AM-92-13 FLUID CAT CRACKING - FIFTY YEARS AGO AND TODAY

Description:

To be exact, fifty years ago there was no commercial fluid cat cracking, but at that time this important event was only two months away...... May25,2:25 A.M. That was the beginning of the process that brought many of us here today to this meeting and continues to fill our working days, a process that is still evolving with eight or more direct papers on FCC at this meeting, and a process that continues to be the mainstay of profitability in conversion refineries. It seems appropriate to gain some perspective by examining the beginnings of all this activity......thestart-up of the first FCC unit . . . . ..and to briefly make some comparison of that single unit with the more than 350 operating FCC units today. This presentation will make no attempt to describe the related enormous growth of fluidization technology as a major component of chemical engineering and the application of fluid beds and fluid solids techniques throughout the chemical industry. The history of FCC, both the early research and development and also the numerous subsequent process innovations by many refiners and licensers, has been well documented (l-14), but a summary of events preceding the start-up will set the stage for that important event.