The Catalyst Review April 2024 - 7

SPECIAL FEATURE
Another available technology is the CATOFIN™
process, licensed by Lummus Company, as
aforementioned, in this case, is applied to two
reactors in parallel, as presented in Figure 9.
Figure 8. Basic process flow diagram for
the OLEFLEX™ technology.
Source: UOP 2018.
Due to their chemical characteristics,
olefinic compounds can be employed
in the production of a large quantity of
interest products as polymers (polyethylene
and polypropylene) propylene oxide
and oxygenated compounds production
intermediates (MTBE, ETBE, etc.).
As a process of high energy consumption,
there is a great variety of research in the
sense of developing more active and
selective catalysts that reduce the need for
energetic contribution to the dehydrogenation
process. One of the main variations of the
dehydrogenation process is the process
called oxidative dehydrogenation that occurs
according to reaction 2.
R2CH-CHR2
+ O2
↔ R2C=CR2
+ H2
O (2)
This reaction is strongly exothermic and is the
main advantage in relation to the traditional
dehydrogenation process, due to the high
risk of paraffin combustion against the
dehydrogenation reaction.
The Combination of FCC and Steam
Cracking Units - Maximum Olefins Yield
As aforementioned, maximizing the light
olefins yield in the refining hardware can be an
attractive way to ensure competitiveness in the
downstream market according to the recent
forecasts. The combination of FCC and steam
cracking units in the refining hardware can be
an alternative to achieve this goal. Table 1
presents a comparison between steam cracking
and FCC technologies.
Figure 9. Simplified process scheme to CATOFIN™ dehydrogenation technology.
Source: Lummus Technology 2020.
Other dehydrogenation technologies available
are the processes STAR™, commercialized by
ThyssenKrupp-Uhde Company, and the process
K-COT™, by KBR Company. The KBR™ process
is presented in Figure 10.
Figure 10. Process Flow Diagram for the K-COT™ Paraffin dehydrogenation technology.
Source: KBR 2023.
The Catalyst Review
April 2024
7
The Catalyst Review April 2024

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