Temperature effects on gasoline selectivity in the cracking of a neutral distillate

Abstract The selectivity for gasoline in catalytic cracking of a neutral distillate has been studied over a range of temperatures. We have found that the primary cracking reaction leading to undesirable products has an activation energy some 13 kcal/g mole higher than the parallel reaction leading to gasoline. This fact is the major reason for the decrease in gasoline yield at higher temperatures especially in view of the fact that the recracking of gasoline has an activation energy very similar to that for its formation. On the other hand, the gasoline recracking reaction shows a much lower frequency factor than its formation and this is the reason that the specific rate of recracking of gasoline is much slower than the cracking of the feed.