The Project “Development and Commercial Application of Technology for Selective Pyrolysis of Heavy Oil” Passed SINOPEC’s Technical Appraisal

On January 7, 2015 the project “Development and commercial application of technology for selective pyrolysis of heavy oil” jointly undertaken by the SINOPEC Research Institute of Petroleum Processing (RIPP), Yangzhou Petrochemical Limited Liability Company (YPLLC) and Qilu Catalyst Branch Company had passed the technical appraisal organized by the Science and Technology Division of the Sinopec Corp.

The researchers have studied on the molecular level the reaction chemistry involving the formation of propylene originated from the primary pyrolysis of residuum and the secondary pyrolysis of intermediate products, and launched the knowledge innovation and engineering integrated innovation for enhancing the selectivity of propylene formed during catalytic pyrolysis to propound the technical idea and commercial pathways for implementation of resid selective pyrolysis (MCP technology) to increase propylene output and reduce the dry gas and coke yields. Application of the newly developed MCP technology and the designated catalysts for catalytic pyrolysis can on the basis of effectively enhancing reaction selectivity of resid pyrolysis increase propylene yield, while concurrently suppressing the formation of dry gas and coke along with improvements in cetane rating of diesel fraction.

The outcome of calibration tests of the 250 kt/a commercial MCP unit has revealed that this unit upon processing atmospheric resid originated from North Jiangsu crude could achieve a total liquid yield of 80.23%, among which the propylene yield reached 17.05%. In comparison with the performance of resid pyrolysis unit before retrofitting, the commercial MCP unit has increased the propylene yield by 90.29%, while the dry gas and coke yield has decreased by 34.88% along with a definite increase in gasoline octane rating and diesel cetane number. The commercial MCP unit has been providing obvious economic benefits without any special environmental concerns.