Catalytic cracking is a chemical engineering refining process that breaks large, heavy hydrocarbon molecules in petroleum fractions into smaller, lighter molecules such as gasoline, by exposing the heated feedstock to a solid catalyst, typically a zeolite material, that speeds the breaking of carbon-carbon bonds at lower temperatures than thermal cracking alone requires. The most widely used form, fluid catalytic cracking, suspends powdered catalyst in the hydrocarbon vapor so it behaves like a fluid, allowing continuous processing and easy catalyst regeneration by burning off the carbon deposits that accumulate on it. Since its introduction in the petroleum industry in the 1930s and 1940s, catalytic cracking has been a principal method refineries use to increase the yield of gasoline from crude oil.
Facts
Core PrincipleHeavy, high-boiling hydrocarbon fractions of crude oil are heated and brought into contact with a hot powdered catalyst, which breaks the long hydrocarbon chains into shorter chains collected as vapor, yielding gasoline and other lighter petroleum products in higher volume and higher octane than the thermal cracking the process replaced. 1 Origin YearAlmer M. McAfee first put catalytic cracking into commercial use in 1915 at Gulf Refining Company using an aluminium chloride catalyst; the cost of that catalyst kept the process from wide use until Eugene Houdry's fixed bed process reached commercial scale in the 1930s and the fluidized bed version began operating at Baton Rouge in 1942. FAQs
How does catalytic cracking differ from thermal cracking?
Catalytic cracking adds a catalyst to heat and pressure, so it works more efficiently and under less severe conditions.
Both processes break heavy hydrocarbon molecules into lighter ones, primarily to produce gasoline and diesel fuel. Thermal cracking uses only heat and pressure. Catalytic cracking adds a catalyst, which achieves the same transformation more efficiently and under less severe conditions.
Connections
Sources
1. Fluid Catalytic Cracking (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationReactor and regenerator section
the HGO feedstock is heated to a high temperature and to a moderate pressure, and then is placed in contact with a hot, powdered catalyst, which breaks the long-chain molecules of the high-boiling-point hydrocarbon liquids into short-chain molecules, which then are collected as a vapor
History section
The first commercial use of catalytic cracking occurred in 1915 when Almer M. McAfee of Gulf Refining Company developed a batch process using aluminium chloride
In Group: Chemical Production Processes, Introduction
Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is the conversion process used in petroleum refineries to convert the high-boiling point, high-molecular weight hydrocarbon fractions of petroleum (crude oils) into gasoline, alkene gases, and other petroleum products.
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.