Effect of Aluminum Phosphate Species as New Matrix Component on Cracking Performance of FCC Catalyst with or without ZSM-5 Additive

Higher propylene production inside fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units is strongly desired to satisfy the increasing demand for petrochemical feedstock in recent years. Although propylene production can be increased via physical mixing of a suitable catalyst containing ZSM-5 (commonly referred to as additive) with FCC catalyst, this technique is usually associated with increased amount of distillate containing heavy fuel oil such as slurry oil (SLO). In this study, the effect of aluminum phosphate ([Al-P]) as a new matrix component was investigated. The use of an additive with FCC catalyst containing [Al-P] successfully formed liquefied petroleum gas containing propylene in higher yield compared with conventional FCC catalyst containing rare-earth, and suppressed the undesirable increase in SLO yield. This catalytic system has high potential for use in FCC units.