【Ten Years of Great Progress in Chemical Technology】Application of mesoporous molecular sieve technology sets in catalytic cracking of 1.2 million tons of heavy oil from 2015 to 2018

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Ten years of rapid development in chemical engineering technology – praising the prosperity and strength of modern China. This is just a starting point; more participation will make things even more interesting. With you here, HaiChuan becomes even better. [Ten years of progress in chemical engineering equipment] – continuous updates and summaries available; feel free to join the discussions at https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html. Enhance quality awareness and promote high-quality development. -----------------------------------------On November 13, 2018, the mesoporous molecular sieve technology developed by the China National Petroleum Corporation’s Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology was successfully applied in Lanzhou Petrochemical’s 1.2 million tons per year heavy oil catalytic cracking unit. Industrial application results show that, alongside a comprehensive improvement in product distribution and a 30% reduction in catalyst consumption, the olefin content in gasoline decreased from 35% to 30%, reaching as low as 28.3%. According to the assessment by a **first-level novelty search institution, there are no reports of FCC catalysts containing mesoporous molecular sieves being used in large-scale catalytic cracking units; this indicates that the level of application of mesoporous molecular sieve technology at the China National Petroleum and Chemical Research Institute is among the highest in the world. As a bridge connecting the macropores and micropores of catalysts, mesoporous molecular sieves hold great promise for use in the cracking of macromolecules. However, their application in catalytic cracking catalysts remains a global challenge due to high production costs and hydrothermal stability that does not meet the stringent requirements of such reactions. To address these key scientific issues that hinder the development of mesoporous molecular sieve technology, a joint research team composed of Professor Gao Xionghou from the China National Petroleum Corporation’s Research Institute of Petroleum and Petrochemicals and Professor Liu Hongtao’s team from Beijing University of Chemical Technology conducted in-depth research over more than 10 years, achieving significant breakthroughs in the structural design of mesoporous molecular sieves as well as the development of corresponding synthesis methods. The project team developed a pore wall pseudocrystalline assembly method to enhance stability, created a pre-added high-content tetra-coordinated aluminum compound to increase acidity, and invented a low-cost new method for synthesizing mesoporous molecular sieves using a seed crystal approach in high-concentration systems. This approach increased hydrothermal stability by 2.5 times, raised the acid content by nearly 1 time, and reduced the production cost of molecular sieves by 70%. It overcame numerous challenges associated with transitioning from laboratory-scale experiments to industrial production, and developed a complete set of technologies for the industrial, continuous production of low-cost, environmentally friendly, and high-performance mesoporous molecular sieves. After the development of the low-cost, highly hydrothermally stable, and highly acidic mesoporous molecular sieve MASTER-1, the in-situ crystallization research team at the Refining Institute of Lanzhou Chemical Engineering Research Center, affiliated with the Petrochemical Research Institute, used mesoporous molecular sieves as functional components to develop the LPC-65 catalyst, which effectively reduces the olefin content in catalytic gasoline; this catalyst was then applied in Lanzhou Petrochemical’s 1.2 million tons per year heavy oil catalytic cracking unit. This is the first time that mesoporous molecular sieves have been used on a large scale in catalytic cracking units with capacities of millions of tons; the MASTER-1 molecular sieve demonstrated good hydrothermal stability and the ability to convert heavy oil. This industrial verification not only creates the conditions for the use of mesoporous molecular sieves in petroleum refining catalysts such as catalytic cracking and hydrocracking, but also provides new approaches to improving the reaction efficiency in catalytic processes in areas such as fine chemicals and environmental protection. It holds significant scientific value for advancing the development of catalysis research as well as the molecular sieve industry.