Application of Zeolites in Fluid Catalytic Cracking and Related Processes.

The first serious advance in commercial catalytic cracking was achieved by the Houdry group in the late thirties. In the early sixties Union Carbide made the synthesis of faujasite zeolites, and found that they had a very high cracking activity. When they were later introduced by Mobil into commercial operation, a dramatic change in FCC was produced. Modern cracking catalysts are made of some 20% zeolite dispersed in a matrix, which can be more or less active depending on formulation. In these catalysts most of the activity and selectivity comes from the zeolite, and therefore much attention is given to the study and optimization of this component. In order to find cut the key parameters in a zeolite which determine its behavior in a cracking process, one should see the conditions that the catalyst will encounter when in use.