Mesophase Production from Fluid Catalytic Cracking Slurry Oil

Abstract

The raw material used in this study represented fluid catalytic cracking slurry oil (FCC). Fractionated oil (HDAO) was extracted via supercritical continuous deasphalting. Subsequently, mesophase was prepared by a thermal condensation reaction in a reactor using FCC and HDAO. The mesophase formation in FCC and HDAO under varying reaction conditions was analyzed using polarized light microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The study was focused on examining the raw material composition and the effects of different conditions on the mesophase content and the flow domain texture distribution. The results demonstrated that supercritical continuous deasphalting effectively removed the most solid impurities, asphaltene and resin. Furthermore, the presence of an appropriate amount of aliphatic short side chains and 2‒3 ring cycloalkane structures, along with a large amount of four-ring short side-chain aromatic structures provided a formation of a large-domain, high mesophase content, and well-textured mesophase in a short time at high temperatures.