Flexibility of DCC Process Technology and The Application in Chemical Refinery

The characteristics of catalytic cracking (DCC) and enhanced catalytic cracking (DCC-plus) technology and their relationship are briefly described. DCC-plus technology has higher propylene yield, dry gas and coke yield than DCC. obviously decrease.For a set of 2.2 Mt/a DCC-plus unit processing 50% atmospheric residue and 50% hydrocracking tail oil mixed feedstock, the ethylene and propylene yields reached 5.6% and 21.5%, respectively.The switching operation between two production modes of oil product scheme and olefin scheme was carried out for a set of 1.2 Mt/a DCC-plus unit.Compared with the oil product scheme, the propylene yield increased by 125.8% when operating is under the olefin scheme.The yields of cracked naphtha and cracked light oil decreased by 37.4% and 20.0%, respectively.The DCC technology is mature and reliable.The large-scale equipment and long-term operation have been industrially verified.For chemical-based refining processes centered on DCC units, the oil yield (total production of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel as a percentage of crude oil processed) can be as low as 16.0%.While the chemical ratio (the total production of propylene, aromatics and ethylene feedstock as a proportion of crude oil processing volume) is as high as 67.3%.Become a competitive technology choice for building a new generation of fully chemical refineries.

Catalytic Cracking (Deep Catalytic Cracking, DCC for short) is a technology developed by Sinopec Petrochemical Research Institute (referred to as Petrochemical Research Institute) to maximize the production of propylene by catalytic cracking of heavy oil. It is an international initiative to use heavy oil as raw material to directly produce propylene-based target products.

At present, our country's oil refining industry is faced with multiple challenges such as severe overcapacity, low plant operating rate, slowdown in the growth rate of refined oil consumption, and rapid development of new energy vehicles. Therefore, the structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading of oil refining enterprises is imminent.

After the first industrialization of DCC technology in 1990, it has been widely used at home and abroad. The largest 4.6 Mt/a industrial unit has been running continuously and stably in Saudi Rabigh Refinery Co., Ltd. for 12 years.Later, according to the market demand, an enhanced catalytic cracking (DCC-plus) technology was developed to increase the production of propylene and reduce the production of dry gas and coke. It has also been industrially promoted at home and abroad. The first DCC-plus industrial plant was installed in 2014. CNOOC Dongfang Petrochemical Co., Ltd. was completed and put into operation.DCC and DCC-plus technologies have played a huge role in the construction of chemical refineries and the transformation of refineries to chemical industries.