AM-10-166 Distillate Pool Maximization by Additional LCO Hydroprocessing

Description:

FCC light cycle oil (LCO) has long been a common component of feed to diesel hydrotreaters and more recently, there has been greater interest in processing higher quantities of LCO due to economic considerations and to meet the market demand for ULSD products. Increasing the quantity of LCO to the diesel hydrotreater has a number of impacts both on the performance of the hydrotreater and on the resulting ULSD product properties. Additional LCO has the combined effect of lowering the diesel pool cetane as well as limiting end of run (EOR) by making it difficult to maintain diesel ASTM color specifications. This paper will discuss several options refiners have in using the additional LCO while gaining back both end of cycle life as well as the needed cetane improvements.