Process for evaluating the catalytic performance of a porous solid using a vapor diffusion technique, where a probe molecule and a molecule for dead-time determination is injected into a carrier gas that is then contacted with the porous solid in a vessel, where a detector analyzes the peak width and retention time of a probe molecule and the retention time of the molecule for dead-time determination in the gas exiting the vessel.

A regeneration method for catalytic cracking reaction, the method is applied in a catalytic reaction process of petroleum hydrocarbon materials, and the method comprises: feeding the regenerated and semi-regenerated catalyst from a regenerator separately into different positions of a reactor for reaction. A part of the semi-regenerated catalyst is firstly processed in a purification cooler for removing carried nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and impurity gases before being fed into the reactor. Spent catalyst or the purified and cooled semi-regenerated catalyst is fed into a catalyst mixing section of the reactor for controlling the temperature of the catalyst being contact with the oil material to be gasified, thereby achieving a three stage cycle of the catalyst in the reactor and a three stage control for the reaction outlets of the oil material gasification zone and the cracking reaction zone and the catalyst taking part in the reaction.

A method for cracking hydrocarbon includes providing a feedstock comprising steam and hydrocarbon, and feeding the feedstock into a device having an inner surface accessible to the feedstock. The inner surface includes a compound of formula A.sub.n+1B.sub.nO.sub.3n+1, wherein A includes at least one alkaline earth metal, B includes at least one transition metal, O is oxygen, and 1≦n≦20.

There is a process for the hydroconversion of mixtures of polymers or plastics which comprises the pre-treatment of the mixtures through methods selected from mechanical methods, chemical methods, thermal methods, or combinations thereof forming a pre-treated charge. The pre-treated charge is mixed with a hydrocarbon vacuum residue, optionally pre-heated, to form a reactant mixture. The reactant mixture is fed to a hydroconversion section in slurry phase, together with a catalyst precursor containing Molybdenum, and a stream containing hydrogen, forming a reaction effluent. The effluent is separated into at least one high-pressure and high-temperature separator in a vapour phase and a slurry phase. The separate vapour phase is sent to a gas treatment section with the function of separating a liquid fraction from the gas containing hydrogen and hydrocarbon gases having from 1 to 4 carbon atoms; said liquid fraction comprising naphtha, atmospheric gas oil (AGO), vacuum gas oil (VGO). The slurry phase is then sent to a separation section that has the function of separating the fractions of the Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO), Heavy Vacuum Gas Oil (HVGO), Light Vacuum Gas Oil (LVGO), Atmospheric Gas Oil (AGO), from a stream of heavy organic products which contains asphaltenes, unconverted charge, catalyst and solid formed during the hydroconversion reaction. This stream of heavy organic products is partly recirculated to the hydroconversion section and partly forms a purge stream.

Oxidized disulfide oil (ODSO) compounds or ODSO compounds and disulfide oil (DSO) compounds are added to a steam cracker feed. During the thermal cracking, the ODSO or ODSO and DSO components in the steam cracker mixture minimize coke formation on the steam cracker coils.

A method of producing olefins by catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons is disclosed. The method may include catalytic cracking hydrocarbons in a feed stream that includes the hydrocarbons and the dry gas diluent. The catalytic cracking may be carried out in a process using a train of fixed bed reactors while one or more other trains of fixed bed reactors are being regenerated or are on standby after being regenerated. When the train of fixed bed reactors being used needs regenerating, it is taken out of service and the one or more other trains of fixed bed reactors put in service to carry out the catalytic cracking process. Dry gas instead of steam may be used to reduce the partial pressure of hydrocarbons.

A coke catching apparatus for use in hydrocarbon cracking to assist in the removal of coke and the prevention of coke build up in high coking hydrocarbon processing units. The apparatus includes a grid device for preventing large pieces of coke from entering the outlet of the process refining equipment while allowing small pieces of coke to pass through and be disposed of. The coke catching apparatus can be easily disassembled to be removed from the refining process equipment and cleaned.

An ebullated bed hydroprocessing system is upgraded and operated at modified conditions using a dual catalyst system to produce less fouling sediment. The less fouling sediment produced by the upgraded ebullated bed reactor reduces the rate of equipment fouling at any given sediment production rate and/or concentration compared to the sediment produced by the ebullated bed reactor prior to upgrading. In some cases, sediment production rate and/or concentration are maintained or increased, after upgrading the ebullated bed reactor, while equipment fouling is reduced. In other cases, sediment production rate and/or concentration are increased, after upgrading the ebullated bed reactor, without increasing equipment fouling. In some cases, sediment production rate and/or concentration are decreased by a given percentage, after upgrading the ebullated bed reactor, and the rate of equipment fouling is decreased by a substantially greater percentage.

A steam-assisted catalytic cracking process for a hydrocarbon feed is provided. The process includes: introducing the hydrocarbon feed, a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst, and steam to a FCC reactor with a mass ratio of steam to hydrocarbon feed between 0.05 and 1.0; cracking the hydrocarbon feed in the presence of the FCC catalyst and steam to produce a cracked hydrocarbon feed and spent FCC catalyst, the spent FCC catalyst comprising coke deposits and hydrocarbon deposits; stripping the hydrocarbon deposits from the spent FCC catalyst with steam in a stripper to obtain a hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst; regenerating the hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst in a regenerator by subjecting the stripped spent FCC catalyst to heat in the presence of oxygen to combust the coke deposits on the stripped spent FCC catalyst and produce a regenerated FCC catalyst; recycling the regenerated FCC catalyst.

Methods for operating a system having two downflow high-severity FCC units for producing products from a hydrocarbon feed includes introducing the hydrocarbon feed to a feed separator and separating it into a lesser boiling point fraction and a greater boiling point fraction. The greater boiling point fraction is passed to the first FCC unit and cracked in the presence of a first catalyst at 500° C. to 700° C. to produce a first cracking reaction product and a spent first catalyst. The lesser boiling point fraction is passed to the second FCC unit and cracked in the presence of a second catalyst at 500° C. to 700° C. to produce a second cracking reaction product and a spent second catalyst. At least a portion of the spent first catalyst or the spent second catalyst is passed back to the first FCC unit, the second FCC unit or both.