From the Beginning: 80 Years of FCC

May, 1942

At 2:25 a.m. on May 25, 1942, history was made when oil was charged to PCLA No. 1, Model I, in Standard Oil of New Jersey’s Baton Rouge, Louisiana, refinery. This event was the culmination of years of collaboration between companies in the oil, chemical, engineering and catalyst industries.

In October 1938, Standard Oil of New Jersey, Standard Oil of Indiana, Anglo-Iranian Oil Co., Ltd., Royal Dutch-Shell Co., The Texas Co., M. W. Kellogg, Universal Oil Products Co. (UOP) and I. G. Farben organized Catalytic Research Associates (CRA) to develop a cracking process that would produce high yields of gasoline and not infringe existing fixed-bed catalytic cracking process patents. More than 1,000 technical experts worked on the project and it was described as the “greatest scientific effort directed to a single project” before radar and the Manhattan Project.

Davison Chemical (later to become W. R. Grace & Co.) had been working on a broad program of “powdered catalyst” since 1936, and entered into an agreement with Standard Oil Development Company in 1938.  In 1940, Grace produced catalyst at pilot plant scale for use in the initial 100-barrel/day experimental fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) plant. With the entry of the United States into World War II, construction of a commercial plant for production of FCC catalyst at Grace’s Curtis Bay, Maryland, plant was authorized on December 18, 1941, and the first commercial quantity of FCC catalyst was produced at the plant on May 9, 1942.  The timeline for development was incredibly quick, spurred by the urgency of the wartime need for higher-octane fuel. Concept to commercialization took only a few years (1938-1942). By 1945, 34 FCC units had started up and were supplied by Grace.

The flexibility of the FCC

The flexibility of fluid catalytic cracking to adapt to new feedstocks and produce new products is one of the reasons it has survived and thrived. The FCC process has evolved considerably over the last 80 years through developments in hardware, process and technology. The first FCC unit was designed to produce high octane aviation gasoline and raw materials for synthetic rubber production as its target products. Today, FCC units can target a variety of products ranging from transportation fuels to petrochemical feedstocks. In addition to petroleum-based feedstocks, FCC units are now processing renewable materials such as feedstocks derived from plants, forest products and waste plastics.

From the beginning, Grace has led the way in capitalizing on that flexibility. For example, in the 1970s as leaded gasoline was phased out, higher octane from the FCC was needed so Grace developed REUSY and USY zeolites. In the 1980s, oil markets changed Grace developed catalysts with improved metals tolerance and coke selectivity to process resid feedstocks. As environmental requirements evolved, Grace commercialized additives to reduce SO_x and NO_x from the regenerator and sulfur in gasoline. Currently, the economic desire for propylene and butylene from the FCC unit has resulted in Grace’s development of a family of ZSM-5 zeolite-based additives. As feedstocks continue to evolve to include bio-based materials and recycled plastics, Grace is driving catalyst advancements to produce the products today’s society needs.

This level of continuous innovation requires deep technical know-how and support. In 1947, Grace established the first technical support group in the U.S. to assist refiners with unit operation, proper selection of catalyst, and evaluating the effects of feedstock on unit operation. Grace now has dedicated technical service teams located around the world including a specialized Global Customer Technology team to help customers get the most from their FCC units. Also in 1947, Grace opened the industry’s first equilibrium catalyst (Ecat) analysis lab in Curtis Bay, Maryland, USA. Additionally,  we have expanded with labs in Worms, Germany, Sohar, Oman, and most recently, in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.

What's next?

Although it is decades old, the FCC process still has more value to yield. While we don’t know what the next 80 years will bring, we do know that Grace will be there to supply the industry with world-class manufacturing, innovative new catalysts and unparalleled technical support as we have been – from the beginning.

Read more about the history of FCC in the Summer 2022 issue of Catalagram.