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Article history: The catalytic conversion of the C4 fraction from a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit over a commercial FCC equi-
Received 11 March 2013 librium catalyst was investigated using a confined fluidized bed reactor system. Butenes were easier to convert
Received in revised form 10 June 2013 than butanes, and 1-butene was the easiest to convert among the butene isomers. The ethene and propene yields
Accepted 11 June 2013
increased with increased reaction temperature and decreased with increased weight hourly space velocity
Available online xxxx
(WHSV). The formation of propene involved two successive steps: butene dimerization and large hydrocarbon
Keywords:
cracking. Aromatics were formed by the aromatization of the intermediate large olefins. A mechanism parameter
Catalytic conversion RCA was proposed to describe the relative function of the cracking reaction to the aromatization reaction. RCA
Butene increased with increased reaction temperature and decreased with increased WHSV. The cracking reaction
Butane predominates on the aromatization reaction at high reaction temperatures.
Cracking © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Propene
Aromatics
0378-3820/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2013.06.002
218 X. Meng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 116 (2013) 217–221
propene, and hydrogen are the primary products, and aromatics are Table 2
formed during a secondary process, namely, the oligomerization and Properties of the commercial FCC equilibrium catalyst.
Component Content 6 11 = =
3 2
Propane 0.35 12
Propene 0.39 16
i-Butane 35.84 2 13 = =
n-Butane 9.26
2 5
2-Butene 22.28 14
1-Butene 12.86
1 17 18
i-Butene 18.48
C5+ 0.54
Fig. 1. Experimental setup (1 — water tank, 2 — filter, 3 — water pump, 4 — steam furnace, 5
Total 100
— C4 feed tank, 6 — electronic balance, 7 — C4 buffer tank, 8 — constant-pressure nitrogen, 9
Butanes 45.10
— C4 feed pump, 10 — counterbalance valve, 11 — preheater, 12 — thermocouple, 13
Butenes 53.62
— reactor, 14 — heater, 15 — entrance and exit of catalyst, 16 — condenser, 17 — liquid
C4 hydrocarbons 98.72
product sampler, 18 — wet gas flow meter, and 19 — gas sample bag).
X. Meng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 116 (2013) 217–221 219
80 25
20 10
0 5
-20 0
400 450 500 550 600 650 700 400 450 500 550 600 650 700
Reaction temperature (oC) Reaction temperature (oC)
Fig. 2. Conversion of C4 components as a function of reaction temperature at a WHSV Fig. 3. Yields of ethene, propene and aromatics as a function of reaction temperature.
of 3 h−1.
and aromatics as a function of reaction temperature. The yields of
3. Reaction performance of the catalytic conversion of the ethene and propene slightly increased below 600 °C, and then signifi-
C4 fraction cantly increased above 600 °C. The yield of the aromatics slightly in-
creased with increased reaction temperature from 400 °C to 550 °C,
3.1. Effects of reaction temperature and then varied slightly with increased reaction temperature from
550 °C to 700 °C.
The effects of reaction temperature on the conversion and product
yield were investigated by fixing the WHSV at 3 h−1. Fig. 2 shows the 3.2. Effects of WHSV
conversion of C4 components as a function of reaction temperature. The
conversion of the C4 components slightly increased with increased reac- The effects of WHSV on the conversion and product yields were in-
tion temperature from 400 °C to 600 °C, and it remarkably increased vestigated by fixing the reaction temperature at 700 °C. Table 4 lists the
with increased reaction temperature from 600 °C to 700 °C. Below product yields as a function of WHSV. With increased WHSV from
600 °C, 1-butene had the highest conversion among the butene isomers, 1 h− 1 to 9 h− 1, the yields of dry gas, C3, liquid, and coke decreased.
showing that 1-butene was easier to convert than i-butene and 2-butene. A low WHSV results in a long reaction time, which leads to a high
Butane conversion below 550 °C was negative, indicating that butane conversion of the C4 feed. Hence, low WHSV favors the conversion
was formed under the experimental conditions. Butane may be formed of the C4 fraction. Fig. 4 shows the yields of ethene, propene and aro-
in two ways, i.e., through the hydrogen transfer of butenes or the cracking matics as a function of WHSV. The yields of ethene and propene de-
of paraffins in liquid components. creased with increased WHSV, showing that low WHSV favors the
The product yields are listed in Table 3. By increasing the reaction production of ethene and propene. The aromatic yield was nearly con-
temperature from 400 °C to 700 °C, the yields of dry gas, C3 stant with increased WHSV at a reaction temperature of 700 °C.
(propene and propane), and coke increased, whereas those of the
liquid (hydrocarbons with carbon number higher than four) de- 4. Reaction pathways of the catalytic conversion of the C4 fraction
creased. The butenes underwent dimerization and formed liquid
components on the FCC equilibrium catalyst. The so-formed liquid Reactions such as dimerization, hydrogen transfer, isomerization,
components further underwent cracking, cyclization, hydrogen cyclization, aromatization, cracking, and condensation occur during
transfer, aromatization, and condensation reactions [6]. The cracking the catalytic conversion of the C4 fraction. Fig. 2 shows that the conver-
reaction is endothermic, whereas cyclization, hydrogen transfer, and sion of butanes was almost zero or negative at low reaction tempera-
aromatization are exothermic. Thus, high reaction temperatures tures (b 600 °C), indicating that butanes were produced under the
enhance the cracking reactions of the formed liquid components. experimental conditions. The cracking reaction of butanes occurred at
Accordingly, the yield of liquid decreased with increased reaction high reaction temperatures (>600 °C).
temperature, whereas the dry gas and C3 yields increased. High reaction Butenes are the predominant reactants during catalytic conversion.
temperature also accelerates the rate of condensation reactions by Fig. 5 illustrates the reaction network of the C4 fraction catalytic conver-
which coke is generated. Thus, the coke yield increased with increased sion. Butenes can be converted into butanes through hydrogen transfer,
reaction temperature. into octenes through dimerization, or into other large olefins through
Light olefins and aromatics are the desired products in the catalytic polymerization with propene or ethene. Octenes can undergo further
conversion of the C4 fraction. Fig. 3 shows the yields of ethene, propene isomerization to produce multi-branched octenes, hydrogen transfer
Table 3 Table 4
Product yield as a function of reaction temperature at a WHSV of 3 h−1 (wt.%). Product yield as a function of WHSV at a reaction temperature of 700 °C (wt.%).
Reaction temperature (°C) 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 WHSV (h−1) 1 3 5 7 9
Dry gas 0.03 0.21 0.45 0.63 1.29 4.62 12.58 Dry gas 14.05 12.58 11.62 11.34 10.97
C3 2.80 3.81 4.64 6.12 8.22 15.86 26.64 C3 28.39 26.64 26.07 25.38 24.84
C4 84.01 83.76 82.81 81.91 79.70 68.47 48.66 C4 45.10 48.66 50.16 51.24 52.06
Liquid 12.47 11.37 10.98 10.06 9.43 9.16 8.84 Liquid 8.85 8.84 9.06 9.24 9.45
Coke 0.69 0.85 1.12 1.28 1.36 1.89 3.28 Coke 3.61 3.28 3.09 2.80 2.68
220 X. Meng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 116 (2013) 217–221
25 0.5
Yields of olefins and aromatics (wt%)
5 0.1
0 0.0
0 2 4 6 8 10 400 450 500 550 600 650 700
Weight hourly space velocity (h-1) Reaction temperature (oC)
Fig. 4. Yields of ethene, propene and aromatics as a function of WHSV. Fig. 6. Yield ratio of dry gas to C3 as a function of reaction temperature.
to produce octanes, aromatization to produce aromatics, cyclization to Cracking and aromatization reactions simultaneously occur during
produce naphthenes, cracking to produce propene or butenes, or poly- the catalytic conversion of the C4 fraction. Light products (dry gas and
merization with olefins to produce larger olefins. Octanes can undergo C3) are formed by cracking reactions, and aromatics are formed by
cracking to produce light olefins and light alkanes. Aromatics can aromatization reactions. A yield ratio of dry gas plus C3 to aromatics
undergo condensation to produce polycyclic aromatics. Intermediate [RCA, shown in Eq. (1)] was proposed to describe the relative function
large olefins can undergo aromatization to produce aromatics, and po- of the cracking reaction to the aromatization reaction.
lymerization to produce polymers. Polymers and polycyclic aromatics
are finally converted into coke. ydry gas þ yC3
The above analysis shows that the formation of propene involves RCA ¼ : ð1Þ
yaromatics
two successive steps: the dimerization of butenes and the cracking of
large hydrocarbons [6]. The formed olefins can polymerize with butene
to produce other larger olefins that can undergo all of the aforemen- A large RCA indicates that the cracking reaction is important in the
tioned reactions, resulting in a wide variety of end products. catalytic conversion of the C4 fraction, whereas a small RCA indicates
Both catalytic and thermal functions play roles in the catalytic that the aromatization reaction is significant. Fig. 7 shows RCA as a
conversion of the C4 fraction. Dry gas is generally formed through function of reaction temperature at a WHSV of 3 h−1. With increased
thermal cracking. C3 is generally formed through catalytic cracking reaction temperature from 400 °C to 600 °C, RCA gradually increased
at low temperatures, while it is formed through both catalytic crack- from 0.73 to 1.33, indicating the importance of both cracking and aro-
ing and thermal cracking at high temperatures [19,20]. The yield ratio matization reactions. RCA reached 2.77 at 650 °C and 5.23 at 700 °C,
of dry gas to C3 was proposed to describe the relative function of indicating that cracking predominates on aromatization at high reac-
thermal cracking to catalytic cracking. Fig. 6 shows the yield ratio of tion temperatures. Fig. 7 also shows RCA as a function of WHSV at a re-
dry gas to C3 as a function of reaction temperature. The yield ratio action temperature of 700 °C. RCA decreased with increased WHSV,
of dry gas to C3 is below 0.11 when the reaction temperature is indicating that low WHSV favors cracking. RCA at a WHSV of 1 h−1
below 550 °C. This result shows that catalytic cracking plays an im- was about 0.16 times higher than that at a WHSV of 9 h−1, indicating
portant role at low reaction temperatures (b550 °C). The yield ratio that low WHSV strengthens the cracking function.
of dry gas to C3 increases from 0.16 at 600 °C to 0.47 at 700 °C,
indicating that both catalytic and thermal cracking play important
roles at high reaction temperatures (> 600 °C). Weight hourly space velocity (h-1)
1 3 5 7 9
6
3
C2=, C3= C8o C2=, C3=, C4=, C5=, C6=...
5
3 3 3 3 700 oC
1
4
1 2 2
C4o C4= C8= C12=
RCA
2 2 3
5 oligomers 2
WHSV: 3 h-1
4 4 6 4
1
6 coke
1
naphthenes aromatics 0
400 450 500 550 600 650 700
Fig. 5. Reaction network of C4 fraction catalytic conversion (1 — hydrogen transfer re- Reaction temperature (oC)
action, 2 — polymerization reaction, 3 — cracking reaction, 4 — aromatization reaction,
5 — cyclization reaction, 6 — condensation reaction). Fig. 7. RCA as a function of reaction temperature and WHSV.
X. Meng et al. / Fuel Processing Technology 116 (2013) 217–221 221
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