Exploring FCC flexibility to produce mid-distillate and petrochemicals

PETR 78

William Richard Gilbert, gilbertw@petrobras.com.br, Andrea Resende Pinho, and Claudia M. A. Baptista. FCC Technology, PETROBRAS R&D Center, Cidade Universitaria Quadra 7, Ilha do Fundao, 21949-900 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
FCC was traditionally designed to convert heavy gasoil range feedstocks to high octane gasoline. Brazilian refineries have relied on FCC as the chief conversion process, but peculiarities of the local petroleum industry have forced refiners to change the FCC process, first to adapt to increasingly heavier feedstocks derived from national crude oils, and subsequently to change the product slate to comply with market demand, requiring less motor gasoline and more diesel oil and light olefins for petrochemicals. This paper will focus on this second set of process adaptations, including operating variables and choice of refinery processes schemes for low aromatics FCC products within crude oil choice constraints.