FCC Catalyst Testing

Your Preferred Catalyst Partner

Alfa Chemistry Catalysts

Inquiry Now

Why do we need FCC catalyst testing?

Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) technology has been (and still is) one of the most important conversion processes in refineries. The core of the FCC device is the catalyst itself, and research and development of FCC catalysts with stable activity is very important.

Before being used in an actual FCC device, fresh FCC catalysts need to be evaluated to predict the performance of the device, so that customers can make important decisions about the operation of the device.

Alfa Chemistry Catalysts provides customers with suitable candidate solutions for FCC catalyst testing. Whether for standalone catalysts or co-catalysts, hydrothermal effect and metal deposition are the two main factors that affect catalyst deactivation in commercial FCC installations. Therefore, it is of great significance to evaluate the potential of cleavage activity and yield selectivity.

Services

• MTA micro-activity testing

The MTA Micro Activity Test Unit is a fully automated laboratory-scale reaction system designed to evaluate the equilibrium activity of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts.

Optional:

Single run - Strictly comply with ASTM methods

Mutirun (4 or 8 runs)

Co-processing - Biomass feed

• FCC catalyst deactivation testing

The FCC catalyst deactivation device is a fully automated laboratory-scale reaction system designed to evaluate FCC catalyst deactivation.

Optional:

Hydrothermal Passivation/Steam - ASTM D4463

Mitchel Metal Impregnation - MM

Cyclic metal impregnation - CMI

Cyclic propylene steaming - ASTM D7206

Other Abilities

Including fixed bed, fixed fluidized bed, single-pass or circulating pilot test or chemical reactor engineering center (CREC) riser simulator.

Applications

• To study the uncertain effects of introducing bio-oil into a catalytic cracking unit, the researchers used a micro-activity test (MAT) setting to compare the co-processing of dry-heat bio-oil, catalytic pyrolysis oil, and hydro-treated bio-oil. Experiments have shown that the concentration of bio-oil in the process of co-processing should be kept low to avoid the formation of high coke.

Figure 1. Characterization of MAT feedstocks and products with different amounts of dry bio-oil (wt%) by simulated distillation.

• Researchers test the cracking performance of reference and metal-contaminated catalysts in the micro-activity test (MAT) unit. It is used to study the influence of iron and calcium metal organic pollutants deposited on fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts on the stability, activity and selectivity of the catalyst through cyclic deactivation treatment. Studies have found that iron pollution reduces catalyst activity through two different mechanisms. At low iron concentrations, the inactivation is mainly due to the direct poisoning of acidic sites, while at high iron concentrations, the inactivation is mainly due to pore blockage.

Figure 2. Variation of the MAT conversion in function of the iron content on catalyst at different catalyst-to-oil ratios.

References

1. Christian Lindfors. (2015). "Co-processing of Dry Bio-oil, Catalytic Pyrolysis Oil, and Hydrotreated Bio-oil in a Micro Activity Test Unit." Energy Fuels 29(6): 3707–3714.
2. Yannick Mathieu. (2014). "Single and combined Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) catalyst deactivation by iron and calcium metal–organic contaminants." Applied Catalysis A: General 469(17): 451-465.