35
December
2014
HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
F
luid catalytic cracking (FCC) technology has
been a part of the petroleum industry since
it was introduced in the US in 1942 to help
feed the voracious appetite of the first
truly mechanised war effort. It remains one of the
most important conversion processes used in
petroleum refineries today. This process is widely
used to convert the high molecular weight
hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum crude oils to
more valuable gasoline, olefins, and other products.
The FCC process vaporises and breaks the molecules
of the long chain hydrocarbons into much shorter
molecules by contacting the feedstock, at high
temperature and moderate pressure, with a catalyst.
The FCC process occurs in a portion of the
refinery referred to as the fluid catalytic cracking unit
(FCCU), which contains, among various other ancillary
pieces of equipment, a pair of fluidised bed vessels
Tim Connors, Ted Collins and
Jeffrey Bolebruch, Blasch
Precision Ceramics, Inc., USA,
offer insights in material selection
for abrasive applications with
specific reference to the use of
abrasion resistant alumina bonded
silicon carbide air grid nozzles.
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