Catalytic dehydrogenation cracking characteristics of vacuum residue over solid basic catalyst

The basic calcium aluminate with appropriate catalytic cracking activity, excellent anti-coking performance, and hydrothermal stability is of great potential for the utilization of heavy oil. However, there is a lack of systematic research on the catalytic dehydrogenation cracking characteristics of vacuum residue (VR) over solid basic catalyst. Thus, by combining the TG and Py-GC/MS methods, the dehydrogenation cracking behavior of S-VR was investigated. The results indicated that S-VR cracking on calcium aluminate leads to less coking and higher olefin content in liquid products compared with FCC catalyst and quartz sand. Then, the activation energy Ea is computed from the catalytic dehydrogenation cracking of S-VR on calcium aluminate. The results show that the Ea values from Friedman and OFW methods range from 68 to 143 kJ∙mol−1 and 114 to 192 kJ∙mol−1, respectively. After that, the molecular-level carbon number distributions of the products obtained from cracking S-VR on different reaction conditions are investigated, and the optimal reaction temperature and the heating rate are 650 °C and 1000 °C/s, respectively. Finally, the free radical regulation theory was constructed to explain the catalytic dehydrogenation cracking mechanism of basic calcium aluminate catalyst.