FCC CYCLONES
FCC catalyst. They are designed to
Cyclones or Cyclone separators are
equipment used for the separation of heavy
and light particles in a fluid stream that
mans it is used to separate particles from
liquid streams and gas streams (if water is
used it is called a hydro-cyclone)
The working of cyclone is similar to the
working of a centrifuge, instead of slurry
mass the feed is a continuous stream of
dirty air. In a cyclone separator, dirty flue
gas is fed into a chamber. The inside of the
chamber creates a spiral vortex, similar to
a tornado. The lighter components of this
gas have less inertia, so it is easier for
them to be influenced by the vortex and
travel up it. Contrarily, larger components
of particulate matter have more inertia and
are not as easily influenced by the vortex.
Since these larger particles have difficulty
following the high-speed spiral motion of
the gas and the vortex, the particles hit the
inside walls of the container and drop
down into a collection hopper. These
chambers are shaped like an upside-down
cone to promote the collection of these
particles at the bottom of the container.
The cleaned flue gas escapes out the top of
the chamber.
Reactor Cyclones are cyclone separators
used to separate hydrocarbon vapours and
stripping steam from FCC catalyst.
Reactor Cyclones are constructed from
refractory lined carbon steel or low alloy
steel or even stainless steel and come in
many different configurations. Reactor
Cyclones can be attached directly to the
riser with a second stage following in a
closed coupled system or can be open
coupled. They can also be a single stage
cyclone preceded by a riser termination
device.
Regenerator Cyclones are used to separate
catalyst from flue gas created when the
carbon or coke is burned with air from the
withstand very abrasive service at a
temperature of 1,450 degrees F.
Operating challenges include are:
1. Unscheduled downtime from
equipment problems, reduce
maintenance costs during
scheduled turn-around and to
extend run length to over 4 years.
2. Decrease in unit-profitability by
increasing unit-capacity well
beyond the original design figure,
and to improve process-
performance.
3. Unit catalyst losses.
4. Coke formation in the secondary
reactor cyclones (mainly gas outlet
tubes) lead to performance
degradation and possible plugging
of the dip legs.
5. Erosion of cyclone parts (bottom
cone, gas outlet tube, dip
legs/trickle valves).
6. Mechanical damage of cyclones
and/or support system due to metal
cracks as a result of temperature
shocks.
7. High entrainment from the
regenerator bed increases the
loading of the primary cyclones,
which may overload the primary
diplegs; The same holds for the
diplegs of the riser-end device in
the reactor, when catalyst
circulation is increased.
8. . The pressure in the secondary
cyclone bottoms reduces, resulting
in an increased back-up height. If
the catalyst level in the dipleg
reaches the cyclone bottom, unit
losses will increase significantly. 
9. Erosion rates are typically
proportionally with the velocity to
the power 3