The kinetics of FCC pretreatment 

Topsoe’s BRIM™ FCC feed pretreatment catalysts are recognised for their high activity and excellent stability.

Our catalyst and licensed technology is based on a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and the kinetics involved in FCC pretreatment. Based on our knowledge of how to control the ratio between active sites for hydrogenation and the sites active for hydrogenolysis on the catalysts, we are able to offer high-activity catalysts for  any application.

FCC pretreatment applications

Topsoe's FCC pretreatment catalyst and licensed technology may be used for all types of FCC pretreatment applications, including:

High HDS FCC pretreatment
Production of FCCU feeds with different levels of sulphur, nitrogen and aromatics in order to achieve the optimal conversion and FCCU product properties eg with less than 10 wt ppm sulphur in the FCC gasoline stream from straight-run and cracked feedstock.

High HDN FCC pretreatment
FCC feeds typically contain high concentrations of nitrogen, particularly if they contain coker derived stocks. Nitrogen is a poison for the FCC catalyst resulting in lower conversion, higher coke and poor naphtha yields, and a main function of the FCC pretreater is to reduce nitrogen levels. For a given FCC feed and pressure we are able to offer catalysts with the highest possible HDN activity.

FCC pretreatment combined with deep dearomatisation
Topsoe's Aroshift licensed technology and catalyst is used in combination with sulphur removal to lower heavier aromatics. This results in improved performance of the FCCU with a higher yield of LPG, propylene, butylenes and high octane gasoline as well as a reduced yield of the low quality products such as LCO.

Demet catalyst
Many FCC pretreatment feeds contain considerable amounts of metals such as Ni and V thus requiring a layer of demet catalyst to protect the main bed catalyst.  Topsoe has developed a line of demet catalysts especially designed for metals pick up and silica pick up in FCC pretreatment service to maximize the overall cycle length.

Topsoe's BRIM™ catalysts

For FCC pretreatment Topsoe offers several BRIM™ catalysts. Topsoe's BRIM™ catalysts are based on in-house fundamental research and are recognised as having a high activity for removal of sulphur, nitrogen, aromatics, metals and feed impurities, thus resulting in a better performance of the FCCU with increased yields of high-value products such as liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and gasoline. BRIM™ catalysts are also ideal for meeting the required sulphur levels in gasoline. In addition, BRIM™ catalysts exhibit high stability and low hydrogen consumption and have demonstrated improved performance and cycle length in numerous pretreaters.

Selection of the best catalyst for a given service will depend on operating pressure, the sulphur components present in the feed and the nature and amounts of inhibitors such as nitrogen compounds, and the content of metals and feed impurities.