Influences of regeneration atmospheres on structural transformation and renderability of fluidized catalytic cracking catalyst

The regeneration of fluidized catalytic cracking(FCC)catalysts is an essential process in petroleum processing.The current study focused the regeneration reaction characteristics of spent fluidized catalytic cracking catalyst(SFCC)at different atmospheres with influences on pore evolution and activity,for a potential way to reduce emission,produce moderate chemical product(CO),and maintain catalyst activity.The results show that regeneration in air indicates a satisfaction on removing coke on the catalyst surface while giving a poor effect on eliminating the coke inside micropores.This is attributed that the combustion in air led to a higher temperature and further transformed kaolinite phase to silicaaluminum spinel crystals,which tended to collapse and block small pores or expand large pores,with similar results observed in pure O_(2)atmosphere.Nevertheless,catalysts regenerated in O_(2)/CO_(2)diminished the combustion damage to the pore structure,of which the micro porosity after regeneration increased by 32.4% and the total acid volume rose to 27.1%.The regeneration in pure CO_(2)displayed low conversion rate due to the endothermic reaction and low reactivity.The coexistence of gasification and partial oxidation can promote regeneration and maintain the original structure and good reactivity.Finally,a mechanism of the regeneration reaction at different atmospheres was revealed.

Preparation of fluidized catalytic cracking slurry oil-in-water emulsion as anti-collapse agent for drilling fluids

Fluidized catalytic cracking slurry oil-in-water emulsion(FCCSE)was prepared by using interfacial complexes generation method that was simple and versatile.The critical factors influencing the sample preparation process were optimized,for instance,the optimum value of the mixed hydrophile-lipophile balance of compound emulsifier was 11.36,the content of compound emulsifier was 4 wt%,the emulsification temperature was 75
C,the agitation speed was 200 rpm,and the emulsification time was 30e45 min.The performance as a drilling fluid additive was also investigated with respect to rheological properties,filtration loss and inhibition of FCCSE.Experimental results showed that FCCSE was favorable to inhibiting clay expansion and dispersion and reducing fluid loss.Furthermore,it had good compatibility with other additives and did not affect the rheological properties of drilling fluids.FCCSE exhibited better performance than the available emulsified asphalt.It has a promising application as anti-collapse agent in petroleum and natural gas drilling.

Reaction performance of fluidized bed catalytic reactor of Group C^(+)particles

Group C particles are often regarded as non-fluidizable but have proven to effectively fluidize with nanoparticle addition,which results in small bubbles and a high gas holdup in the dense phase during the experiments.Group C^(+)particles provide an increased surface area for gas-solid contact and improve the reaction performance,especially for gas-phase catalytic reactions.On the basis of a previous study of the ozone decomposition reaction using Group C^(+)particles,a two-phase model was used to evaluate the reactor contact efficiency,and was used to compare the partial oxidation performance of the n-butane to maleic anhydride reaction in fluidized-bed catalytic reactors of Group C^(+)and Group A particles.The reactor with Group C^(+)particles achieved a higher n-butane conversion and MAN yield compared with that using Group A particles,based on the identical catalyst quantity or on the same gas residence time.Therefore,the reactor with Group C^(+)particles can achieve the same reaction conversion and yield with fewer catalysts or a smaller reactor size,or both.Therefore,the fluidized bed catalytic reactor of Group C^(+)particles is expected to be of major significance in industrial processes,especially for gas-phase catalytic reactions.

Numerical comparison of two modes of gas-solid riser operation： Fluid catalytic cracking vs CFB combustor

Two modes of gas-solid riser operation, i.e., fluid catalytic cracking （FCC） and circulating fluidized bed combustor （CFBC）, have been recognized in literature; particularly in the understanding of choking phenomena. This work compares these two modes of operation through computational fluid dynamics （CFD） simulation. In CFD simulations, the different operations are represented by fixing appropriate boundary conditions： solids flux or solids inventory. It is found that the FCC and CFBC modes generally have the same dependence of solids flux on the mean solids volume fraction or solids inventory. However, during the choking transition, the FCC mode of operation needs more time to reach a steady state; thus the FCC system may have insufficient time to respond to valve adjustments or flow state change, leading to the choking. The difference between FCC and CFBC systems is more pronounced for the systems with longer risers. A more detailed investigation of these two modes of riser operation may require a three-dimensional full loop simulation with dynamic valve adjustment.

Experimental analysis of volatile liquid injection into a fluidized bed

Experiments were conducted on a lab-scale fluidized bed to study the distribution of liquid ethanol injected into fluidized catalyst particles. Electrical capacitance measurements were used to study the liquid distribution inside the bed, and a new method was developed to determine the liquid content inside fluidized beds of fluid catalytic cracking particles. The results shed light on the complex liquid injection region and reveal the strong effect of superficial gas velocity on liquid distribution inside the fluidized bed, which is also affected by the imbibition of liquid inside particle pores. Particle internal porosity was found to play a major role when the changing mass of liquid in the bed was monitored. The results also showed that the duration of liquid injection affected liquid-solid contact inside the bed and that liouid-solid mixin~ was not homogeneous durin~ the limited liouid injection time.

Multivariate Statistical Process Monitoring Using Robust Nonlinear Principal Component Analysis

The principal component analysis （PCA） algorithm is widely applied in a diverse range of fields for performance assessment, fault detection, and diagnosis. However, in the presence of noise and gross errors, the nonlinear PCA （NLPCA） using autoassociative bottle-neck neural networks is so sensitive that the obtained model differs significantly from the underlying system. In this paper, a robust version of NLPCA is introduced by replacing the generally used error criterion mean squared error with a mean log squared error. This is followed by a concise analysis of the corresponding training method. A novel multivariate statistical process monitoring （MSPM） scheme incorporating the proposed robust NLPCA technique is then investigated and its efficiency is assessed through application to an industrial fluidized catalytic cracking plant. The results demonstrate that, compared with NLPCA, the proposed approach can effectively reduce the number of false alarms and is, hence, expected to better monitor real-world processes.

Gas-solids separation model of a novel FCC riser terminator device: super short quick separator (SSQS)

The gas flow field and the separation efficiency of a novel fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) riser terminal device, named as Super Short Quick Separator (SSQS), were studied. On the basis of above investigations, a section-lateral-mixing separation model was proposed, which included both the effect of inertia and structure of gas outlet on particles capture. After final modification, the results predicted with this model could be in good agreement with the cold experimental data. According to this model, the separation efficiency of SSQS is mainly influenced by the difference between the arc radius and the center pipe radius as well as the magnitude of particle tangential velocity.

Application of FNN to the Modeling of FCCU

The optimal control problem of a Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) process was achieved using a fuzzy neural network to analyze the process mechanism of the FCC equipment at the Dagang Oil Refinery. The network model was used to study the system identification, modeling and optimal control of the process. The Fuzzy Neural Network (FNN) has the advantages of multiple hidden layers, multiple neurons in each hidden layer, strong approximation ability and a quick convergence rate. Moreover, differential equations can be used to relate the input variables to the output variables, which facilitates the optimization. Fuzzy neural networks are useful for system identification and modeling of complex non-linear production processes.

Fluidization science,its development and future

By revisiting the three stage theory for the progress of science proposed by Taketani in 1942, the footmarks of fluidization research are examined. The bubbling and fast fluidization issues were emphasized so that the future offluidization research can be discussed among scientists and engineers in a wider perspective. The first cycle of fluidization research was started in the early 1940s by an initial stage of phenomenology. The second stage of structural studies was kicked off in the early 1950s with the introduction of the two phase theory. The third stage of essential studies occurred in the early 1960s in the form of bubble hydrodynamics. The second cycle, which confirmed the aforementioned three stages closed at the turn of the century, established a general understanding of suspension structures including agglomerating fluidization, bubbling, turbulent and fast fluidizations and pneumatic transport; also established powerful measurement and numerical simulation tools.After a general remark on science, technology and society issues the interactions between fluidization technology and science are revisited. Our future directions are discussed including the tasks in the third cycle, particularly in its phenomenology stage where strong motivation and intention are always necessary, in relation also to the green reforming of the present technology. A generalized definition of ＇fluidization＇ is proposed to extend fluidization principle into much wider scientific fields, which would be effective also for wider collaborations.

CFD simulation of gas-solid flow patterns in a downscaled combustor-style FCC regenerator

To investigate the gas-solid flow pattern of a combustor-style fluid catalytic cracking regenerator, a laboratory-scale regenerator was designed. In scaling down from an actual regenerator, large-diameter hydrodynamic effects were taken into consideration. These considerations are the novelties of the present study. Applying the Eulerian-Eulerian approach, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics （CFD） model of the regenerator was developed. Using this model, various aspects of the hydrodynamic behavior that are potentially effective in catalyst regeneration were investigated. The CFD simulation results show that at various sections the gas-solid flow patterns exhibit different behavior because of the asymmetric location of the catalyst inlets and the lift outlets. The ratio of the recirculated catalyst to spent catalyst determines the quality of the spent and recirculated catalyst mixing and distribution because the location and quality of vortices change in the lower part of the combustor. The simulation results show that recirculated catalyst considerably reduces the air bypass that disperses the catalyst particles widely over the cross section. Decreasing the velocity of superficial air produces a complex flow pattern whereas the variation in catalyst mass flux does not alter the flow pattern significantly as the flow is dilute.