Fluid catalytic cracking

<p>Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is the conversion process used in <a href="/facts/Oil_refinery/yeaW0UMv">petroleum refineries</a> to convert the high-boiling point, high-molecular weight <a href="/facts/Hydrocarbon/Dcg95Ju5">hydrocarbon</a> fractions of <a href="/facts/Petroleum/IQV0bHVd">petroleum</a> (crude oils) into <a href="/facts/Gasoline/lcnxq5BS">gasoline</a>, <a href="/facts/Alkene/RtYcS6kU">alkene</a> gases, and other petroleum products. The cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons was originally done by <a href="/facts/Thermal_cracking/EBLtwW4g">thermal cracking</a>, now virtually replaced by catalytic cracking, which yields greater volumes of high <a href="/facts/Octane_rating/LqkAlYbq">octane rating</a> gasoline; and produces by-product gases, with more carbon-carbon double bonds (i.e. alkenes), that are of greater economic value than the gases produced by thermal cracking.
</p><p>The <a href="/facts/Feedstock/cthCpclF">feedstock</a> to the FCC conversion process usually is heavy gas oil (HGO), which is that portion of the petroleum (crude oil) that has an initial <a href="/facts/Boiling_point/E2BK9QoS">boiling-point</a> temperature of 340 °C (644 °F) or higher, at <a href="/facts/Atmospheric_pressure/wJLMSaVG">atmospheric pressure</a>, and that has an average <a href="/facts/Molecular_weight/FWueGMed">molecular weight</a> that ranges from about 200 to 600 or higher; heavy gas oil also is known as "heavy vacuum gas oil" (HVGO). In the fluid catalytic cracking process, the HGO feedstock is heated to a high temperature and to a moderate pressure, and then is placed in contact with a hot, powdered <a href="/facts/Catalysis/LPBS7TQC">catalyst</a>, which breaks the long-chain <a href="/facts/Molecules/N9ljSfFq">molecules</a> of the high-boiling-point hydrocarbon liquids into short-chain molecules, which then are collected as a vapor.
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Fluid catalytic cracking open-in-new

Fluid catalytic cracking