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KOC-15™- Flexible and effective way to lower afterburn in your FCC unit

KOC-15 additive is Albemarle’s most widely used platinum-based combustion promoter, and is commercially proven to provide many refiners with a reliable, low-cost and flexible solution to afterburn and excess carbon monoxide (CO) emissions. In the regenerator, the coke (carbon) on the spent catalyst is burned to form carbon dioxide (CO2). During combustion of carbon to CO2, CO forms as an intermediate. The conversion of carbon to CO in the presence of oxygen occurs rapidly; however, the conversion of the CO to CO2 can be rate limiting.

Under ideal conditions, the conversion of carbon to CO2 occurs entirely in the dense bed of the regenerator, where the heat liberated from this reaction is absorbed by the surrounding catalyst particles. If CO is allowed to escape the dense bed, it continues to react with the available oxygen. When this occurs in the dilute phase, the cyclones, the plenum or even further downstream of the FCC regenerator, there is little or no catalyst present to absorb the heat generated. This leads to high temperatures in these areas, a phenomenon known as afterburn.

When unmitigated, the high temperatures associated with afterburn may cause serious metallurgical damage and lead to unexpected shutdowns and, consequently, significant losses. KOC-15 reduces this risk by increasing (promoting) the rate of conversion of CO to CO2 in the dense bed.

Albemarle tested KOC-15 against five commercially available competitors’ combustion promoters. The results (Figure 1) showed that KOC-15 provided the highest conversion of CO to CO2 per unit of platinum in the additive.

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