Enhancement of Olefins from Fluid Catalytic Cracking Processes: A Review on Effects of Catalysts and Kinetics

The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process continued to be the major source of olefins production with minimum CO₂ emissions and high energy efficiency. It produces approximately 60% of today’s total worldwide olefins demands. This communication presents a comprehensive review on the state-of-art of various approaches to enhance olefin productions from FCC process—meeting the ever-growing demand of olefins. It also emphasizes how the petroleum refineries are shifting their focus from transportation fuels to higher production of light olefins. In this regard, FCC is still the key process technology to produce increased volume of feedstocks toward olefins. Zeolite is the active ingredient of FCC catalysts, which also includes a matrix, binder, and filler to enhance the catalyst's physical strength. Apart from the qualities of the catalyst, the FCC unit's performance is dependent on the operating circumstances, which include the feed composition, temperature, residence duration, hydrocarbon partial pressure, and the catalyst-to-oil ratio (CTO). Therefore, it is very important to balance the catalyst composition and set the operating parameters to maximize the light olefins yields, especially propylene. Thus, the structural makeup of FCC catalysts, which includes zeolite Y and ZSM-5 as well as factors including reactor design, operating conditions, and kinetics modeling of olefin yields are all critically reviewed in this article. In addition, recent modifications in zeolite catalyst and its additives are also discussed in detail.