AM-00-28 FCC LIGHT CYCLE OIL: LIABILITY OR OPPORTUNITY?

Description:

With a global shift toward higher quality fuels refiners must address qualities such as aromatics, density and cetane as well as sulfur to meet the changing fuel regulations. One of the largest drags on the quality of the diesel pool today is the FCC Light Cycle Oil (LCO). LCO is high in aromatics, high in density and low in cetane. As refiner’s gasoline to diesel product ratio moves toward diesel and as lower quality heating oil is upgraded to the required transportation diesel, LCO must be upgraded. In the past we have talked about the synergy between the FCC and FCC Feed Pre-treating units to improve refinery profitability while producing low sulfur products1. This paper will focus on the studies that have been performed for upgrading the LCO to provide the refiner with the ability to utilize the LCO as a higher value fuel-blending component. FCC Feed pre-treating, reduces the sulfur in all the FCC products: gasoline, LCO and flue gas. The yield of FCC gasoline is improved and the profitability increases. However, even this processing leaves a refiner with LCO that is too high in aromatics and too low in cetane to be blended completely into the diesel pool. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate that LCO can be changed from a liability to an opportunity in the future diesel market. The following topics will be covered in this paper : · Trend in Transportation Fuels · Why is LCO a liability? Can it be an opportunity? · Treating of LCO as FCC product · Treating of LCO as part of FCC feed pre-treatment