On June 18, 2019 the project “Development and commercial application of FCC catalyst for enhancing C4olefins yield” jointly undertaken by the SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP),the SINOPEC Shijiazhuang Refining and Chemical Branch Company (SRCBC), and the SINOPEC Catalyst Company, Ltd. had passed the technical appraisal of achievements organized by the Science and Technology Division of the Sinopec Corp. This technology has made great strides with obvious innovative nature in the area of development of technology for zeolite β modification and increase of the C4ole fins selectivity.

This project after studying the reaction chemistry relating to the formation and conversion of C4olefins in the course of catalytic cracking has confirmed that optimization of the isomerization and cracking reaction selectivity coupled with inhibition of hydrogen transfer reaction can serve as important measures for enhancing the selectivity and yield of C4olefins in the FCC products. The introduction of new zeolite component with high activity, high stability, and outstanding C4olefins selectivity can match reasonably with multiple catalytic materials to form a graded and oriented conversion technology platform, which has resulted in the development of HBC catalyst for increasing the C4ole fins yield.

Application of the HBC catalyst in the 2.2 Mt/a MIPCGP unit at SRCBC has revealed that when the similar feed oil was processed with an increment of the LPG yield being less than 2 percentage points, the yield of C4olefins increased by 0.52-0.82 percentage points, which was a surge of 11.97%―19.05%. The HBC catalyst has excellent residuum cracking ability to increase gasoline yield by 0.44―1.74 percentage points and boost the total yield of LPG and gasoline by 0.90―2.08 percentage points, resulting in an increased total liquid yield and an improved coke selectivity.

This technology with independent intellectual property rights has applied for 17 Chinese invention patents,among which 9 patents have been granted to RIPP.