Simulation analysis of micro-explosion during emulsification feeding of residue fluidized catalytic cracking

Residue Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (RFCC) is one of the key processes to convert heavy oil into light products in refineries. The fast and sufficient vaporization of the feedstock in the FCC riser reactor can promote the catalytic cracking reaction and is beneficial for increasing the yield of light products and decreasing the yield of coke. However, fast vaporization of residue oil is extremely challenging due to its high density and viscosity. Recently, emulsified feeding technology is seen as a potential method that can effectively enhance the vaporization of RFCC feedstock. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations were performed in order to reveal the micro-explosion mechanism of emulsion droplet in the riser reactor. The CFD model was validated against experimental results from literature. The model was used to study micro-explosion of emulsified droplets in the gas phase and at the catalyst particle surface separately. It was found that due to the micro-explosion of emulsion oil droplets in producing large number of tiny droplets, the secondary atomization of droplets can be realized. In the gas phase, the interfacial area of emulsion droplet can be improved by 5 to 15 times. At the catalyst surface, the percentage of liquid film coverage was reduced by 32.6 %, and the droplet diameter was reduced by 92 % for the emulsified feeding technology. These results indicate that the vaporization efficiency of the residual oil can be greatly improved by this technology.