Membrane emulsification enhanced co-cracking fossil-based heavy oil and bio-heavy oil

Fluid catalytic cracking（FCC）of heavy oil is one of the main processes for propylene production, while limited by the poor yield. The co-cracking reaction of fossil-based heavy oil (FHO) and bio-heavy oil (BHO) increased the yield of high value propylene from 10.61 wt% to 13.84 wt% compared to cracking of FHO itself. To further improve the yield, membrane emulsification technology combined with emulsion atomization was employed. Water was pressed through membrane pore into the mixture oil to form the emulsions with a particle size of about 2 μm, and the smaller oil droplets and larger interfaces formed by the emulsion's micro-explosion enhanced the co-cracking reaction. The propylene increased to 14.71 wt% and the coking rate decreased by 0.85 wt%. This work provides a novel approach for the improvement of propylene yield in heavy oil catalytic cracking and the effective utilization of low-quality bio-resources.