Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.46, No.23, 7691-7694, 2007
Fluid catalytic cracking unit performance improvement by application of the Topsoe Aroshift Technology
Application of the Topsoe Aroshift Technology in the Lukoil Neftochim, Bulgaria (LNB), fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit was studied in this work. The hydrotreated vacuum gas oil (HTVGO), feed for the LNB FCC unit, was treated in the Topsoe Aroshift pilot plant. The HTVGO and Aroshifted HTVGO were cracked in a laboratory fluid bed catalytic cracking unit (FCC advanced catalytic evaluation unit). The Aroshift treatment of the HTVGO increased the mononuclear aromatics content by 3%, which resulted in 3% higher FCC conversion and higher gasoline selectivity. The octane number of gasoline, produced from the Aroshifted HTVGO, was about 0.5 lower than that of gasoline, obtained by HTVGO cracking. The economic benefit of the Aroshift process application in the LNB FCC unit at a feed rate of 185 t/h was evaluated to be $6.78 million U.S./year.