Abstract:
For Diesel hydro-desulfurization (DHDS), Attock Refinery Limited (ARL) uses hydrogen
produced by the Hydrogen Production Unit. High Temperature Shift (HTS) Converter is an
important part of this unit in which heterogeneous catalytic Water-Gas Shift reaction takes
place. A high pressure drop across the HTS catalyst bed was reported. This project aims
to study and address the possible causes of this pressure drop. For this purpose, the design
of monolithic HTS Converter was proposed instead of the packed bed reactor. The
proposed design simulated through COMSOL Multiphysics gave significant reduction in
pressure drop. Moreover, to enhance the catalyst performance by reducing coke
formation, this work further focused on optimization of various operational parameters.
This in turn, reduced the plant downtime. Aspen HYSYS was used for simulation of
complete hydrogen production unit. Economic analysis and HAZOP study was also carried
out.
