Abstract: Aiming at the problem of excessive iron content on the FCC equilibrium catalyst of Sinopec Hainan Refining & Chemical Company, the sources and distribution characteristics of the iron on the equilibrium catalyst were analyzed. The analysis showed that the iron introduced by the catalyst production process (the iron contained in the fresh catalyst) is relatively low and stable, and its impact on the performance of equilibrium catalyst is small. The iron carried by FCC feedstock (exogenous iron) is the main source for iron on the equilibrium catalyst. It is found that the exogenous iron is from the crude oil transportation, storage and the corrosion of upstream processing units. The heavy oil without hydrogenation and the backwashing oil (bottom oil) from the residue hydrogenation unit became parts of FCC feedstock, which results in too high iron content in the FCC feedstock. Based on the analysis results, the improvement measures of reducing the iron content on the equilibrium catalyst were proposed.

Key words: fluid catalytic cracking, equilibrium catalyst, iron, feedstock, corrosion