Improved Distribution of Spent Catalyst

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^aRaj Singh, ^aPaul Marchant, ^aSteve Shimoda

^aTechnipFMC Process Technology

This article highlights the development of TechnipFMC’s spent catalyst distributor design from simple ‘hockey stick’ to ‘compound angle wye bathtub’ distributor. This development has focused on improving spent catalyst distribution in the regenerator bed with the process benefit of uniform coke combustion and bed temperatures. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling (conducted using CPFD Software's proprietary software, Barracuda Virtual Reactor) was used to guide the development of TechnipFMC’s latest design and confirm improved catalyst distribution. Data from commercial FCC units showing a close to even temperature profile in the regenerator with their latest spent catalyst distributor confirms the design expectation.