Deep bottoms cracking is only valuable if the unit can operate within its operating limits. Coral™ Prime is designed to increase bottoms upgrading while controlling delta coke — so refiners can pursue incremental margin confidently.

By: Leonard Chan, Senior Director, Strategic Marketing, Ketjen

The Challenge

Refining economics keep circling back to the same reality: When crude is scarce or expensive, maximizing the value extracted from each barrel matters more. For FCC operators, that typically means pushing harder on bottoms cracking — reducing low-value slurry and converting more of the barrel into transportation fuels and distillates.

But in modern FCC units, conversion is not the only limiter. Delta coke, regenerator temperature, air blower capacity, catalyst cooler duty, and wet gas compressor margin can all define the operating window. Under those constraints, additional conversion only creates value if it does not create an additional coke penalty.

Coral Prime: The Solution

Coral Prime was developed for this exact tradeoff. Built on the proven Coral SMR foundation, Coral Prime integrates coke-selective zeolite technology and a high-accessibility matrix architecture to enable deeper bottoms upgrading while managing coke formation. The result is a catalyst system designed to protect operating flexibility as feed quality and market conditions change.

In practical terms, Coral Prime is designed to help refiners increase conversion and reduce bottoms while staying inside unit constraints — supporting margin capture through improved

selectivity and controllable coke behavior. Ketjen’s technical teams can help evaluate where the platform fits best based on unit design, feed slate, and constraint set.

Coral Prime will be featured at GRPC in India. Visit Ketjen at the event to learn more or contact your Ketjen representative to start the conversation.