FCC Additive for Maximization of Propylene and Isobutylene Yield Successfully Developed By SINOPEC

On January 15, 2014 the project on development and application of the FCC additive for maximization of propylene and isobutylene yield undertaken by the SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP) as the leading organization in collaboration with the Baling Petrochemical Company (BPC) and the SINOPEC Catalyst Branch Company had passed the technical appraisal organized by the Sinopec Corp. According to the preliminary estimation, the refinery of BPC can through tapping its own potential increase economic benefits totaling around 40 million RMB brought about by application of this additive. BPC has already made an incremental economic benefit of over 33 million RMB in the period of using this additive. In order to increase the yield of propylene and isobutylene in the FCC products, RIPP and other institutions in 2011 had submitted a proposal on launching a research on relevant FCC additives, which have been adopted in the 1.05 Mt/a FCC unit at BPC since August 2012. The calibration test data have revealed that the concentration of LPG, propylene and isobutylene has increased. When the additive accounts for 6 percent of the total catalyst inventory in the system, the LPG concentration in the FCC products increases by 2.68 percentage points to 30.81% as compared with the case without addition of the additive, while the propylene yield increases by 1.01 percentage points to 9.82% and the isobutylene yield increases by 0.54 percentage points to 3.96% in comparison with the case without addition of the additive. In the meantime the olefin content of FCC naphtha has decreased coupled with a slight increase of octane rating to meet the overall demand of environmental protection to assume a leading position among domestic refiners.