke produced is about one-half or less and the amount of hydrogen produced is about 30 times or more of the respective amounts of coke and hydrogen that are produced in the absence of reduction of the nickel on the catalyst and steam reforming in the riser.

Abstract

Procede permettant de convertir economiquement des huiles carbo-metalliques en combustibles liquides, qui consiste a mettre en contact-un produit d'alimentation d'un convertisseur contenant un materiau de point d'ebullition 650 F + caracterise par un residu de pyrolyse carbonee d'environ 1 et contenant au moins 4 ppm d'equivalents nickel de metaux lourds, y compris le nickel, avec un catalyseur de craquage sous forme particulaire dans un reacteur du type a circulation continue (2) possedant une zone de conversion allongee. La suspension de catalyseur et le produit d'alimentation du reacteur ont une duree de maintien dans la vapeur d'environ 0,5 a 10 secondes, une temperature d'environ 900 a 1400 F et une pression absolue d'environ 10 a 50 livres par pouce carre pour provoquer un taux de conversion d'environ 50 a 90% lors du depot du nickel et du coke sur le catalyseur en quantites se situant dans la gamme de 0,3 a 3% en poids. Le catalyseur charge de coke est separe du courant d'hydrocarbures resultant et regenere par combustion du coke avec de l'oxygene, le catalyseur regenere etant caracterise par du nickel depose dans au moins un etat partiellement oxyde et un niveau de carbone sur le catalyseur d'environ 0,25% en poids ou moins. Le catalyseur regenere est mis en contact avec un gaz reducteur dans des conditions reductrices suffisantes pour reduire au moins une partie des depots de nickel reduit est recycle vers une zone de conversion pour etre mis en contact avec du produit d'alimentation non traite. On introduit egalement de l'eau dans la zone de conversion du reacteur et les quantites d'eau et de nickel reduit sur le catalyseur recycle sont suffisantes pour assurer une reaction de reformage a la vapeur telle que les composants deficients en hydrogene soient convertis en produits possedant des rapports hydrogene/carbone plus eleves, et que la quantite de produit converti en coke soit reduite. La quantite de nickel deposee sur le catalyseur est de preference dans la gamme d'environ 2.000 a 20.000 ppm et le
PCT/US1981/000662 1981-05-13 1981-05-13 Reformage a la vapeur d'huiles carbo-metalliques WO1982004063A1 (fr)

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AU73250/81A AU7325081A (en) 1981-05-13 1981-05-13 Steam reforming of carbo-metallic oils

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Cited By (10)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0097829A2 (fr) * 1982-06-24 1984-01-11 Ashland Oil, Inc. Conversion avec de l'hydrogène d'huiles carbométalliques dans une colonne montante en utilisant un catalyseur à haute teneur en métaux
EP0101553A2 (fr) * 1982-08-19 1984-02-29 Ashland Oil, Inc. Méthode et appareillage pour la conversion de charges d'huile
US4504381A (en) * 1983-12-09 1985-03-12 Exxon Research And Engineering Co. Passivation of cracking catalysts with cadmium and tin
US4504379A (en) * 1983-08-23 1985-03-12 Exxon Research And Engineering Co. Passivation of metal contaminants in cat cracking
US4504380A (en) * 1983-08-23 1985-03-12 Exxon Research And Engineering Co. Passivation of metal contaminants in cat cracking
US4522704A (en) * 1983-12-09 1985-06-11 Exxon Research & Engineering Co. Passivation of cracking catalysts
US4666584A (en) * 1983-12-09 1987-05-19 Exxon Research And Engineering Company Method for passivating cracking catalyst
EP0236055A2 (fr) * 1986-02-24 1987-09-09 Engelhard Corporation Procédé de traitement d'hydrocarbures
WO2007149921A1 (fr) * 2006-06-22 2007-12-27 Shell Oil Company Procédés de production d'un produit brut à partir d'une charge d'alimentation sélectionnée
US9074147B2 (en) 2010-06-28 2015-07-07 General Electric Company Method for converting carbon and hydrocarbon cracking and apparatus for hydrocarbon cracking

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Cited By (14)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0097829A2 (fr) * 1982-06-24 1984-01-11 Ashland Oil, Inc. Conversion avec de l'hydrogène d'huiles carbométalliques dans une colonne montante en utilisant un catalyseur à haute teneur en métaux
EP0097829A3 (en) * 1982-06-24 1986-02-12 Ashland Oil, Inc. Carbometallic oil conversion with hydrogen in a vented riser using a high metals containing catalyst
EP0101553A2 (fr) * 1982-08-19 1984-02-29 Ashland Oil, Inc. Méthode et appareillage pour la conversion de charges d'huile
EP0101553A3 (fr) * 1982-08-19 1984-06-06 Ashland Oil, Inc. Méthode et appareillage pour la conversion de charges d'huile
US4504379A (en) * 1983-08-23 1985-03-12 Exxon Research And Engineering Co. Passivation of metal contaminants in cat cracking
US4504380A (en) * 1983-08-23 1985-03-12 Exxon Research And Engineering Co. Passivation of metal contaminants in cat cracking
US4522704A (en) * 1983-12-09 1985-06-11 Exxon Research & Engineering Co. Passivation of cracking catalysts
US4504381A (en) * 1983-12-09 1985-03-12 Exxon Research And Engineering Co. Passivation of cracking catalysts with cadmium and tin
US4666584A (en) * 1983-12-09 1987-05-19 Exxon Research And Engineering Company Method for passivating cracking catalyst
EP0236055A2 (fr) * 1986-02-24 1987-09-09 Engelhard Corporation Procédé de traitement d'hydrocarbures
EP0236055A3 (en) * 1986-02-24 1987-10-07 Engelhard Corporation Hydrocarbon treatment process
WO2007149921A1 (fr) * 2006-06-22 2007-12-27 Shell Oil Company Procédés de production d'un produit brut à partir d'une charge d'alimentation sélectionnée
US9074147B2 (en) 2010-06-28 2015-07-07 General Electric Company Method for converting carbon and hydrocarbon cracking and apparatus for hydrocarbon cracking
US9708545B2 (en) 2010-06-28 2017-07-18 General Electric Company Method for converting carbon and hydrocarbon cracking and apparatus for hydrocarbon cracking

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AU7325081A (en) 1982-12-07
EP0078796A1 (fr) 1983-05-18

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