AM-04-16 Advanced Resid FCC Technology Demonstrated in MAPLLC’s Catlettsburg RCC™ Unit

Description:

Engelhard has developed and commercialized Flex-Tec™ fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst based on a proprietary technology platform called DMS (Distributed Matrix Structures). Flex-Tec catalyst is designed to be used with the heaviest resid FCC feeds and includes MaxiMet™, a unique metals passivation technology, to mitigate the effects of contaminant metals found in these heavy feeds. Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC (MAP) operates an RCC™ (Reduced Crude Conversion) unit in its Catlettsburg, KY refinery. A trial of Flex-Tec catalyst in the RCC unit demonstrated clear performance benefits over the previous catalyst including improved activity stability, better coke selectivity, and higher bottoms conversion. This paper describes the cooperative efforts by Engelhard and MAP in this trial, including screening studies in both laboratories, RCC unit trial results, and post audit testing of equilibrium catalysts from the trial.