Cracking of Heavy Oil

1) Cracking is a process of breaking down heavy oil with higher molecular weight
compounds to oil with lower molecular weight compounds.
2) Thus heavy oil is heated under pressure and in presence of catalyst to obtain lower
fractions.
3) Cracking of heavy oil is done because mostly it is found that higher fractions of
heavy oil do not find wide range of applications but lower fractions do.
4) There are two methods of cracking
1) Thermal cracking
a) Liquid phase
b) Vapor phase
2) Catalytic cracking
a) Fixed Bed
b) Moving or Fluidized Bed

1) Thermal Cracking
a) Liquid phase thermal cracking
1) In this method the oil is pumped into the coil kept at a temperature of 420-550 oC
under a pressure of 15-100 kg/ cm 2. As the temperature rises a better quality of
gasoline is obtained.
2) The gasoline obtained by this method has low octane value i.e. 65-70. Thus it is
mixed with higher octane value gasoline and then used in engines
b) Vapor phase thermal cracking
1)In this method firstly the heavy oil is heated in the heater at 400 oC to convert it into
vapors and then these vapors are passed through the reaction chamber which is
maintained at 600-650oC and under a pressure of 10-20 kg/cm 2
2) The octane value of the petrol obtained ranges between 75-80.

2)Catalytic Cracking

1) In this type of cracking, rather than in presence of heat and pressure cracking is
carried out in the presence of catalyst.
2) Generally used catalysts are crystalline substances e.g. bauxite, zeolite, bentonite
etc
3) In this process cracking of heavy oils gives lower hydrocarbons out of which one is
saturated and other unsaturated.
E.g. n-hexadecane

cracking

octane + octane.

There are two types of catalytic cracking

a) Fixed bed catalytic cracking
b) Moving bed catalytic cracking

a) Fixed Bed Catalytic Cracking

1) In this method firstly the heavy oil is vaporized by heating in an electric heater. Then
the vapors. Are passed over series of trays containing the catalyst. The catalysts
used are alumino silicate, bauxite and zeolites
2) The reaction chamber is kept at a temperature of 425-540 o C and of a pressure of
1.5 kg/cm2
3) The cracked gases are taken out from the top of the reaction chamber and passed
into the fractionating column where gasoline fraction is collected. The gasoline
obtained by this method has an octane value of 80-85
4) During the cracking free carbon gets deposited on the catalyst. Then the flow of
vapors of the heavy oil is passed on to the second set of reaction chamber and the
catalyst in earlier chamber is regenerated by burning the carbon with the help of oil
and hence reused.
b) Moving / Fluidised Bed Catalytic Cracking

Process:
1. In the modern refineries, mostly fuidised bed catalytic cracking is used
2. In this method, firstly the mixture of heavy oil and catalyst are heated in still to
convert the heavy oil into vapours
3. These vapours along with the catalyst are passed to the cracker which is maintained
at a temperature of 550 570o C and atmosphere pressure
4. In the cracker the vapour and hot catalyst come in intimate contact with each other
and the heavy oil is hence cracked
5. The low boiling hydrocarbons move up to the top of the cracker which are passed
through the cyclone separator while the catalyst remains in the cracker
6. These cracked gases are then passed through the fractionating column to have
three major fractions
1. Gasoline
2. Middle Oil
3. Heavy Oil
7. The gasoline obtained is then cooled and purified to remove the impurities if present
Regeneration of exhausted catalyst

1) Catalyst used in the cracking of heavy oil gets deactivated due to deposition of free
carbon on the catalyst
2) The deactivated catalyst is taken from the bottom of the cracker and brought into
regenerator where it is heated to about 500 o C in the presence of hot air to burn CO2
which is taken out from top of the regenerator
3) The regenerated catalyst is then passed to the cracker used for cracking.
Advantages of Catalytic Cracking Over Thermal Cracking
1) The cracking reaction can be carried out at lower temperature and pressure
2) The cracking is specific in nature and gives better quality of gasoline
3) Octane value off gasoline is higher by catalytic process, hence better for petrol
engine.
Comparison between Thermal and Catalytic cracking

1)

2)

Thermal Cracking
In this method heavy oils are cracked
by heating them to high temperature
and pressure
Temperature and pressure is of high
range as,
a) Liquid phase: T = 420-550o C
P= 15-100 kg\cm2
b)
Vapors phase : T = 600-650o C
P = 15-20 kg\cm2

1)

3)

4)

Octane value of cracked fraction

range from 60-80
Cracking is not specific

4)

Temperature and pressure is of low

range as,
a) Fixed bed : T = 425-550o C
P= 1.5 kg\cm2
b) Moving bed : T = 550-570o C
P = Very low
Octane value of cracked fraction
ranges from 80-90
Cracking is specific

5)

Yield % of gasoline is low

5)

Yield % of gasoline is high

6)

Efficiency is low and not commonly

used in refineries
Initial and operating cost is high

6)

Efficiency is high and used in modern

refineries
Initial cost is high but operating cost is
low.

3)

7)

2)

Catalytic Cracking
In this method heavy oils are cracked
using small amount of catalyst.

7)