Steam-enhanced catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons to produce light olefins

A steam-assisted catalytic cracking process for obtaining light olefin products from a hydrocarbon feed, the steam assisted catalytic cracking process comprising the steps of:

• separating the hydrocarbon feed to obtain a light hydrocarbon feed and a heavy hydrocarbon feed;
• introducing the light hydrocarbon feed, a FCC catalyst, and steam to a first downflow FCC reactor, wherein a mass ratio of steam to light hydrocarbon feed is between 0.5 and 1.0 and wherein the FCC catalyst comprises a modified catalyst that comprises a zeolite that is impregnated with phosphorus and a first metal oxide, wherein the first metal oxide comprises a metal selected from the group consisting of:
• lanthanum and cerium;
• cracking the light hydrocarbon feed in the presence of the FCC catalyst and steam in the first downflow FCC reactor at a first cracking temperature to produce a first cracked hydrocarbon feed and first spent FCC catalyst;
• introducing the heavy hydrocarbon feed, the FCC catalyst, and steam with a mass ratio of steam to heavy hydrocarbon feed that is between 0.3 and 0.1 to a second downflow FCC reactor;
• cracking the heavy hydrocarbon feed in the presence of the FCC catalyst and steam in the second downflow FCC reactor at a second cracking temperature to produce a second cracked hydrocarbon feed and second spent FCC catalyst;
• wherein the first cracked hydrocarbon feed and the second cracked hydrocarbon feed comprise light olefin products, and the first spent FCC catalyst and the second spent FCC catalyst comprise coke deposits and hydrocarbon deposits;
• stripping the hydrocarbon deposits from the first spent FCC catalyst and second spent FCC catalyst with steam to obtain a first hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst and a second hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst, respectively;
• regenerating the first hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst and the second hydrocarbon-stripped spent FCC catalyst to obtain a regenerated FCC catalyst.