Advances in DCC Process and Catalyst for Propylene Production from Heavy Oils

In the past several decades, SINOPEC has devoted continuously great efforts to the development of DCC technology, the only commercial process using heavy feeds aiming at propylene production. Recently, a series of research breakthroughs have been achieved in molecular refining. Based on the detailed analysis on the complex DCC reaction network, an innovative catalyst technology has been developed to Optimize Catalysis Kinetics (OCK in brief). The deepcracking process can be improved with optimizing the availability of the active sites. The updated MFI and beta zeolites are used to boost the propylene selectivity. The latest generation catalyst DMMC-1 has been applied commercially. Compared with the best historical records in the past, the propylene yield upon application of the catalyst DMMC-1 increases by 2.4 m% coupled with an improved distribution of products. The DCC technology continues to assume a leading position for manufacturing propylene from heavy feedstocks.