ABSTRACT
With the increasing lack of refining capacity globally, particularly in North America, to keep pace with the growing demand for transportation fuels including both motor gasoline and on-road diesel fuel, refiners are under constant pressure to continuously improve the performance and reliability of the fluid catalytic cracking unit (FCCU). Despite the recent global economic slowdown contributing to reduced refinery utilization typical FCCU run lengths, or intervals between planned maintenance turnarounds, have been averaging about 4 years with an on-stream factor of about 0.96.
