Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company

Exxonmobil Chemical Patents Inc.

Brian A Cunningham

Stephen Harold Brown

Christopher Gordon Smalley

Randolph John Smiley

Rathna P Davuluri

Samia Ilias

James Harding Beech, Jr

Brenda Anne Raich

Tien V Le

David L Johnson

Patrick Loring Hanks

Sheryl B Rubin-Pitel

Kenneth C H Kar

Jeffrey Scott Smith

Richard Edwards Walter

Keith K Aldous

Kendall S Fruchey

James Ronald Bielenberg

Federico Barrai

Todd R Steffens

James H Beech

William R Gunther

Sara K Green

Masaaki Sugita

Joseph S Famolaro

Richard C Senior

Kenneth Chi Hang Kar

Dana W Nouri

Timothy Forbes

Tarrant Jay Falcke

Nicholas E Smith

Kenneth CH Kar

Systems and methods are provided for upgrading a mixture of catalytic slurry oil and coker bottoms by hydroprocessing. Optionally, the upgrading can further include deasphalting the mixture of catalytic slurry oil and coker bottoms to form a deasphalted oil and a deasphalter residue or rock fraction. The mixture of catalytic slurry oil and coker bottoms and/or the deasphalted oil can then be hydroprocessed to form an upgraded effluent that includes fuels boiling range products. Optionally, in some aspects where the feed mixture is deasphalted prior to hydroprocessing, the feed mixture can further include a portion of a (sour) vacuum resid.

Hydroprocessing of catalytic slurry oil and coker bottoms

Systems and methods are provided for upgrading catalytic slurry oil. The upgrading can be performed by deasphalting the catalytic slurry oil to form a deasphalted oil and a residual or rock fraction. The deasphalted oil can then be hydroprocessed to form an upgraded effluent that includes fuels boiling range products.

Hydroprocessing of deasphalted catalytic slurry oil

Systems and methods are provided for improving the processing of heavy or challenged feeds in a refinery based on integrated use of deasphalting, coking, and hydroprocessing. An optional fluid catalytic cracking unit can be included in the integrated system to allow for further improvements. The improved processing can be facilitated based on a process configuration where the vacuum resid fractions and/or other difficult fractions are deasphalted to generate a deasphalted oil and a deasphalter residue or rock fraction. The deasphalted oil can be passed into a hydroprocessing unit for further processing. The rock fraction can be used as the feed to a coking unit. Although deasphalter residue or rock is typically a feed with a high content of micro carbon residue, a high lift deasphalting process can allow a portion of the micro carbon residue in the initial feed to remain with the deasphalted oil. The portion of micro carbon residue that remains in the deasphalted oil can then be upgraded during hydroprocessing and/or during subsequent processing of the feed. By reducing the amount of micro carbon residue passed into a coker for a given initial feed source, the overall capacity for a reaction system to handle heavy feeds can be increased relative to the rate of coke production from the reaction system.

Resid upgrading with reduced coke formation

Systems and methods are provided for forming specialty products from hydrotreated FCC fractions. Optionally, the hydrotreated FCC fractions used for forming the specialty products can further include a (hydrotreated) portion of a steam cracker tar fraction. The specialty products that can be formed from hydrotreated FCC fractions include, but are not limited to, carbon blacks, resins, and carbon fibers. A convenient method for forming the hydrotreated FCC fractions can be fixed bed hydrotreatment.

Production of carbon blacks and resins from hydrotreated catalytic slurry oil

Methods and systems producing gasoline boiling range hydrocarbons from light paraffins are disclosed. Such methods may include exposing a paraffin-containing stream to a catalyst in a side riser of a fluid catalytic cracking reactor under effective conditions for dehydrogenating at least a portion of paraffins in the stream into olefins and thereby producing an olefin-containing stream, wherein the paraffin-containing stream comprises greater than 50 wt % isobutane; and alkylating olefins in the olefin-containing stream to produce a product stream comprising an alkylate fraction comprising hydrocarbons boiling between 100&#xb0; F. and 400&#xb0; F.

Methods and systems for producing gasoline from light paraffins

Systems and methods are provided for upgrading catalytic slurry oil to form naphtha boiling range and/or distillate boiling range fuel products. It has been unexpectedly discovered that catalytic slurry oil can be separately hydroprocessed under fixed bed conditions to achieve substantial conversion of asphaltenes within the slurry oil (such as substantially complete conversion) while reducing or minimizing the amount of coke formation on the hydroprocessing catalyst. After hydroprocessing, the hydroprocessed effluent can be processed under fluid catalytic cracking conditions to form various products, including distillate boiling range fuels and/or naphtha boiling range fuels. Another portion of the effluent can be suitable for use as a low sulfur fuel oil, such as a fuel oil having a sulfur content of 0.1 wt % or less.

Fuel production from FCC products

A method of predicting the tendency of a heavy oil feed to generate coke deposits in the FCC riser under a given set of operating parameters in the unit; thus, by utilizing operating parameters appropriate to the feed, the formation of coke deposits in the riser may be minimized. The margin between the theoretical dew point of the hydrocarbon feed established from unit operating parameters and the theoretical mix zone temperature in the feed injection zone of the unit is developed by applying a regression-derived linear model from multiple rigorous model runs. The mix zone of the unit is then operated at a temperature which reduces the level of riser coking predicted from this ascertainable margin or, at least, maintains it within levels which are predictable and acceptable.

Reduction of coking in FCCU feed zone

The present invention is an improved regenerated catalyst bend assembly for a fluid catalytic cracking unit. In a preferred embodiment, the reduced elevation ('RE-bend' or 'REL-bend') regenerated catalyst return line assembly of the present invention has an outlet elevation that is lower than the inlet elevation of the RE-bend or REL-bend regenerated catalyst return line assembly, and a process for utilizing the assembly in a fluid catalytic cracking unit. The present invention is especially useful in the modification of existing fluid catalytic cracking units to lower the elevation of the outlet of the regenerated catalyst return line assembly, thereby providing needed space to increase the fluid catalytic cracking reactor riser length.

Reduced elevation catalyst return line for a fluid catalytic cracking unit

This invention relates to the catalytic cracking of a hydrocarbon feed. In particular, this invention relates to an apparatus and process utilizing a catalyst stripper section of a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) reactor with chordal trays designed to provide improved stripping of hydrocarbons from spent FCC catalyst in an FCC reactor stripping zone.

FCC catalyst stripper configuration

This invention relates to efficiently regenerating catalyst particles by minimizing the formation of localized 'hot spots' and 'cold spots' in a regeneration zone. In one embodiment, the invention includes mixing spent catalyst from a reactor and cold catalyst from a catalyst cooler in a mixing zone and directing the mixed catalyst to the regeneration zone in a fluidized manner with a fluidizing medium. In the regeneration zone, the mixed catalyst contacts an oxygen-containing regeneration medium under conditions effective to regenerate the spent catalyst contained therein.

Controlling temperature in catalyst regenerators

This invention provides feed introduction devices, and processes for using same, which minimize catalyst clogging. In particular, the invention is to a feed introduction device having a first end in fluid communication with a feed source, a second end in fluid communication with a reactor and a deviation zone between the first end and the second end to deviate the flow of feed about a deviation angle from the first end toward the second end. According to the invention, the deviation angle is greater than 90 degrees.

Minimizing catalyst backflow in fluidized bed reactors

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Tokyo, Japan

Brian A Cunningham