Kaolin and commercial fcc catalysts in the cracking of loads of polypropylene under refinary conditions

Abstract

The efficiency of Commercial FCC catalysts (low, medium and high activities) was evaluated by the catalytic cracking process of combined feeds of polypropylene (PP) and vaseline, using a microactivity test unit (M.A.T.) for the production of fuel fractions (gasoline, diesel and residue). The PP/vaseline loads, at 2.0% and 4.0% wt, were processed under refinery conditions (load/catalyst ratio and temperature of process). For the PP/vaseline load (4.0% wt), the production of the gasoline fraction was favored by all catalysts, while the diesel fraction was favored by PP/vaseline load (2.0% wt), showing a preferential contact of the zeolite external surface with the end of the polymer chains for the occurrence of the catalytic cracking. All the loads produced a bigger quantity of the gaseous products in the presence of highly active commercial FCC catalyst. The improvement in the activity of the commercial FCC catalyst decreased the production of the liquid fractions and increased the quantity of the solid fractions, independent of the concentration of the loads. These results can be related to the difficulty of the polymer chains to access the catalyst acid sites, occurring preferentially end-chain scission at the external surface of the catalyst.