Neorius | Advanced Refining and Chemical Technologies

Heavy Oil Acid-Alkali Catalytic Technology

Currently, the catalytic cracking (or catalytic pyrolysis) process technology for the production of low-carbon olefins faces several issues:

The quality of raw materials for catalytic units is gradually declining, with heavy reliance on heavy oil hydrotreatment technology to optimize product distribution.

The process is long and the processing cost is high.Increasing reaction severity to boost low-carbon olefin production results in an increase in methane and coke yield, causing a decrease in olefin selectivity.

Based on innovations in catalytic materials and new discoveries in reaction mechanisms, we have developed Heavy Oil Acid-Alkali Catalytic Technology, which achieves a reduction in oil yield and coke formation, while significantly broadening feedstock compatibility.

Furthermore, by adjusting the acidity and alkali content of the catalyst, we have developed a fully replaceable acid-alkali balanced catalyst for heavy oil processing, which provides an optimized acid-alkali catalytic effect. By using this fully replaceable BCC catalyst, the heavy oil conversion rate increases by 1 percentage point, the LPG yield increases by 0.9 percentage points, and the gasoline olefin content decreases by 1 percentage point.

Key Features & Benefits

Broader Feedstock Compatibility

This technology enhances the heavy oil conversion capability, allowing catalytic cracking units to process a higher proportion of low-quality heavy oils, thereby solving the refinery-wide heavy oil processing balance issue.

Energy saving and carbon reduction

Catalytic cracking units applying this technology have reduced coke yield by more than 10%, solving the bottleneck of increasing processing load.

Flexible Solutions

The technology enables two product schemes—gasoline-rich and LPG-rich—which can be adjusted flexibly based on market demand.

Case Study

Here's a case study of an application at a Sichuan Petrochemical plant in China for reference.

Unit Bottleneck:

The heavy oil catalytic cracking unit adopts the MIP process, utilizing hydrogenated residue oil as feedstock. The feed quality is poor, leading to a high coke yield, which affects unit load (90%) and product distribution, failing to meet design specifications and impacting the refinery’s heavy oil processing balance and economic efficiency.

Significant Results:

Compared to the baseline, during the calibration period with poorer feedstock quality, coke yield decreased by 0.79 percentage points, and propylene yield increased by 0.35 percentage points.

This technology is well-established and scalable, enabling light hydrocarbon conversion with minimal or no modifications to existing units. By replacing the specialized catalysts, facilities can achieve efficient transformation under optimized operating windows. The catalyst has been commercially produced and is ready for large-scale industrial application.