Modeling of an industrial riser in the fluid catalytic cracking unit

Abstract

Problem statement: The aim of this study is to obtain a model that can simulate the performance of an industrial fluid catalytic cracking unit in steady state. Approach: The reactions in the riser occur in a transported bed with the fluid and the solids in ideal plug flow. One of the main advantages of the model is that it does not include any partial differential equations. This facilitates the solution of the equations and makes the model particularly suitable for control studies. Results: To simulate the FCC riser, the four-lump model involved gas oil, gasoline, light gas and coke (to predict the Gas oil conversion and the product distribution) has been developed. Conclusion: Simulation studies are performed to investigate the effect of changing various process variables, such as temperature, catalyst circulation rate and gasoil feed rate. The calculated data of the product distribution were agreed well with the experimental results. © 2010 Science Publications.