To process high-acid crude oil by
catalytic cracking technology,
a coupled process (FCD–FCC) involving fluid catalytic deacidification
(FCD) of high-acid crude oil over a spent catalyst and fluid catalytic
cracking (FCC) of heavy oil over a regenerated catalyst was proposed.
Experiments were carried out in a confined fluidized bed reactor to
test the feasibility of this process. The results indicate that the
spent catalyst can be used for deacidification of high-acid crude
oil to restrain the overcracking of light fractions. The optimal reaction
conditions for the catalytic deacidification of Dar acidic crude oil
are a temperature of 460 °C, a catalyst-to-oil ratio of 5, and
a spent catalyst with a coke content of 1.26 wt %. Compared with the
direct catalytic cracking of Dar crude oil over a regenerated catalyst,
the yields of light oil and desired product increased by 6.10 and
6.78 wt % in the FCD–FCC process, respectively, and the olefin
content of naphtha decreased by approximately 16 wt %, although the
naphtha yield was lowered by 2.9 wt %. This strategy sheds new light
on the processing of high-acid crude oil.