Petrolera

Catalytic craking
Catalytic Craking is used to convert heavy hydrocarbon fractions obtained by vacuum distillation into a mixture of more useful products such as petrol and light fuel oil. In this process, the feedstock undergoes a chemical breakdown, under controlled heat (450 -500 ºC) and pressure, in the presence of a catalyst – a substance which promotes the reaction without itself beingchemically changed. Small pellets of silica – alumina or silica – magnesia have proved to be the most effective catalyst.
The cracking reaction yields petrol, LPG, unsaturated olefin compounds, cracked gas oil, a liquid residue called cycle oil, light gases and a solid coke residue. Cycle oil is recycled to cause further breakdown and the coke, which forms a layer on the catalyst, is removed byburning. The other products are passed through a fractionators to be separated and separately processed.
Fluid catalytic cracking uses a catalyst in the form of a very fine powder which flows like a liquid when agitated by steam, air or vapour. Feedstock entering the process immediately meets a stream of very hot catalyst and vaporizes. The resulting vapours keep the catalyst fluidized as it passesinto the reactor, where the cracking takes place and where it is fluidised by the hydrocarbon vapour. The catalyst next passes to a steam stripping section where most of the volatile hydrocarbons are removed. It then passes to a regenerator vessel where it is fluidised by a mixture of air and the products of combustion which are produced as the coke on the catalyst is burnt off. The catalyst thenflows back to the reactor. The catalyst thus undergoes a continuous circulation between the reactor, stripper and regenerator sections.
The catalyst is usually a mixture of aluminium oxide and silica. Most recently, the introduction of synthetic zeolite catalysts has allowed much shorter reaction times and improved yields and octane numbers of the cracked gasolines.
Nº 11
Hydrocraking canincrease the yield of petrol components, as well as being used to produce light distillates. It produces no residues, only light oils. Hydrocracking is catalytic cracking in the presence of hydrogen. The extra hydrogen saturates, or hydrogenates the chemical bonds of the cracked hydrocarbons and creates isomers with the desired characteristics. Hydrocracking is also a treating process, because thehydrogen combines with contaminants such as sulphur and nitrogen, allowing them to be removed.
Gas oil feeds is mixed with hydrogen, heated, and sent to a reactor vessel with a fixed bed catalyst, where cracking and hydrogenation take place. Products are sent to a fractionator to be separated. The hydrogen is recycled.
Residue from this reaction is mixed again with hydrogen, reheated, and sent to asecond reactor for further cracking under higher temperatures and pressures.
In addition to cracked naphtha for making petrol, hydrocracking yields light gases useful for refinery fuel, or alkytation as well as components for high quality fuel oils, lube oils and petrochemical feedstocks.
Following the cracking processes it is necessary to build or rearrange some of the lighter hydrocarbonmolecules into high quality petrol or jet fuel blending components or into petrochemicals. The former can be achieved by several chemical process such as alkylation and isomerisation.
Alkylation. Olefins such as propylene and butylene are produced by catalytic and thermal cracking. Alkylation refers to the chemical bonding of these light molecules with isobutane to form larger branched-chain molecules(isoparaffins) that make high octane petrol.

Craking catalítico
Craking catalítico se utiliza para convertir fracciones pesadas de hidrocarburos obtenida por destilación al vacío en una mezcla de productos más útiles, tales como la gasolina y el aceite combustible ligero. En este proceso, la materia prima se somete a una degradación química, por medio de calor controlado (450 -500 º C) y...