Oil refining: Cracking, Fluid catalytic cracking, Hydrogenation, Catalytic reforming, Hydrodesulfurization, Claus process, Merox, Alkylation

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 33. Chapters: Cracking, Fluid catalytic cracking, Hydrogenation, Catalytic reforming, Hydrodesulfurization, Claus process, Merox, Alkylation, Amine gas treating, Gas flare, Wet sulfuric acid process, SNOX flue gas desulfurisation, CrystaSulf, Dissolved air flotation, Petroleum coke, Rectisol, William Merriam Burton, Aqueous Wastes from Petroleum and Petrochemical Plants, Downstream, Induced gas flotation, Vegetable oil refining, ProMax, Selexol, Nelson complexity index, Acid gas, Penex, Shukhov cracking process, Basic sediment and water, Turnaround, K factor crude oil refining, Flotation process, Copper sweetening, Doctor sweetening process, Edeleanu process, H-Bio, HPC catalysts, Millisecond furnace, Winterization. Excerpt: Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is the most important conversion process used in petroleum refineries. It is widely used to convert the high-boiling, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum crude oils to more valuable gasoline, olefinic gases and other products. Cracking of petroleum hydrocarbons was originally done by thermal cracking which has been almost completely replaced by catalytic cracking because it produces more gasoline with a higher octane rating. It also produces byproduct gases that are more olefinic, and hence more valuable, than those produced by thermal cracking. The feedstock to an FCC is usually that portion of the crude oil that has an initial boiling point of 340 °C or higher at atmospheric pressure and an average molecular weight ranging from about 200 to 600 or higher. This portion of crude oil is often referred to as heavy gas oil. The FCC process vaporizes and breaks the long-chain molecules of the high-boiling hydrocarbon liquids into much shorter molecules by contacting the feedstock, at high temperature and moderate pressure, with a fluidized powdered catalyst. In ...