PROCESO Y APARATOS APLICADOS A SISTEMAS DE CICLONES DE TERCERA ETAPA EN UNIDADES DE FCC

La presente invención es aplicable a sistemas de ciclones de tercera etapa para reducir la concentración de partículas de catalizador en los gases de combustión de las unidades de craqueo catalítico fluido (FCC), donde la corriente de purga del recipiente del ciclón de la tercera etapa se extrae por la parte superior del recipiente de la tercera etapa, utilizando la longitud del recipiente para introducir un paso de separación natural, donde las partículas presentes en este se desprenden del gas que asciende por el recipiente a baja velocidad, volviendo al fondo del recipiente. The present invention applies, in particular, to third-stage cyclone systems, equipment normally used in conjunction with fourth-stage cyclones to reduce the concentration of catalyst particles in flue gases of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units. The invention relates to a method in which the bleed stream from the third-stage cyclone vessel is drawn continuously through the top of the third-stage vessel, using the extensive length of this vessel to incorporate a natural separation step, in which the particles in this stream come away from the gas ascending in the vessel at low speed and return to the bottom of the vessel. The material collected by the third-stage cyclones accumulates in the cone of the vessel and is removed at regular intervals. This method is intended to increase the overall separation efficiency of the system, and is a low-cost solution compared to the use of full blocking filters.