Technology

Refiners today require a technology that can respond to market demands. KBR’s MAXOFIN is an engineering process and service that can produce 20 wt% or more propylene from FCC feedstocks, yet still maintain the flexibility to produce fuels when market demand shifts. When the margin between propylene and fuels is low, the MAXOFIN FCC can operate as a conventional FCC to produce mostly gasoline, and when the demand of propylene is relatively high, the process can maximize propylene at the expense of gasoline. If markets require distillate and propylene, our MAXOFIN FCC process allows refiners to run the primary riser at low conversion to preserve the distillate yield. Light naphtha and C4 s formed in the primary riser can be recycled at more severe conditions in the second riser to maximize conversion of these components to propylene. Besides processing FCC recycle streams, the high severity second riser can also accept naphthas and C4 s from elsewhere in the refinery complex, such as coker naphtha and C4 s. Paraffinic naphthas, such as light straight run, can receive an upgrade in the MAXOFIN unit to increase octane of the straight run naphtha while adding to the unit’s propylene yield.