MGD technology development and its commercial application

Zhigang Zhang, Xiaoxiang Zhong, Research Institute of Petroleum Processing, SINOPEC, P.O. Box 914, Beijing 100083, China Shike Li, Guangzhou Branch, SINOPEC, China Biao Kang, Fujian Petrochemical Co. Ltd., SINOPEC, China Abstracts
In response to the refinery request to maximize both LPG and LCO yields in RFCC operation, a MGD technology has been developed. The main idea of the technology is to vary the reaction severity along the riser reactor to deal with the different reactivity of the hydrocarbons in feed and to obtain the product slates desired. Catalyst plays a great role in product selectivity and yields. The commercial performances show that relative to conventional FCC, the LPG and LCO yields increased by 1.3-5.0 wt% and 3-5 wt%, respectively. Olefins content in naphtha decreased by 9-13 v%. RON and MON of naphtha increased by 0.4-0.7 and 0.4-0.9 points respectively.

Introduction
One third of diesel in market pool came from RFCC and the market needs more and more diesel fuel in China, so it requires FCC be able to produce more diesel. In some regions in China, the price of LPG as home fuel is high and the downstream like alkylation, propylene polymerization, etc needs more LPG1. The environmental authority in China mandates the olefins content in gasoline below 35v%2. The above requisites impose the development of new FCC technologyMGD with the feature of maximising both LPG and LCO yields simultaneously, and reducing the olefin content of the gasoline as well. This poster introduces the principle, bench test, pilot test and commercial application of MGD technology

The principle of MGD technology

Based on carbonium ion reaction mechanism of catalytic cracking, a varying severity within a single riser reactor concept was postulated. It was postulated that: (1) by recycling naphtha and reacting in the first sever reaction zone to get more LPG production, enhance LCO yield and Octane No. of gasoline and reduction of olefin content in gasoline. (2) By injecting the heavier feed into the second reaction zone favors bottoms cracking. (3) The lighter feed reacts at milder conditions in the third reaction zone, which favors LCO yield.

Bench scale and pilot test

Bench-scale fixed-fluidized bed unit and a continuously operated pilot riser FCC unit with a
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throughput of 10 kg/h were used to investigate the naphtha cracking performance. The effects of reaction temperature, catalyst to oil ratio(C/O) and residence time on product slate were investigated. The test results inferred that naphtha reaction is feasible, its successfulness depends on the configuration of the recycling, which includes the point of injection, amount of the recycled stream, and a crucial factor-- the catalyst, otherwise will produce excessive dry gas and coke. The catalyst for this purpose should characterized by having good bottoms cracking, low coke and dry gas, LPG selective and metal tolerance. Table 1 Commercial Application Result of MGD at GPC Operating Model Conventional FCC MGD Feedstock Properties Density (20),kg.m-3 923.5 920.8 CCR,m% 4.6 5.0 Sulfur, m% 0.86 0.83 Distillation(811K),v% 57.0 60.0 Catalyst Properties Catalyst type Ramcat-LC1 Ramcat-LC1 Vanadium , ppm 4486 4280 Nickel, ppm 5858 5665 MA 63 64 Products Slate, wt% Dry gas 3.31 3.96 LPG 9.14 14.04 Naphtha 45.41 35.65 LCO 28.16 32.17 Slurry 6.26 6.31 Coke 7.20 7.36 Loss 0.52 0.51 Naphtha Properties EP, 183 184 RON 92.6 93.0 MON 80.6 81.5 Olefin, v% 43.8 32.2 Sulfur,ppm 951 659 LCO Properties Density (20),kg.m-3 928.8 927.7 Distillation(95v%),K 646 642 Cetane Number 27.3 27.8

Commercial application
Commercial MGD tried out was conducted at two existing commercial RFCCU in 1999. To date there are a couple of units in operation, and about 10 more units are scheduled to be revamped or under revamping.

MGD performance in Guangzhou Petrochemical Corporation (GPC)

The RFCCu of GPC is a two-stage regeneration style riser unit with a capacity of 3000 t/d. Table 1 shows the operating data of both FCC and MGD modes. From Table1, it can be seen that MGD
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yields 4.9 wt% more LPG and 4.01 wt% more LCO at the cost of 9.76 wt% naphtha, the dry gas and coke yields increased by 0.65 and 0.16 wt% respectively, also Olefins in naphtha drops 11.6 v%, RON and MON increased by 0.4 and 0.9 unit respectively. Table2 the Commercial application Result of MGD at FJPC Operating Model Conventional FCC MGD Feedstock Properties Density (20),kg.m-3 916.3 927.6 CCR,m% 3.10 3.70 Sulfur, m% 0.76 1.02 Distillation(773K ),v% 74.0 76.5 Catalyst Properties Catalyst ORBIT-3300 plus RGD-1 10%CA-1 Vanadium , ppm 7500 7300 Nickel, ppm 5900 6300 MA 60 60 Products Slate, wt% Dry gas 4.67 4.62 LPG 16.70 18.00 Naphtha 38.00 31.95 LCO 25.78 31.06 Slurry 6.96 6.13 Coke 7.37 7.77 Loss 0.52 0.47 Naphtha Properties EP, 185 186 RON 93.2 93.9 MON 81.3 81.7 Olefin, v% 40.5 31.5 Sulfur,ppm 365 355 LCO Properties Density (20),kg.m-3 933.3 932.0 Distillation(95v%), 355 352 Cetane Number 25 27

MGD performance in Fujian Petrochemical Corporation (FJPC)

The RFCCu in FJPC has a capacity of 4500 t/d. when RGD-1 catalyst in inventory reaches over 60%, tried out data for MGD operation were taken. Table2 presents the typical data of the two modes. It is seen from Table 2, that LPG and LCO yields of MGD are 1.3 and 5.28 wt% respectively higher than that of RFCC mode, at a loss of 6.05 wt% naphtha, Dry gas yield is basically the same. This implies that RGD-1 is a unique catalyst that converts naphtha with minimum dry gas and coke yields.

Reference
1 Li zaiting, petroleum processing and petrochemicals, 2000, 11 (1-6), 31. 2 Qiao Yingbin, petroleum processing and petrochemicals, 2000, 4 (36-39), 31.