System relating to the conversion of ethanol in a stripper unit of a fluidized catalytic cracking system. An ethanol stream comprising at least 4 volume percent water mixes with a catalyst in the stripper unit under conditions of temperature that favor conversion of the ethanol to hydrocarbons, thereby increasing incorporation of ethanol into liquid transportation fuels without exceeding regulatory limits on fuel vapor pressure. Certain embodiments additionally combine the ethanol stream with a hydrocarbon stream in the stripper and react in the presence of a catalyst to produce hydrocarbons that may have an increased boiling point, increased octane rating, decreased vapor pressure, decreased benzene content, or combinations of these properties.

System relating to the conversion of ethanol in a stripper unit of a fluidized catalytic cracking system. An ethanol stream comprising at least 4 volume percent water mixes with a catalyst in the stripper unit under conditions of temperature that favor conversion of the ethanol to hydrocarbons, thereby increasing incorporation of ethanol into liquid transportation fuels without exceeding regulatory limits on fuel vapor pressure. Certain embodiments additionally combine the ethanol stream with a hydrocarbon stream in the stripper and react in the presence of a catalyst to produce hydrocarbons that may have an increased boiling point, increased octane rating, decreased vapor pressure, decreased benzene content, or combinations of these properties.

The present invention relates to an integrated process for increasing the research octane number (RON) of FCC gasoline with simultaneous reduction in benzene content. In this process, benzene rich gasoline fraction is reacted with light olefin rich gaseous streams like FCC off gas/dry gas, coker off gas to produce alkyl aromatics using FCC catalyst system containing ZSM-5 zeolite. The catalyst is continuously drawn from the FCC regenerator by suitably placing the alkylation reactor in communication with the FCC regenerator. The product stream of the alkylation reactor is routed to main fractionator for separation of off gas and benzene lean gasoline. This integrated process not only improves the octane number of gasoline but also lowers the gasoline benzene content. Further the integrated alkylation reactor system acts as a heat sink lowering the FCC regenerator temperature and enables the FCC unit to process high CCR feeds.

A process and apparatus is for recycling LCO and/or HCO to an FCC unit to recover additional distillate. Spent catalyst recycle in the FCC unit may be used to improve distillate yield. A hydroprocessing zone may saturate cycle oil aromatics for cracking in an FCC unit. The recycle cracked stream may be recycled to a downstream hydroprocessing zone to avoid a first hydroprocessing zone for hydrotreating feed to the FCC unit. Additional recovery of cycle oil for recycle is obtained by heating slurry oil prior to vacuum separation.

Light olefins may be produced from hydrocarbons by a method including passing a hydrocarbon feed stream into a feed inlet of a reactor. The reactor may include an upper reactor portion defining an upper reaction zone and a lower reactor portion defining a lower reaction zone. The catalyst may move in a generally downward direction through the upper reactor portion and the lower reactor portion, and the hydrocarbon feed stream may move in a generally upward direction through the upper reactor portion and lower reactor portion such that the hydrocarbon feed stream and the catalyst move with a counter-current orientation. Contacting the catalyst with the hydrocarbon feed stream may crack one or more components of the hydrocarbon feed stream and form a hydrocarbon product stream. The method may further include passing the hydrocarbon product stream out of the upper reaction zone through the hydrocarbon product outlet.

The present invention provides a method for processing low-grade heavy oil, comprising: providing a riser-bed reactor; preheating the low-grade heavy oil and injecting it into the riser reactor to react with solid catalyst particles at the temperature of 550-610° C.; oil-gas, after reacting with the solid catalyst particles in the riser reactor, being introduced into the fluidized bed reactor to continue to react at temperature of 440-520° C. and weight hourly space velocity of 0.5-5 h.sup.−1; and the oil-gas, after reacting in the fluidized bed reactor, being separated from coked solid catalyst particles carried therein, and the separated oil-gas being introduced into a fractionation system. The method can effectively remove carbon residues, heavy metals, asphaltenes and other impurities from the low-grade heavy oil, and obtain high liquid product yield in a simple process.

The present invention provides a method for processing low-grade heavy oil, comprising: providing a riser-bed reactor; preheating the low-grade heavy oil and injecting it into the riser reactor to react with solid catalyst particles at the temperature of 550-610° C.; oil-gas, after reacting with the solid catalyst particles in the riser reactor, being introduced into the fluidized bed reactor to continue to react at temperature of 440-520° C. and weight hourly space velocity of 0.5-5 h.sup.−1; and the oil-gas, after reacting in the fluidized bed reactor, being separated from coked solid catalyst particles carried therein, and the separated oil-gas being introduced into a fractionation system. The method can effectively remove carbon residues, heavy metals, asphaltenes and other impurities from the low-grade heavy oil, and obtain high liquid product yield in a simple process.

A fluidized catalytic reactor utilizes an ascending temperature profile. The apparatus and process deliver cooler spent catalyst to a first catalyst distributor and a hotter regenerated catalyst to a second catalyst distributor that are spaced apart from each other. The reactant stream first encounters the first stream of catalyst and then encounters the second stream of catalyst. The process and apparatus stage the addition of hot catalyst to the reactant stream. The process and apparatus may be particularly advantageous in an endothermic reaction because the hotter catalyst will encounter reactants that have cooled due to the progression of endothermic reactions.

The invention relates to a cyclone (10) for mechanical separation of particles in suspension in a gas, in particular intended for a fluid catalytic cracking unit, said cyclone comprising the following elements:

a separation chamber (101),

an inlet duct (102) that opens into the chamber (101),

a gas outlet duct (103) located in the upper portion of the chamber (101) and

a particle outlet duct (104) located in the lower portion of the chamber (101), characterized in that each element of the cyclone is made of a ceramic material.

The invention also relates to a fluid catalytic cracking unit equipped with at least one cyclone made of ceramic material.

The invention relates to a cyclone (10) for mechanical separation of particles in suspension in a gas, in particular intended for a fluid catalytic cracking unit, said cyclone comprising the following elements:

a separation chamber (101),

an inlet duct (102) that opens into the chamber (101),

a gas outlet duct (103) located in the upper portion of the chamber (101) and

a particle outlet duct (104) located in the lower portion of the chamber (101), characterized in that each element of the cyclone is made of a ceramic material.

The invention also relates to a fluid catalytic cracking unit equipped with at least one cyclone made of ceramic material.