Catalytic Naphtha Reforming

Abstract

Naphtha reforming is one of the most important processes in refineries in which high valueadded reformate is produced by converting paraffins and naphthenes into high octane gasoline and aromatics-rich products like benzene, toluene and xylene. Therefore it is necessary to establish process simulation of naphtha reformer based on latest kinetics that best represent the reforming process and develop the model to optimize, increase the efficiency and maximize the yield of the processes. In this project, according to most recent technological accomplishments in naphtha reforming, simulation of the reforming process is done on ASPEN PLUS platform using lumped kinetic model based on 32 pseudocomponents of naphtha with 84 reforming reactions. In addition to the naphtha process modelling, a “Soft Sensor” is also developed on MATLAB using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) that predicts RON of the output reformate based on the input naphtha feed variables WAIT, H2/HC ratio and PST.