Title : Production of zeolites by conversion of kaolin for application in the process of catalytic cracking in fluidized bed
Abstract:
The Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) process of petroleum is employed in the petrochemical industry to transform the heavy fractions of distillation residues into light products with higher demand and added value, such as gasoline and LPG. The FCC process employs zeolitic catalysts to promote molecular cleavage reactions and is therefore a heterogeneous catalytic process. The main zeolite used in the process, type Y, has a crystalline structure and well-defined pores. Therefore, this work has as main objective the production of Y zeolites by adaptation of the standard method IZA. Given the different and main forms of zeolites production, such as the Hydrogel process and conversion of kaolin tailings, the second option was chosen due to the fact that it presents greater product stability and efficiency. In view of the elaboration of the block diagram involving the mass balance, it was necessary to define a nominal capacity resulting in 1225 ton/day of zeolite Y. The economic viability analysis showed that the company will have an annual revenue of 6,706,875,000 USD/year and the indicators (VPL, TIR, TL and Payback) proved that the implementation of the factory in Angola is possible and feasible.
Keywords: Heterogeneous catalyst, FCC process, zeolite y, kaolin
