We are independent & ad-supported. We may earn a commission for purchases made through our links.
Advertiser Disclosure
Our website is an independent, advertising-supported platform. We provide our content free of charge to our readers, and to keep it that way, we rely on revenue generated through advertisements and affiliate partnerships. This means that when you click on certain links on our site and make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn more.
How We Make Money
We sustain our operations through affiliate commissions and advertising. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, we may receive a commission from the merchant at no additional cost to you. We also display advertisements on our website, which help generate revenue to support our work and keep our content free for readers. Our editorial team operates independently of our advertising and affiliate partnerships to ensure that our content remains unbiased and focused on providing you with the best information and recommendations based on thorough research and honest evaluations. To remain transparent, we’ve provided a list of our current affiliate partners here.
Engines

Our Promise to you

Founded in 2002, our company has been a trusted resource for readers seeking informative and engaging content. Our dedication to quality remains unwavering—and will never change. We follow a strict editorial policy, ensuring that our content is authored by highly qualified professionals and edited by subject matter experts. This guarantees that everything we publish is objective, accurate, and trustworthy.

Over the years, we've refined our approach to cover a wide range of topics, providing readers with reliable and practical advice to enhance their knowledge and skills. That's why millions of readers turn to us each year. Join us in celebrating the joy of learning, guided by standards you can trust.

What is a Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU)?

Mary McMahon
By
Updated: May 23, 2024
Views: 46,601
Share

A Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) has been an integral part of oil refineries since 1942, when it was introduced in the United States by Exxon Corporation in response to a growing wartime need for hydrocarbon based fuels. An FCCU accepts chains of hydrocarbons and breaks them into smaller ones in a chemical process called cracking. This allows refineries to utilize their crude oil resources more efficiently, making more products such as gasoline for which there is a high demand.

Crude oil contains a wide variety of hydrocarbons of various lengths. Depending on the length of the hydrocarbon, it can be used in a variety of ways. For example, cooking gas usually has four carbons, while gasoline for cars is a longer chain, containing eight carbons. Lubricating oils are even longer, with 36 carbons in the hydrocarbon chain. When oil is refined, these hydrocarbons are separated out for use.

However, a barrel of crude oil will not always yield the desired ratio of hydrocarbons. For example, the market may be heavy for gasoline, but light for lubricating oil. Instead of discarding the lubricating oil, it is chemically cracked in an FCCU so that it can be turned into gasoline and other hydrocarbons with shorter changers. Hydrocarbons can be cracked in other ways, but chemical cracking in an FCCU is the most common and efficient.

The FCCU uses an extremely hot catalyst to crack the hydrocarbons into shorter chains. Zeolite, bauxite, silica-alumina, and aluminum hydrosilicate are all catalysts commonly used in an FCCU unit. Both the oil and catalyst in the FCCU are usually extremely hot, and the oil is often in a vapor form. The catalyst splits the long hydrocarbon chains into shorter units, and the mixture travels from the FCCU to another distillation column so that the cracked hydrocarbons can be extracted.

Catalysts can be reused for additional cracking after the carbon which coats them after the process has been removed. In the 1930s, when the concept of an FCCU first began to be developed, a team of scientists designed an FCCU which would work in a continuous cycling mode, capable of processing 13,000 barrels of oil a day. A continuous FCCU has a primary reactor, a distillation column for separating out the cracked hydrocarbons, and a regeneration unit for cleaning the catalysts and preparing them for reuse.

The use of an FCCU increases the yield and efficiency of a refinery, and for this reason has become integral to the petroleum processing industry.

Share
WikiMotors is dedicated to providing accurate and trustworthy information. We carefully select reputable sources and employ a rigorous fact-checking process to maintain the highest standards. To learn more about our commitment to accuracy, read our editorial process.
Mary McMahon
By Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WikiMotors researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.

Discussion Comments
By anon961820 — On Jul 20, 2014

Is fcc popular in asia?

By SuperSi — On Jun 18, 2011

Hydrocrackers are also used at refineries as another way to convert crude oil into useful end products like diesel fuel and kerosene. It's not as commonly used in the USA as in other regions as there is a higher call for gasoline production in America.

By KirryFruit — On Jun 16, 2011

Over 50% of the gasoline used in the world today comes from this cracking process. It's interesting to speculate on how transportation and other industries would be different today if the fluid catalytic cracking process had not been developed.

Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a...

Learn more
Share
https://www.wikimotors.org/what-is-a-fluid-catalytic-cracking-unit-fccu.htm
Copy this link
WikiMotors, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.

WikiMotors, in your inbox

Our latest articles, guides, and more, delivered daily.