MTO Process (OCC) Sinopec

Catalytic Cracking of C4/C5 Olefins to Propylene
and Ethylene Technology (OCC)
Process Introduction
The naphtha steam cracking, traditional oil refining and methanol to olefins (MTO) processes all
produce a lot of low value by-product streams containing C4/C5 olefins. Increasing the added value
of by-product C4/C5 olefins will significantly improve the economic efficiency of these processes.
Meanwhile, propylene demand has increased significantly by the impact of rising demand for
polypropylene and propylene derivatives. Propylene is believed to be an attractive potential product
to sell in the marketplace. With the impact of lighter feeds on the steam cracking plants, there is a
decreasing supply of by-product propylene. Therefore, the technology for on-purpose production of
propylene is vitally important.
A specially designed shape-selective molecular sieve catalyst is applied in OCC technology, which
allows high selective production of propylene and ethylene by conversion of low value by-product
streams containing C4/C5 olefins from steam crackers, oil refineries and methanol to olefins plants.
The OCC process is a highly competitive technology. The typical process flow diagram is shown in
Fig 1.
Fig 1. Typical process flow diagram of OCC process
The process mainly includes three units: reactor unit, compressor unit and separation unit. Heated
C4/C5 olefins are fed into the reactor for the catalytic cracking reaction. The effluent from the reactor
enters into the compressor unit after being cooled. The reactor is an easy to operate fixed bed
reactor. Reaction products will be sent to the separation unit after being compressed in the
compressor unit. The separation unit includes de-propanizer and de-pentanizer etc. The stream
from de-propanizer overhead will be sent to the olefins recovery unit as main products,
polymer-grade ethylene and propylene products will be obtained via separation. C4+ fractions will
be sent to the de-pentanizer. Stream from the bottom of de-pentanizer will be sent to the
corresponding units for further processing. The stream from de-pentanizer overhead is recycled to
the reactor to improve the yield of propylene and ethylene. The OCC technology can be integrated
with steam cracker, refineries or methanol to olefins plants. The specific application can be
designed according to the needs of customer.
The typical process conditions are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Typical process conditions of OCC process
Reaction temperature,℃ 550-600
Reaction pressure, MPa (G) 0-0.2
-1
WHSV, h 10-30
Features of Technology
 High weight hourly space velocity: the OCC-200 catalyst can be operated at high weight hourly
space velocity. The reactor size can be reduced dramatically by OCC technology so that
investment and operating costs can be minimized.
 Extraordinary stability: according to the actual conditions, regeneration cycle length can be
adjusted from 2 to 7 days.
 Good economic efficiency and low energy consumption: Without any diluent in the feedstock
and with the integration of high efficiency heat exchanger, the OCC technology can reduce the
plants energy consumption, and the size of reactors and piping also can be reduced.
 Good feedstock flexibility: C4/C5 olefins from steam crackers, refineries or MTO plants are all
favorable feedstock for the OCC process. The OCC catalyst has strong tolerance to feedstock
impurities such as diolefins, sulfides and nitrogenous compounds.
 The OCC process use an adiabatic fixed bed reactor with simple structure and low investment.
Catalysts
ZSM-5 molecular sieve is utilized in the OCC process, which can inhibit the hydrogen transfer
reaction effectively. The catalyst exhibits high activity. The yield of propylene is about 55-60%, and
the yield of ethylene is about 15-20%. The catalyst service life is more than 1 year.
The chemical-physical properties of the OCC catalyst is shown in Table 2
.
Table 2. Chemical-physical properties of OCC catalyst
Catalyst Type OCC-200
Shape White irregular sphere
Main components Alumina, silica
Packing density, g/ml 0.60±0.05
Average strength, N ≥40
Commercial Application
In 2009, a 60,000 tons C4/year OCC plant was built and started up within SINOPEC. Another two
OCC plants with total capacity of 300,000 tons C4/year are under construction.
Investment Estimation
At Chinese price level of 2015, the investment of building an OCC plant with capacity of 100,000
tons C4/year is about RMB 200 million.

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Catalytic Cracking of C4/C5 Olefins to Propylene

and Ethylene Technology (OCC)

Fig 1. Typical process flow diagram of OCC process

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