Process for the separation of particulate solids from vapors using a discharge having a helical twist
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is a continuation-in-part of prior copending application Ser. No. 418,954, filed Sept. 16, 1982 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,738 on Aug. 9, 1983, incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The field of art to which this invention pertains is solids-vapors separation and more particularly the relationship between such separation and hydrocarbon processing. Specifically this invention relates to a fluidized catalytic cracking process in which the catalyst and oil are contacted for a certain period of time in a riser reaction zone and thereafter separated in a disengagement zone. 
     2. Prior Art 
     The prior art which is relevant to this invention can be found in classes covering fluidized conversion processing, and in particular fluidized catalytic cracking. 
     It is known in the art, that in certain instances, it is desired to substantially reduce the catalyst-oil contact times. Specifically, refiners have utilized riser cracking processes to eliminate the possibility of harmful secondary reactions which cause degradation of product quality. The solutions represented as can be seen in the patent art have centered around the use of cyclones connected to risers and the use of the so-called &#34;quick quench&#34; risers in which the riser outlets are designed or positioned so as to effect as rapidly and thoroughly as possible disengagement of the oil vapors from the catalyst. Examples of such patent art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,785,962 to Conner et al; 4,097,243 to Bartholic; 4,219,407 to Haddad et al; 4,295,961 to Fahrig et al; and 4,313,910 to Hubertus et al. 
     A recurring theme in the above patent art is for the vaporparticle stream flowing upward in the vertical riser to impinge on a surface opposing the upward flow and to be subjected to a 180° change in direction followed by discharge downward into a disengagement zone comprising a cylindrical chamber. The impinging surface may form a &#34;T&#34; shape with the riser with the flow splitting and flowing into opposite arms of the T and each arm of the T discharging downward. 
     The latter of the above references show the impinging surface to be a downwardly sloping curved surface or dual sloping curved surfaces forming a modified T shape with the riser which causes an abrupt change in direction of the riser stream from vertical upflow to horizontal flow and then to downflow thereby establishing a centrifugal movement of particle flow which concentrates the particles on the upper side of the surface. The particles and vapors are thus at least partially centrifugally separated and released into a disengagement space in which the vapors return upward and flow out through cyclonic separators while the particles fall into a dense bed at the bottom of the disengagement zone. There is still, in the prior art designs, a degree of undesirable contact and remixing of the particles and vapors in the disengagement zone. 
     I have discovered a modification to the above downward sloping impinging surface or surfaces which has an amazing positive effect on the disengagement efficiency. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In brief summary my invention is, in one embodiment, a process for separating particulate solids from a stream comprising vapors and particulate solids passed in admixture through a vertically elongated contacting zone. The process comprises discharging the stream from the contacting zone downwardly into the main body of a disengagement zone. The disengagement zone has an interior cylindrical surface, the cylindrical axis of which is substantially vertical. The direction of flow of the stream is altered upon the discharge of the stream from the contacting zone by discharge means so as to effect the flow of the stream to be in a downward direction along the curvature of the interior surface. The stream thus has a downward progression while there is maintained a helical twist of a vertical axis. The angle of the direction of flow of the stream from the discharge means to the horizontal is greater than 0° and less than 45°. The solids thereby fall to a bottom portion of the disengagement zone and the vapors rise to an upper portion thereof. 
     In another embodiment, my invention is an apparatus useful for separating particulate solids from a stream comprising vapors and particulate solids in admixture. The apparatus comprises in combination: (a) a vertical riser conduit having a discharge opening through which the stream may pass; (b) a cylindrical vessel containing the discharge opening, the cylindrical axis of the vessel being vertical and the opening discharging into the main body of the vessel; (c) a deflecting means comprising a curved surface juxtaposed with respect to the discharge opening such that the stream passing from the discharge opening is deflected in a downward direction along the curvature of the interior surface of the vessel at a positive angle to the vertical and the angle of direction of flow of said stream from said deflecting means to the horizontal being greater than 0° and less than 45°. The deflecting means provides a downward progression to the stream while maintaining a helical twist of a vertical axis. 
     Other embodiments of my invention encompass further details such as the function and arrangement of various components of my apparatus all of which are hereinafter disclosed in the following discussion of each of these facets of my invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of a fluid catalytic cracking apparatus employing the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a cutaway view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 rotated 90° so as to clearly show the critical features of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a cutaway view of a portion of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 showing the optional shroud which may be used as part of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     A particular environment wherein the present invention finds its greatest utility is in a fluid catalytic cracking apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and comprising a riser reactor conduit 1, a feed distributor 2, a hydrocarbon inlet means 3, a regenerated-catalyst inlet means 4, a cylindrical disengagement vessel 6, a cyclone separation means 12, and a spent-catalyst outlet means 16. A hydrocarbon feed, for example, a virgin gas oil boiling within the range of from about 650° F. to about 1200° F., is introduced into the apparatus by way of hydrocarbon-feed inlet means 3. The hydrocarbon feed may be preheated by a fired heater (not shown) or by a system of heat exchangers (not shown) before entering the unit and it is to be understood that recycle streams may also be charged in conjunction with the virgin feed into the unit. The hydrocarbon feed may be in vapor phase or in liquid phase or a mixture of the two but more typically in fluid catalytic cracking process it will be in the liquid phase. Hydrocarbon feed inlet means 3 is connected to hydrocarbon feed distributor 2 through which hydrocarbon feed passes and becomes mixed in the lower portion of conduit 1 with hot regenerated catalyst from a regeneration zone (not shown) which enters conduit 1 through regenerated catalyst inlet means 4 which has flow regulating means 5 located thereon to control the flow of regenerated catalyst. Essentially complete vaporization of the hydrocarbon feed occurs rapidly and conversion of the feed at conversion conditions, including the presence of regenerated catalyst, takes place as the mixture passes upward through conduit 1 which extends vertically upward through the bottom portion of disengagement vessel 6 into disengaging space 8 within disengagement vessel 6. Reaction products plus unconverted feed, if any, pass out of conduit 1 via arms 7 located at the upper end of conduit 1 into disengaging zone 8 within disengagement vessel 6. Separation of hydrocarbon vapors and catalysts occurs within disengaging space 6. Separated spent catalyst drops down into dense bed 10 which has an interface shown at 9. Hydrocarbon vapors and any inerts plus any entrained catalyst in disengaging space 8 enter cyclone separation means 12 through inlet 11 and catalyst and vapors are again separated with separated catalyst passing downward toward dense bed 10 through dip leg 13 and vapor passing out of cyclone separator device 12 and out of vessel 6 through vapor conduit 17. Although FIG. 1 shows only one cyclone separation device 12, more than one such device could of course be employed in parallel or series flow arrangements as the volume and loading of the vapor stream and the desired degree of separation dictate. Catalyst in dense bed 10 flows in a downward direction and passes through a lower necked-down section of vessel 6 over baffles 14 and is stripped of adsorbed and interstitial hydrocarbons by a countercurrent stream of stripping medium, generally steam, which enters the lower portion of vessel 6 through stripping medium inlet means 15. Spent catalyst leaves vessel 6 through spentcatalyst conduit 16 and passes to a regeneration apparatus (not shown) wherein coke is oxidized from spent catalyst to produce regenerated catalyst. 
     The disengagement zone generally contains two phases. Typically there is what is referred to in the art as the dilute phase portion (less than about 30 lb/ft 3 ) which is the upper volume within the disengagement zone and the dense phase portion (greater than about 30lb/ft 3 ) which is in the lower portion of the zone. The dense phase portion contains a fluidized bed of partially deactivated catalyst. Since in most instances there is no hydrocarbon other than stripping gas which passes through this fluidized bed, the catalyst is not entrained but remains within the confines of the bed. The separation effected by the present invention occurs in the dilute phase. 
     Arms 7, which receive the streams discharged from the openings from conduit 1 into disengagement zone 8, incorporate the essential feature of the present invention comprising the downwardly sloping and vertically angled deflecting means. Arms 7 need not be closed conduits, i.e. they need only be curved surfaces having sufficient area to contact and deflect substantially all of the discharged catalyst. As the catalyst-vapor stream flows along or through arms 7 it will be deflected downwardly and at an angle to the vertical so that it will impinge on the inner cylindrical surface of vessel 6 downwardly and at an angle to the vertical. A large portion of the vapor will separate from the catalyst as the stream flows along or through and is discharged from arms 7. However, in contradistinction to the above discussed prior art, the present invention will achieve even further vapor-catalyst separation by the centrifugal forces exerted on the catalyst as it flows around the circumference of the inner surface of vessel 6 which it will do because of the degree of horizontal momentum imparted to it by arms 7. 
     As previously mentioned, all of the above separation effects occur best in a dilute phase. One reason is that the hydrocarbon vapor-catalyst contact need be minimized to avoid undesired reactions, and there is a far higher degree of contact in dense phase as compared to dilute phase. Another reason is that as high a velocity as possible of the stream striking the inner wall of the disengagement zone is desirable to maximize the centripetal acceleration effects, and such velocity would be quickly lost if the stream had to flow through a dense phase. Arms 7, therefore, should be of sufficient height above interface 9 to enable the full advantageous effect of the present invention. 
     With further reference to FIG. 2, the view of one of the arms 7 is such that the twist of the arm with respect to the vertical may be observed. The angle of impingement of the stream on the inside surface of the vessel may be defined as the angle to the vertical of a line formed by the intersection of two planes, a first plane which is tangent to the inside surface of vessel 6 at the point of impingement of the stream from arm 7, and a second plane which is perpendicular to the first plane and which substantially contains the line defined by the direction of flow of the stream from arm 7 to the inside surface (the line will be slightly curved due to the acceleration of gravity). The angle is measured to the vertical in the first plane. The preferred angle would be from about 15° to about 45° for significant advantageous effects. FIG. 2 also shows the critical angle β which is the angle of the flow of the stream from arms 7 to the horizontal which may vary from greater than 0° to less than 45°. 
     FIG. 3 shows optional vertical cylindrical shroud 19 over the entire upper portion of riser 1, in sealed communication at its upper end with inlet 11 of cyclone separation means 12 and a lower end extending and opening into dense phase fluidized solid bed 10 which effectively seals the lower end. The shroud serves to further decrease backmixing of the catalyst and product vapors, thus lessening thermal cracking and increasing gasoline yields. The shroud also protects the reactor internals, specifically the walls and the cyclone diplegs, from erosion by confining the catalyst stream within the shroud, and enables a smaller reactor shell diameter, thus decreasing the erected cost. 
     Riser or contacting zone 1 is shown in the figures in a preferred embodiment as substantially axial to the cylindrical axis of disengagement vessel 6 with at least two arms evenly spaced around the end of the riser in a horizontal plane, i.e. 180° apart in the two arm configuration shown. If there were, e.g., three arms, they would be 120° apart. The respective directions of flow of the streams from each of the multiple arms along the interior surface of disengagement vessel 6 would be downward and outward in a substantially helical orientation. 
     EXAMPLE I 
     The present invention was tested and compared to prior art designs in a small scale plastic model of FCC reactor internals corresponding to the above preferred configuration as shown in the figures. The prior art configuration and embodiment of the present invention tested differed only in that the downward sloping curved arms of the former were twisted (in a clockwise direction looking from above) to arrive at the latter. The amount of twisting was such as to effect an angle α, as defined above, of 15° for a catalyst-air stream leaving the arms and impinging on the inside surface of a cylindrical vessel comprising a disengagement zone. The angle of the direction of flow of the catalyst-air stream to the horizontal of the vessel was slightly less than 45°. The catalyst-air stream was used to simulate flow through the reactor of a commercial FCC unit. The model also, in effect, simulated the use of the above discussed shroud in the FCC design in that the diameter of the reactor chamber was proportionally much smaller than would be seen in a commercial design. Other relevant details of the model as compared to a typical commercial unit were as follows: 
     
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                 Model Commercial                                         
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Riser Velocity, ft/sec                                                    
                   50      70                                             
Riser Density, lbs/ft.sup.3                                               
                   2.4     2.4                                            
Riser Flux, lbs/ft.sup.2 -sec                                             
                   28      164                                            
Rx Dilute Velocity, ft/sec                                                
                   5.8     6                                              
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     The results showed a disengagement efficiency for the design incorporating the present invention of 90% as compared to the prior art standard &#34;T&#34; design of 79%. A recent commercial installation, also using the standard &#34;T&#34; design, also exhibits a disengagement efficiency of 79%. Since the effect of greater riser velocity and flux (the conditions differing significantly between the model and commercial installation) on disengagement efficiency appears to be negligible, the design of the present invention on a commercial scale would also appear to be able to achieve a disengagement efficiency of 90%. The effectiveness of the present invention is thus clearly illustrated. 
     EXAMPLE II 
     The purpose of this example is to set forth the experimental procedure and data obtained thereby in determining the optimum angle to the horizontal of the catalyst-air mixture as it was discharged from the arms. The plastic model used arms at the discharge from the contacting zone similar to arms 7 as shown in the figures, which is referred to as a &#34;Swirl-Arm T&#34; design. The arms were capable of adjustment with respect to the horizontal. The model was operated as the arms were adjusted by 15° increments with each of the two arms at the same angle to the horizontal. The data obtained is shown in the Table. Although the angles given are the angles of the arms and not the actual angles of impingement of the catalyst-air stream, the corresponding angles measured at either location are substantially identical since the geometry of the system was such that the streams did not significantly change the angle of their direction of flow due to the effects of gravity between the outlets of the arms to the points of impingement. 
     
                                           TABLE                                   
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REACTOR RISER T-DISENGAGER TEST RESULTS                                   
SWIRL-ARM MODEL                                                           
SWIRL-ARM                                                                 
        AIR     RISER AIR                                                 
                       Rx DILUTE                                          
                                RISER DISENGAGEMENT                       
ANGLE   FLOW RATE                                                         
                VELOCITY                                                  
                       AIR VELOCITY                                       
                                FLUX  EFFICIENCY                          
(degrees)                                                                 
        (ft.sup.3 /min)                                                   
                (ft/sec)                                                  
                       (ft/sec) (lbs/ft.sup.2 -sec)                       
                                      (% recovered)                       
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Horizontal                                                                
        83.20   63.56  3.97     50.08 99.78                               
15°                                                                
        81.95   62.62  3.91     49.83 99.74                               
30°                                                                
        81.21   62.04  3.88     49.63 99.62                               
45°                                                                
        81.80   62.49  3.91     49.26 97.29                               
60°                                                                
        82.99   63.40  3.96     47.70 91.18                               
75°                                                                
        83.26   63.61  3.97     51.67 92.66                               
Vertical                                                                  
        82.87   63.31  3.96     51.76 89.31                               
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     It is clear from the data that a significant drop-off in disengagement efficiency occurs at about 45°. A swirl-arm angle of 0° (horizontal) is considered undesirable because of the high severity of erosion that would occur at a point of impingement so close to the outlet of an arm. The optimum operable range is therefore deemed to be greater than 0° and less than 45°.