catalytic cracking

American  

noun

1. the reduction of the molecular weight of hydrocarbons by a catalyst, accomplished in a petroleum refinery by a type of chemical reactor catalytic cracker.

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Example Sentences

In 2021, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District adopted a new regulation that requires petroleum refineries, within five years, to reduce the amount of particulate pollution released from their fluid catalytic cracking units, the equipment that processes crude oil into finished products such as gasoline.

From Los Angeles Times

Catalytic cracking units are key for motor fuel production.

From Reuters

The EPA requires plants to restrict small particulate matter emissions to 1 pound or less for every 1,000 pounds of coke burned in a refinery's catalytic cracking units.

From Reuters

Starting last month, several flights from Tehran have brought materials to Venezuela to help it restart the catalytic cracking unit at its 310,000 barrel-per-day Cardon refinery, drawing U.S. condemnation.

From Reuters

Marching past the towering catalytic cracking towers and vast oil drums of a Shell petrochemical plant in Norco, Sonita Singh, an assistant professor of public health at Louisiana State University, considered the reenactment an opportunity to “recontextualize neocolonialism.”

From Los Angeles Times