【Weekly Question】Design load of catalytic cracking units and current operational bottlenecks
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If you work on catalytic cracking units, please state the design capacity of your unit and whether it is currently meeting that capacity; if not, identify the current bottlenecks. Do not reply meaninglessly, otherwise you will be banned for a week.
The plant with a capacity of 600,000 tons per year (operating 8,000 hours per year) is currently operating at full capacity; the current drawn by the feedstock pumps has reached its rated value, so it’s not possible to increase the operation level any further. Additionally, when the properties of the feedstock change and become more viscous, the heat absorption requirements both inside and outside the plant increase, forcing a reduction in production volume
The plant is designed for a capacity of 1.4 million tons per year (with 8,000 operating hours per year), and it is currently operating at around 70% of its capacity; the reason for this is poor sales of gasoline and high levels of gasoline inventory
It was designed for 1 million, but due to the high bed temperature during the mixing of raw materials, it’s not possible to remove the heat. Additionally, most of the pumps operate with high current levels. Moreover, there are issues related to the backup systems (for example, the hydrogenation unit is designed for a smaller scale and cannot handle such large volumes), etc. Therefore, it’s only possible to maintain the current level
Our company has a set with a capacity of 80 WT/a, which is currently operating at 100%. But mainly, the sulfur content in the raw materials is high, causing severe catalyst poisoning and frequent replacement; moreover, the sulfur content in the product exceeds the specified limits, which requires an expansion of the hydrogenation and refining capacity.
Designed for 1.2 million tons per year; currently it’s around 90 tons per year, mainly due to the poor quality of the feed oil
Currently, the main issue seems to be the increased severity of the properties of the raw materials as well as their lower quality; catalytic units are generally not well-suited to handle these conditions, resulting in a decline in yield and energy consumption.
Designed for 800,000 tons per year; current capacity is 700,000 tons per year. The main reasons are: 1. Insufficient raw materials; 2. Poor quality of raw materials, with high levels of heavy metals – the NI level can reach up to 20,000, with an average of 14,000 – leading to severe catalyst poisoning; 3. Insufficient external heat removal capacity, so when a large amount of coke is generated, it is not possible to meet the heat removal requirements within the regenerator; 4. During this cycle, the first regenerator did not perform well in terms of coke combustion, resulting in frequent secondary combustion. 5. Salt formation in the distillation system
600,000 tons of small catalysts – there’s no place to store the processing volume, residual fuel, dry gas, bed temperature, or gasoline^O^ It’s a tragedy, with so much of it.
Considering the construction of supporting facilities, are the products hard to buy? If it does not meet national standard requirements, it can be sold to intermediaries. Finding ways to ensure stable operation is the foundation, while managing things well is the guarantee!
1.8 million, 70% load; it has just started operation and the cost has not been determined yet