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On February 26, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the list of the first batch of advanced and applicable technologies. As the industrial catalytic cracking technology worldwide that uses low-quality heavy oil as raw material and achieves the highest propylene yield, the high-efficiency catalytic cracking of heavy oil (RTC, also known as DCC Pro) technology independently developed by the Petroleum Chemical Science Research Institute was successfully selected. This technology is suitable for traditional oil refining companies or integrated oil and chemical enterprises, and can be applied to newly built catalytic cracking units as well as to renovation projects of catalytic cracking units in existing oil refining companies. Targeting the \"difficult challenge\" of low-quality heavy oil to ensure **energy security**: At present, low-quality heavy oil accounts for the largest share of raw materials used in China’s petrochemical industry. In the long run, the trend toward increasingly low-quality crude oil is inevitable. The efficient production of low-carbon olefins from low-quality heavy oil holds significant strategic importance for ensuring the security of the industrial chain in China’s petrochemical industry. “The biggest challenge in catalytic cracking technology in our country is that existing technologies, both domestic and international, all face the problem of being unable to process low-quality heavy oil to varying degrees. ”Wang Zijun, deputy dean of the Institute of Petrology, explained that low-quality heavy oil is difficult to use as a raw material for producing ethylene and propylene, as the reaction process has poor selectivity, resulting in low yields of ethylene and propylene. Moreover, high levels of by-products such as dry gas and coke are produced, and the carbon emissions associated with this process are also significant. ” Original innovation in the form of \"meticulous utilization of coarse grains\" has filled a technical gap in China. Drawing on new insights into the reaction chemistry of the catalytic cracking process, process intensification, and the molecular structure of hydrogenated residue oil, the R&D team from the Institute of Petrology took the reactor as a key element for development and created a new type of highly efficient and rapid fluidized bed reactor, which is the first of its kind in the world. According to Gong Jianhong, the chief expert at the Institute of Rock and Mineral Sciences and head of the Second Research Laboratory, the R&D team conducted in-depth studies on the expansion principles of catalytic cracking reactions as well as the fluid structure characteristics of gas-solid reactions. Through a unique internal structure design, the reactor was enabled to exhibit characteristics of \"quasi-full concentration phase, quasi-uniform flow velocity, and quasi-uniform temperature.\" “Through original innovations in the reactor, we have addressed the issues associated with existing low-quality heavy oil catalytic cracking technologies, such as poor mass and heat transfer efficiency and low selectivity of the catalytic reactions, enabling the easy processing of previously difficult-to-process low-quality heavy oils. ”Gong Jianhong said, “The reactor with its unique structure significantly improves the selectivity of the reaction process during production, resulting in higher yields of ethylene and propylene and lower yields of coke, which greatly enhances the quality of the gasoline products produced.” ” Following the breakthroughs achieved in the new type of high-efficiency, rapid fluidized-bed reactor, the R&D team built on this success by making successive advancements in areas such as process and engineering scale-up, ultimately developing the heavy oil high-efficiency catalytic cracking (RTC) technology. This technology has become the industrial catalytic cracking method with the highest propylene yield worldwide when using low-quality heavy oil as raw material; **13 invention patents were filed, all of which were granted ； 20 applications were filed for foreign invention patents, and 15 patents have been granted in countries and regions such as the United States, Japan, Singapore, and India; the core technologies are under independent control. “The core of RTC technology lies in the innovatively developed rapid fluidized bed reactor, which fits well with existing catalytic cracking units and refining processes. Refining companies can use RTC technology to build new catalytic cracking units or upgrade existing ones, thereby enabling a transformation from fuel-oriented refineries to chemical-oriented refineries and facilitating high-quality development. ”When releasing the first list of advanced and applicable technologies, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology gave high praise to RTC technology. “Effective measures to save costs and increase efficiency have significantly aided the transformation and upgrading of Anqing Petrochemical. In June 2023, a heavy oil catalytic cracking unit with an annual capacity of 3 million tons, utilizing the RTC technology developed by the China Petroleum Research Institute, was put into operation at Anqing Petrochemical. This facility is the world’s first rapid fluidized-bed catalytic cracking unit and the largest of its kind in China, effectively filling the technical gap in China for producing low-carbon olefins from low-quality heavy oils. It is reported that the various test results from Anqing Petrochemical’s RTC unit show that this technology excels at processing difficult feedstocks; the quality fraction of hydrogenated residue oil in the raw materials used can exceed 50%, indicating its strong ability to handle tough feedstocks. At the same time, the product structure can be adjusted with high flexibility; it is possible to adapt to market and processing demands by switching between chemical material production and gasoline production modes as needed. “Under the gasoline production mode, the gasoline yield reaches 36.9%, while the propylene yield can still reach 15%, and there is potential to further reduce the ratio of diesel to gasoline. Under the chemical feed production mode, the yields of ethylene and propylene are 4.34% and 19.14%, respectively, with a selectivity for low-carbon olefins and light aromatics of about 50%. ”Prince Jun explained. After the implementation of RTC technology, the overall processing processes and product structure at Anqing Petrochemical were significantly optimized. The yield of dienes across the plant increased by 6.63%, while the yield of aromatics rose by 9.2%. Complete conversion of catalytic diesel was achieved, and the internal rate of return on the project investment exceeded 13%, providing a powerful technological drive for the transformation and development of Anqing Petrochemical. **Ministries take the lead in promoting further achievements on this new journey. In August 2023, RTC technology was included in the \"Catalogue of Technologies and Products Encouraged for Adoption in the Petrochemical Industry (Second Batch)\)\" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, becoming one of the 28 technologies and products recommended for adoption in this sector. In January 2024, the **Energy Bureau announced the ‘Top 10 Scientific and Technological Innovations in the Energy Sector for 2023’. The key innovation of RTC technology, namely the ‘new type of high-efficiency and rapid fluidized-bed catalytic cracking reactor’, was included in this list. The Energy Bureau praised it for ‘solving the industry challenge of being unable to efficiently convert low-quality heavy oil into low-carbon olefins’ and for ‘filling the technical gap in producing low-carbon olefins from such oil’. On November 14, 2024, the acceptance meeting for the project \"Key Technologies for Increasing the Production of Low-Carbon Olefins and BTX from Heavy Feedstocks\", which involves RTC technology, was held at Anqing Petrochemical. At the meeting, the expert group noted that the RTC unit has been operating continuously at Anqing Petrochemical for over 500 days. During this period, the Group’s Science and Technology Department organized three calibrations under different operating conditions, modes, and load levels. The results of these calibrations showed that the RTC unit has strong adaptability to various feedstocks and a flexible production process, with particularly outstanding capabilities in processing heavy oil. The expert group unanimously agreed that the project met the acceptance criteria and recommended its widespread adoption. To date, RTC technology has been licensed for 6 industrial plants, with a total processing capacity of 17.4 million tons per year. One unit has been put into operation, while three units with a capacity of 3 million tons per year are under construction; these will effectively ensure the security of the industrial chain in China’s petrochemical industry and help petrochemical companies to transform and upgrade.