Short contact time experiments in a novel benchscale FCC riser reactor

Abstract Catalyst testing for fluidised catalytic cracking (FCC) process is one of the important means to keep or enhance its profitability. One of the key factors is the selection of the testing reactor. In this paper a discussion is given concerning reactor selection for FCC catalyst testing. A novel reactor is introduced, called the microriser reactor, capable of producing intrinsic kinetic data. The flow behaviour of the catalyst in this entrained flow reactor is investigated in a cold flow model and operating conditions for plug flow were found. Two commercial catalysts were tested under industrial conditions at different contact times in the novel microriser reactor. The residence time was varied from 5.0 downto 0.7 seconds. The data show that coke deposition takes place at a time span of tenths of seconds. Primary gasoline production rates were obtained.