Uop Lcc

Carlos A Cabrera

Chunqing Liu

David A Lomas

Peter K Coughlin

Lubo Zhou

Laurence O Stine

Charles L Hemler, Jr

Tamotsu Imai

Daniel N Myers

Harold U Hammershaimb

Orville I Ludwigsen

The present invention involves the use of a multi-stage membrane system for gas, vapor, and liquid separations. In this multi-stage membrane system, high selectivity and high permeance or at least high selectivity polybenzoxazole membranes or cross-linked polybenzoxazole membranes are applied for a pre-membrane or both the pre-membrane and the secondary membrane. A primary membrane can be from conventional glassy polymers. This multi-stage membrane system can reduce inter-stage compression cost, increase product recovery and product purity for gas, vapor, and liquid separations. It can also save the cost compared to the system using all the high cost polybenzoxazole membranes or cross-linked polybenzoxazole membranes.

Staged membrane system for gas, vapor, and liquid separations

An FCC apparatus places a quench chamber above a reactor vessel and a hot stripper below a reactor vessel to provide a progressively decreasing temperature profile up the structure of the FCC arrangement and equipment for sequential reaction control. A riser contains the primary catalytic reactions of the hydrocarbon vapor and delivers the reacted vapors to the reactor structure. Starting from the bottom of the structure the hot stripper has the highest temperature and desorbs or displaces hydrocarbons from the catalyst to terminate long residence time catalytic reactions. Above the hot stripper bulk separation equipment divides the main vapor and catalyst stream to limit residence time of major catalytic reactions. At a yet higher elevation and lower internal temperature quench equipment arrests thermal reactions of the vapor stream. This structure arrangement permits reliable control of reaction time to obtain desired products and enhances mechanical reliability of the structure.

FCC reactor arrangement for sequential disengagement and progressive temperature reduction

A process for the desulfurization of hydrocarbonaceous oil wherein the hydrocarbonaceous oil is contacted with a hydrodesulfurization catalyst in a hydrodesulfurization reaction zone to reduce the sulfur level to a relatively low level and then contacting the resulting hydrocarbonaceous stream from the hydrodesulfurization zone with an oxidizing agent to convert the residual, low level of sulfur compounds into sulfur-oxidated compounds. The resulting hydrocarbonaceous oil stream containing the sulfur-oxidated compounds is separated after decomposing any residual oxidizing agent to produce a stream containing the sulfur-oxidated compounds and a hydrocarbonaceous oil stream having a reduced concentration of sulfur-oxidated compounds.

Process for the desulfurization of a hydrocarbonaceous oil

The simultaneous use of lift gas in a riser zone that, operates above 975.degree. F. (525.degree. C.) and directly transfers catalyst and hydrocarbons to a series of cyclone separators, the stripping of spent catalyst in a heated stripper zone for the recovery of additional hydrocarbon vapors, and the immediate quenching of a converted hydrocarbon feed upon leaving a cyclone separator raises the octane and product yield in an FCC process. The process uses the specific steps of passing regenerated catalyst particles into the lower section of a substantially vertical riser conversion zone at a temperature greater than 975.degree. F. and accelerating the particles up the riser by contact with a lift gas comprising C.sub.3 and lighter hydrocarbons to a velocity of at least 1.2 meters per second. A series of injection nozzles introduce the feed into the moving catalyst in an upper portion of the riser in an amount that will maintain an average temperature of at least 520.degree. C. in the riser. Average hydrocarbon residence time in the riser is between 0.5 to 5 seconds. In order to suppress further conversion and thermal cracking, the converted feed and catalyst can be mixed with a diluent and transferred directly to cyclone separators. A hot stripper zone volatilizes additional carbons absorbed on the surface of the catalyst separated by the cyclone separators. Converted feed hydrocarbons leaving the cyclone separators are immediately contacted with a quench liquid and quenched to a temperature below that at which thermal cracking can occur. The process of this invention can also use catalyst to provide heat input for the stripping zone and a hydrogen environment in the stripper to suppress condensation reactions which would reduce the product yield and increase the coke production in the process. Another variation of the process uses a superadjacent quench chamber that immediately receives separated product vapors directly from the cyclone separators.

Fluidized catalytic cracking process utilizing a high temperature reactor

Modern processes and arrangements for FCC processes can be obtained using a stacked FCC reactor-regenerator arrangement. These processes and arrangements use a stacked FCC unit having a bottom regeneration vessel, a superadjacent reactor vessel, and a stripping vessel laterally offset from and in open communication with the reactor vessel to make a two-stage regenerator having a lower first stage regeneration, an upper second stage of regeneration, and a catalyst cooler for removing feed from the catalyst. The process and arrangement makes complete use of the three existing vessels in the stacked reactor-regenerator arrangement by changing the function of the upper reactor vessel and the stripping vessel and adding a reactor vessel to the side of the stacked FCC arrangement. Therefore, apart from the addition of the new reactor only relatively minor modifications are necessary to more fully utilize stacked FCC reactor-regenerator arrangements.

Conversion of stacked FCC unit

Method of retrofitting catalyst coolers onto FCC regenerators and a cooler configuration specially suited for FCC regenerators uses a large manway or accessway commonly provided on the FCC regenerator to overcome the problems usually associated with finding a suitable space and clearance for the incorporation of a catalyst cooler. The catalyst cooler is added to the regenerator by removing the end cover from an existing manway on an FCC regenerator, extending the nozzle to provide a horizontal nozzle extension, attaching a vertical tube section of a catalyst cooler from the lower side of the nozzle extension and providing a new end closure at an opposite end of the nozzle extension. This method and the cooler apparatus minimizes the amount of welding and design work that must be done on the vessel and its associated piping when adding a catalyst cooler.

Manway cooler--method and apparatus

A method of converting a stacked FCC reactor-regenerator arrangement into a two-stage regenerator. In this method, a stacked FCC unit having a bottom regeneration vessel, a superadjacent reactor vessel, and a stripping vessel laterally offset from and in open communication with the reactor vessel are used to make a two-stage regenerator having a lower first stage of regeneration, an upper second stage regeneration vessel, and a catalyst cooler for moving heat from the catalyst. This method makes complete use of the three existing vessels in the stacked reactor regenerator arrangement by converting the upper reactor vessel into the second stage regeneration vessel and the stripping vessel into the catalyst cooler. Therefore, apart from the addition of a new reactor only relatively minor modifications are nesessary to convert the stacked reactor-regenerator arrangement into a two-stage regenerator. In this method, the stripping vessel can be converted into either a downflow type catalyst cooler or a backmix type catalyst cooler.

FCC catalyst is regenerated in a process providing increased coke-burning capacity without additional heat evolution or air consumption. The process uses a two-stage regeneration arrangement providing initial coke combustion in a low catalyst density-high efficiency contact zone followed by substantial separation of catalyst and regeneration gas and complete regeneration of catalyst particles in a dense bed regeneration zone. Catalyst and gas flow cocurrent prior to this separation but flow countercurrent after the separation. An effective control scheme for regulating oxygen addition to the final zone is also disclosed. This process is applicable to FCC operations for conventional and residual feedstocks.

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Northbrook, IL, United States of America

Carlos A Cabrera