Modeling and Optimization of a Catalytic Naphtha Reformer

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Modeling and Optimization of a Catalytic Naphtha Reformer MODELING AND OPTIMIZATION OF A CATALYTIC NAPHTHA REFORMER by UNMESH MOHAN TASKAR, B.S.Ch.E. A DISSERTATION IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved May, 1996 ,.„.3'6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS When one is so closely involved with an organization and one project for a period of over four years, it becomes a monumental task to try to acknowledge all the people who have influenced you in various different ways. However, it also becomes imperative, due to the valuable contributions that they make towards your life and work, to attempt to perform this task right at the beginning. The following text is just a result of that attempt. First of all, I wish to express my sincere thanks to E>r. James B. Riggs for providing me with the opportunity to work on this project, and also for his guidance and constant support during the course of this work. There were quite a few valuable skills, academic as well as non-academic life to leam from him. He will always be remembered for the free spirit that he represents so vividly. I also wish to extend my sincere thanks to Dr. Russ Rhinehart for his valuable insights during my stay at Texas Tech. In my eyes, he is a rare combination of a good researcher and a good engineer, something that makes him a person who can be counted on to solve problems in a practical manner, but based also on a sound theoretical background. His ability to methodically approach any problem and "think" the way out of it is something that I would like to successfully imitate some day. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Uzi Mann and Surya Liman, for their assistance in the project. Special thanks go to Ed Sugrue from Phillips Petroleum for his v^llingness to take the time to answer all my questions and providing us with other valuable help. I would also like to thank Dave Hoffinann from the Dynamic 11 Matrix Control for giving me the opportunity that only a few months ago would not have seemed possible. There is no way that this section on acknowledgments could even come close to completion without mentioning my fellow graduate students. Let me start by mentioning my late night officemates Bob, Scott, Ash, and Ravi without whom those long hours in the night would have become unbearably long. With so many people that provided me their support and influenced my life in different ways; Suhas, Siva, Mahesh, Vikram, Hoshang, Kermeen Tausha, Paul, Rick, Joe, Sonemaly, Prabhu and Geetha, Crams, Rohit, Yogesh, Dr. Chung, Dutta, Steve, Himal, Sandeep, Vikas, Kedar... , the list is almost endless. I really wish to express my most sincere thanks to all of you guys. In the end, I would like to say that all of this could be possible only because of constant love and encouragement by my mother and father and other family and friends back home. I owe a large part of whatever I have achieved so far, including this work, to them. m TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii ABSTRACT vi LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Catalytic Naphtha Reforming 1 1.2 Optimization of a Catalytic Naphtha Reformer 2 1.3 Phenomenological Simulation Model 3 1.4 Organization of Dissertation 4 2. LITERATURE SURVEY 6 3. CATALYTIC NAPHTHA REFORMER: PROCESS DESCRIPTION AND CHEMICAL REACTIONS 13 3.1 Process Description 13 3.2 Chemistry of Catalytic Naphtha Reforming 17 3.3 Catalyst Deactivation 23 3.4 Reforming Catalysts 24 4. MODEL DEVELOPMENT 27 4.1 Kinetic Modeling 28 4.2 Kinetics of Deactivation 39 IV 4.3 Modeling of Fixed-Bed Reactors 4 J 4.4 Modeling of Product Separator 50 4.5 Incorporating Recycle Phenomena in the Model 52 4.6 Recycle Gas Compressor Power Calculation 54 4.7 Modeling of Reactor Eftluent-to-Feed Exchanger 55 4.8 Description ofthe Overall Model 56 5. MODEL BENCH MARKING 60 5.1 Feed Characterization 66 5.2 Data Verification 75 5.3 Parameter Estimation 79 6. MODEL VERIFICATION 95 6.1 Profiles along the Length of the Catalyst Bed 96 6.2 Profiles over the Life ofthe Catalyst 102 6.3 Sensitivity Studies 104 7. OPTIMIZATION 120 7.1 Formulation of the Optimization Problem 120 7.2 Optimization Results 134 8. DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 157 BIBLIOGRAPHY 163 ABSTRACT Catalytic naphtha reforming is one ofthe key processes in petroleum refining, converting gasoline boiling range low-octane hydrocarbons to high-octane compounds which can be blended into gasoline. Other valuable byproducts include hydrogen and cracked light gases. Modeling of a t)^ical semi-regenerative catalytic reformer has been carried out involving most its key constituent units. Kinetic modeling ofthe reactions occurring in the fixed bed reactors connected in series formed the most significant part ofthe overall simulation effort. A reaction scheme involving 36 pseudocomponents connected together by a network of 35 reactions for components in the C5-C10 range has been modeled. The Hougen-Watson Langmuir-Hinshelwood type reaction rate expressions are used to represent rate of each reaction. Deactivation ofthe catalyst was modeled by including the corresponding equations for coking kinetics. The kinetic model was parameterized by bench marking the kinetic model against plant data. A feed characterization procedure was developed to infer the composition of chemical species in the feed and reformate from the given ASTM distillation data. A non­ linear regression procedure was carried out to calculate the rate parameters that provided the best match between the model and the plant data. The key to most optimum reformer operation lies in choosing the four catalyst bed inlet temperatures, and recycle ratio. Sometimes, in practice, four beds are operated at same inlet temperatures and varying influence of each bed behavior on the outlet VI properties is not taken into account. This leads to a sub-optimal operation. It is also important to consider the objective fiinction over the entire catalyst run-length, which has been predetermined for optimization analysis. The optimization analysis was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the decision variables are optimized but held constant throughout the life ofthe catalyst. This time-invariant mode of operation shewed a significant improvement in objective function over the base case. In the second stage of the analysis, the problem was expanded to optimize the path ofthe decision variables over the run-length. This time-optimal problem also showed a substantial improvement in profits over the time-invariant case. Finally, sensitivity of objective fiinction to uncertainties in model parameters was examined. vii LIST OF TABLES 4.1 Reaction rate equations obtained by analyzing experimental conversions for C? hydrocarbons 38 4.2 The coking reaction scheme and rate equations, for C? hydrocarbons 44 5.1 Feed and reformate analysis and flows in the given data 63 5.2 Composition and flows of separator gas, stabilizer gas and stabilizer liquid in the given data 64 5.3 Reactor bed temperatures, pressure, and catalyst bed weights 65 5.4 ASTM data and corresponding TBP data for catalytic naphtha reformer feed 68 5.5 Correlation constants for Equation 5.3 71 5.6 Calculated properties for the TBP fractions of Table 5.4 72 5.7 Computed mole fractions of components in each TBP fraction of Table 5.4 73 5.8 Calculated overall mole fraction of components in feed 74 5.9 Comparison between calculated and predicted PNA analysis ofthe feed 76 5.10 Material balance test for the data set selected to bench mark the catalytic naphtha reformer 78 5.11 Hydrogen balance test for the data set selected to bench mark the catalytic naphtha reformer 80 5.12 Molar flow rates of hydrocarbon species at the outlet of last reactor bed computed from given industrial data 84 5.13 Parameter values computed by least squares regression on data in Table 5.12 92 5.14 Rate parameters for coking reactions 93 viii 7.1 Product values and operating costs ^23 7.2 Distribution ofthe overall objective fiinction in terms of its constituents 1-"^ 7.3 Optimum operating conditions for the time-invariant mode of operation 1^6 7.4 Optimum operating conditions for the time-invariant mode of operation, for varying feed types 1^9 7.5 Model parametric sensitivity analysis 1^^ IX LIST OF FIGURES 3.1 Process flow scheme ofthe catalytic naphtha reformer 14 4.1 Reaction network for the kinetic model 34 4.2 Program flow-chart for the catalytic naphtha reformer 58 6.1 Temperature profile through reactor system 97 6.2 Profile of main component types through reactor system 99 6.3 Volumetric reformate yield and research octane number along the reactor system 101 6.4 Accumulation of average coke content in each bed over the life ofthe catalyst 103 6.5 Variation of volumetric reformate yield and octane number over the life of the catalyst 105 6.6 Sensitivity of products to first bed inlet temperature 107 6.7 Sensitivity of products to second bed inlet temperature 108 6.8 Sensitivity of products to third bed inlet temperature 109 6.9 Sensitivity of products to fourth bed inlet temperature 110 6.10 Sensitivity of products to recycle ratio 112 6.11 Sensitivity of products to first bed inlet temperature over the catalyst life 114 6.12 Sensitivity of products to second bed inlet temperature over the catalyst Ufe 115 6.13 Sensitivity of products to third bed inlet temperature over the catalyst life 116 6.14 Sensitivity of products to fourth bed inlet temperature over the catalyst life 117 X 6.15 Sensitivity of products to recycle ratio
Recommended publications
  • Catalyst Precursors for Hydrodesulfurization Synthesized in Supercritical Fluids Manuel Théodet
    New generation of ”bulk” catalyst precursors for hydrodesulfurization synthesized in supercritical fluids Manuel Théodet To cite this version: Manuel Théodet. New generation of ”bulk” catalyst precursors for hydrodesulfurization synthesized in supercritical fluids. Material chemistry. Université Sciences et Technologies - Bordeaux I,2010. English. NNT : 2010BOR14092. tel-00559113 HAL Id: tel-00559113 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00559113 Submitted on 24 Jan 2011 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives| 4.0 International License N° d’ordre : 4092 THÈSE présentée à L’UNIVERSITÉ BORDEAUX I ÉCOLE DOCTORALE DES SCIENCES CHIMIQUES Par Manuel THEODET Ingénieur ENSCPB POUR OBTENIR LE GRADE DE DOCTEUR SPÉCIALITÉ : Physico-Chimie de la Matière Condensée ___________________ NOUVELLE GENERATION DE PRECURSEURS « BULK » DE CATALYSEUR D’HYDRODESULFURATION SYNTHETISES EN MILIEU FLUIDE SUPERCRITIQUE ___________________ NEW GENERATION OF « BULK » CATALYST PRECURSORS FOR HYDRODESULFURIZATION SYNTHESIZED IN SUPERCRITICAL FLUIDS ___________________ Co-superviseurs de recherche : Cristina Martínez & Cyril Aymonier Soutenue le 03 Novembre 2010 Après avis favorable de : M. E. PALOMARES, Professor, UPV, Valencia, Spain Rapporteurs M. M. TÜRK, Professor, KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany Devant la commission d’examen formée de : M.
    [Show full text]
  • THE H-OIL PROCESS: a Worldwxide LEADER in VACUUM RESIDUE HYDROPROCESSING” \ ^
    —t&CR I'd, D 3 YJj TT-097 CONEXPO ARPEL '96 . i ' 1 "THE H-OIL PROCESS: A WORLDWXiDE LEADER IN VACUUM RESIDUE HYDROPROCESSING” \ ^ J.J. Colyar1 L.I. Wisdom2 A. Koskas3 SUMMARY With the uncertainty of market trends, refiners will need to hedge their investment strategies in the future by adding processing units that provide them with flexibility to meet the changing market. The various process configurations involving the H-Oil® Process described in this paper have been tested commercially and provide the refiner with the latest state of the art technology. ABSTRACT The H-Oil® Process is a catalytic hydrocracking process, invented by HRI, Inc., a division of IFP Enterprises, Inc. which is used to convert and upgrade petroleum residua and heavy oils. Today the H-Oil Process accounts for more than 50 percent of the worldwide vacuum residue hydroprocessing market due to its unique flexibility to handle a wide variety of heavy crudes 'while producing clean transportation fuels. The process is also flexible in terms of changes in yield selectivity and product quality. The unconverted vacuum residue from the process can be utilized for fuel oil production, blended into asphalt, routed to resid catalytic cracking, directly combusted or gasified to produce hydrogen. This paper will discuss additional background information on the H-Oil Process, some of the key advances made to the process and applications for the Latin America market. The paper will also discuss the status of recent commercial plants which are in operation or which are under design or construction and which utilize these new advances.
    [Show full text]
  • Thermal Stability Analysis of Hydroprocessing Unit A
    THERMAL STABILITY ANALYSIS OF HYDROPROCESSING UNIT A Thesis by YONGCHUL CHO Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Chair of Committee, M. Sam Mannan Committee Members, Mahmoud M. El-Halwagi Maria A. Barrufet Head of Department, M. Nazmul Karim May 2018 Major Subject: Chemical Engineering Copyright 2018 Yongchul Cho ABSTRACT Thermal stability is one of the most critical safety issues in the hydroprocessing units. Runaway reactions in the units can lead to catastrophic consequences as the reactors are being operated at high temperature and pressure, and the reactor effluent is a highly explosive mixture which contains hydrogen and hydrocarbons. For example, a fire and explosion due to a runaway reaction in a hydrocracking unit caused one death and forty-six injuries in 1997, in California. While the temperature runaway is the topic which has been studied extensively, most of the studies worked on simple reactions and little focused on the complex reactions such as hydroprocessing reactions. Also, in the studies on the hydroprocessing reactions, a lumping kinetic model was used which is less accurate and requires experiments for each application. In this research, the thermal stability of a naphtha hydrotreater will be analyzed by using a commercial process simulator ProMax where a novel mechanistic kinetic model, Single Event Kinetics has been integrated. Also, a simplified model will be established by using the data provided by ProMax for further analysis. The continuity and energy equations and parametric sensitivity equations will be solved by Matlab based on the methodology presented by Morbidelli and Varma.
    [Show full text]
  • Hydrogen Sulfide Capture: from Absorption in Polar Liquids to Oxide
    Review pubs.acs.org/CR Hydrogen Sulfide Capture: From Absorption in Polar Liquids to Oxide, Zeolite, and Metal−Organic Framework Adsorbents and Membranes Mansi S. Shah,† Michael Tsapatsis,† and J. Ilja Siepmann*,†,‡ † Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455-0132, United States ‡ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Theory Center, University of Minnesota, 207 Pleasant Street SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455-0431, United States ABSTRACT: Hydrogen sulfide removal is a long-standing economic and environ- mental challenge faced by the oil and gas industries. H2S separation processes using reactive and non-reactive absorption and adsorption, membranes, and cryogenic distillation are reviewed. A detailed discussion is presented on new developments in adsorbents, such as ionic liquids, metal oxides, metals, metal−organic frameworks, zeolites, carbon-based materials, and composite materials; and membrane technologies for H2S removal. This Review attempts to exhaustively compile the existing literature on sour gas sweetening and to identify promising areas for future developments in the field. CONTENTS 4.1. Polymeric Membranes 9785 4.2. Membranes for Gas−Liquid Contact 9786 1. Introduction 9755 4.3. Ceramic Membranes 9789 2. Absorption 9758 4.4. Carbon-Based Membranes 9789 2.1. Alkanolamines 9758 4.5. Composite Membranes 9790 2.2. Methanol 9758 N 5. Cryogenic Distillation 9790 2.3. -Methyl-2-pyrrolidone 9758 6. Outlook and Perspectives 9791 2.4. Poly(ethylene glycol) Dimethyl Ether 9759 Author Information 9792 2.5. Sulfolane and Diisopropanolamine 9759 Corresponding Author 9792 2.6. Ionic Liquids 9759 ORCID 9792 3. Adsorption 9762 Notes 9792 3.1.
    [Show full text]
  • 5.1 Petroleum Refining1
    5.1 Petroleum Refining1 5.1.1 General Description The petroleum refining industry converts crude oil into more than 2500 refined products, including liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, kerosene, aviation fuel, diesel fuel, fuel oils, lubricating oils, and feedstocks for the petrochemical industry. Petroleum refinery activities start with receipt of crude for storage at the refinery, include all petroleum handling and refining operations and terminate with storage preparatory to shipping the refined products from the refinery. The petroleum refining industry employs a wide variety of processes. A refinery's processing flow scheme is largely determined by the composition of the crude oil feedstock and the chosen slate of petroleum products. The example refinery flow scheme presented in Figure 5.1-1 shows the general processing arrangement used by refineries in the United States for major refinery processes. The arrangement of these processes will vary among refineries, and few, if any, employ all of these processes. Petroleum refining processes having direct emission sources are presented on the figure in bold-line boxes. Listed below are 5 categories of general refinery processes and associated operations: 1. Separation processes a. Atmospheric distillation b. Vacuum distillation c. Light ends recovery (gas processing) 2. Petroleum conversion processes a. Cracking (thermal and catalytic) b. Reforming c. Alkylation d. Polymerization e. Isomerization f. Coking g. Visbreaking 3.Petroleum treating processes a. Hydrodesulfurization b. Hydrotreating c. Chemical sweetening d. Acid gas removal e. Deasphalting 4.Feedstock and product handling a. Storage b. Blending c. Loading d. Unloading 5.Auxiliary facilities a. Boilers b. Waste water treatment c. Hydrogen production d.
    [Show full text]
  • Hydrodesulfurization of Thiophene and Benzothiophene to Butane and Ethylbenzene by a Homogeneous Iridium Complex
    1912 Organometallics 1997, 16, 1912-1919 Hydrodesulfurization of Thiophene and Benzothiophene to Butane and Ethylbenzene by a Homogeneous Iridium Complex David A. Vicic and William D. Jones* Department of Chemistry, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627 Received December 3, 1996X 5 Reaction of the dimer [Cp*IrHCl]2 (Cp* ) η -C5Me5) in benzene solution with either thiophene or benzothiophene at 90 °C in the presence of H2 gives the hydrogenolysis products [Cp*IrCl]2(µ-H)(µ-SC4H9)(1) and [Cp*IrCl]2(µ-H)[µ-S(C6H4)CH2CH3](2), respectively, in high yields. Upon further thermolysis under H2, the completely desulfurized products, butane and ethylbenzene, can be made. Complexes 1 and 2 were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. In the absence of H2, reaction of [Cp*Ir HCl]2 with thiophene gives an additional trinuclear product [Cp*IrCl]3(H)(SC4H6)(3), which was also structurally character- ized. Introduction Previously in our lab the dimeric species [Cp*IrH3]2 was observed to cleave both C-S bonds of thiophene in The hydroprocessing of crude oil is one of the largest the presence of a hydrogen acceptor (eq 1).4a Reaction scale chemical processes carried out in industry today. In this process, heteroatom impurities such as thio- phenes, mercaptans, and quinolines are removed, mak- ing the oil amenable to further refining. Removal of the sulfur compounds, in particular, decreases the contribu- tions to acid rain production upon fuel combustion and is also valuable in preventing catalyst poisoning both in the refinement process and in automobiles.1 Because of both the environmental and economic rewards that can be achieved through the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) of this butadiene complex with hydrogen yielded the process, recent research has focused on trying to better desulfurized product n-butane.
    [Show full text]
  • Hydrodesulfurization and Hydrodenitrogenation of Diesel Distillate from Fushun Shale Oil
    Oil Shale, 2010, Vol. 27, No. 2, pp. 126–134 ISSN 0208-189X doi: 10.3176/oil.2010.2.03 © 2010 Estonian Academy Publishers HYDRODESULFURIZATION AND HYDRODENITROGENATION OF DIESEL DISTILLATE FROM FUSHUN SHALE OIL HANG YU(a)*, SHUYUAN LI(a), GUANGZHOU JIN(b) (a) State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing China University of Petroleum, Beijing 102249, China (b) Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing 102617, China Relatively high content of nitrogen and sulfur in shale oil can have an adverse influence on its potential utilization as a substitute fuel. In this paper, the results of preliminary investigation into catalytic hydrotreating of diesel fraction (200–360 °C) of Fushun shale oil are presented. Hydrogenation was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor using sulfided catalysts Ni-W/Al2O3 and Co-Mo/Al2O3. The influence of temperature, pressure, liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV) and hydrogen/feedstock ratio on hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) was investigated. Catalytic activities of two catalysts were compared. The results showed that increasing temperature, high pressure and long residence time (reciprocal of LHSV) promoted the removal of sulfur and nitrogen, while the impact of hydrogen/feedstock ratio was smaller. The degree of nitrogen removal was substantially higher than that of sulfur. HDS efficiencies of two catalysts were comparable in severe conditions. The catalyst Ni-W/Al2O3 was much more active at HDN than Co- Mo/Al2O3 catalyst in all conditions selected. The oil cleaned in optimum conditions is characterized by low content of sulfur, nitrogen and alkenes. It can be used as a more valuable fuel. Introduction Dependence on non-conventional resources for energy and petrochemical industry feedstock will likely increase in the coming future because of the shortage of petroleum resource.
    [Show full text]
  • Economical Sulfur Removal for Fuel Processing Plants Challenge Sulfur Is Naturally Present As an Impurity in Fossil Fuels
    SBIR Advances More Economical Sulfur Removal for Fuel Processing Plants Challenge Sulfur is naturally present as an impurity in fossil fuels. When the fuels are burned, the sulfur is released as sulfur dioxide—an air pollutant responsible for respiratory problems and acid rain. Environmental regulations have increasingly restricted sulfur dioxide emissions, forcing fuel processors to remove the sulfur from both fuels and exhaust gases. The cost of removing sulfur from natural gas and petroleum in the United States was about DOE Small Business Innovation $1.25 billion in 2008*. In natural gas, sulfur is present mainly as hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S), Research (SBIR) support while in crude oil it is present in sulfur-containing organic compounds which are converted enabled TDA to develop and into hydrocarbons and H2S during the removal process (hydrodesulfurization). In both cases, commercialize its direct oxidation corrosive, highly-toxic H2S gas must be converted into elemental sulfur and removed for sale or process—a simple, catalyst-based safe disposal. system for removing sulfur from At large scales, the most economical technology for converting hydrogen sulfide into sulfur is natural gas and petroleum—that the Claus process. This well-established process uses partial combustion and catalytic oxidation was convenient and economical enough for smaller fuel processing to convert about 97% of the H2S to elemental sulfur. In a typical application, an amine treatment plants to use. unit concentrates the H2S before it enters the Claus unit, and a tail gas treatment unit removes the remaining 3% of the H2S after it exits the Claus unit. This multi-step process has low operating costs but high capital costs—too expensive for TDA Research, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • Thiophene Hydrodesulfurization Catalysis on Supported Ru Clusters: Mechanism and Site Requirements for Hydrogenation and Desulfurization Pathways
    Journal of Catalysis 273 (2010) 245–256 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Catalysis journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcat Thiophene hydrodesulfurization catalysis on supported Ru clusters: Mechanism and site requirements for hydrogenation and desulfurization pathways Huamin Wang, Enrique Iglesia * Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California and Chemical Sciences Division, E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA article info abstract Article history: Kinetic and isotopic methods were used to probe elementary steps and site requirements for thiophene Received 9 April 2010 hydrogenation and desulfurization on Ru metal clusters. Turnover rates for these reactions were unaf- Revised 27 May 2010 fected by whether samples were treated in H2 or H2S to form metal and sulfide clusters, respectively, Accepted 28 May 2010 before reaction. These data, taken together with the rate and extent of sulfur removal from used samples Available online 1 July 2010 during contact with H2, indicate that active structures consist of Ru metal clusters saturated with chem- isorbed sulfur at temperatures, pressures, and H2S levels relevant to hydrodesulfurization catalysis. Turn- Keywords: over rates and isotopic data over a wide range of H ,HS, and thiophene pressures are consistent with Hydrodesulfurization 2 2 elementary steps that include quasi-equilibrated H and H S heterolytic dissociation and thiophene bind- Thiophene 2 2 1 4 Ruthenium ing with g (S) or g coordination onto sulfur vacancies. We conclude that hydrogenation proceeds via d+ d+ 4 Kinetic addition of protons (H , as –S–H from H2 or H2S dissociation) to g thiophene species, while desulfur- 1 dÀ Kinetic isotope effects ization involves C–S activation in g (S) species aided by H species formed via H2 dissociation.
    [Show full text]
  • 5.1 Petroleum Refining1
    5.1 Petroleum Refining1 5.1.1 General Description The petroleum refining industry converts crude oil into more than 2500 refined products, including liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, kerosene, aviation fuel, diesel fuel, fuel oils, lubricating oils, and feedstocks for the petrochemical industry. Petroleum refinery activities start with receipt of crude for storage at the refinery, include all petroleum handling and refining operations, and they terminate with storage preparatory to shipping the refined products from the refinery. The petroleum refining industry employs a wide variety of processes. A refinery’s processing flow scheme is largely determined by the composition of the crude oil feedstock and the chosen slate of petroleum products. The example refinery flow scheme presented in Figure 5.1-1 shows the general processing arrangement used by refineries in the United States for major refinery processes. The arrangement of these processes will vary among refineries, and few, if any, employ all of these processes. Petroleum refining processes having direct emission sources are presented on the figure in bold-line boxes. Listed below are 5 categories of general refinery processes and associated operations: 1. Separation processes a. Atmospheric distillation b. Vacuum distillation c. Light ends recovery (gas processing) 2. Petroleum conversion processes a. Cracking (thermal and catalytic) b. Reforming c. Alkylation d. Polymerization e. Isomerization f. Coking g. Visbreaking 3. Petroleum treating processes a. Hydrodesulfurization b. Hydrotreating c. Chemical sweetening d. Acid gas removal e. Deasphalting 4. Feedstock and product handling a. Storage b. Blending c. Loading d. Unloading 5. Auxiliary facilities a. Boilers b. Waste water treatment c. Hydrogen production d.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Hydrogen in the Ecological Benefits of Ultra Low
    sustainability Article The Role of Hydrogen in the Ecological Benefits of Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel Production and Use: An LCA Benchmark Roberta Olindo 1,* and Joost G. Vogtländer 2 1 Air Liquide Forschung und Entwicklung GmbH, Gwinnerstrasse 27–33, 60388 Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2 Industrial Design Engineering, Design for Sustainability, Delft University of Technology, Landbergstraat 15, NL 2628CE Delft, The Netherlands; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 21 February 2019; Accepted: 2 April 2019; Published: 11 April 2019 Abstract: Desulphurization of oil-based fuels is common practice to mitigate the ecological burden to ecosystems and human health of SOx emissions. In many countries, fuels for vehicles are restricted to 10 ppm sulphur. For marine fuels, low sulphur contents are under discussion. The environmental impact of desulphurization processes is, however, quite high: (1) The main current source for industrial hydrogen is Steam Methane Reforming (SMR), with a rather high level of CO2 emissions, (2) the hydrotreating process, especially below 150 ppm, needs a lot of energy. These two issues lead to three research questions: (a) What is the overall net ecological benefit of the current desulphurization practice? (b) At which sulfphur ppm level in the fuel is the additional ecological burden of desulphurization higher than the additional ecological benefit of less SOx pollution from combustion? (c) To what extent can cleaner hydrogen processes improve the ecological benefit of diesel desulphurization? In this paper we use LCA to analyze the processes of hydrotreatment, the recovery of sulphur via amine treating of H2S, and three processes of hydrogen production: SMR without Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS), SMR with 53% and 90% CCS, and water electrolysis with two types of renewable energy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Hydrodesulfurization of Diesel Fuel to Meet New Epa
    THE HYDRODESULFURIZATION OF DIESEL FUEL TO MEET NEW EPA REQUIREMENTS By FAUSTO ISRAEL MARES-DAVILA ____________________ A Thesis Submitted to The Honors College In Partial Fulfillment of the Bachelors degree With Honors in Chemical Engineering THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA M A Y 2016 Approved by: ____________________________ Dr. Kim Ogden Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Abstract In December 1, 2010 the EPA reduced the allowable sulfur content in diesel fuel to 15 ppm, which is now known as ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). In order to reach the 15 ppm sulfur maximum, the hydrodesulfurization unit in many refineries had to be upgraded. The group has been tasked with developing an upgrade catalytic hydrodesulfurization unit for a refinery in the Delaware Valley that can treat 35,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD) of liquid feedstock containing 1.9 wt % sulfur. Performance data from the existing catalytic hydrodesulfurization unit was used to predict the performance of the upgraded unit. ChemCAD software was used for the process calculations and the feed was modeled using boiling curve data. The desulfurization reaction kinetics were based on the reduction of dibenzothiophene. The project goals are to achieve a 99% recovery of diesel fuel while reducing the sulfur content below 15 ppm. The liquid feedstock will be run through a packed bed reactor filled with CoMo/Al2O3 catalyst where the sulfur compounds will react with hydrogen gas to form hydrogen sulfide gas. An amine contactor will be used to remove sour gas from the recycle hydrogen stream and a distillation column will produce diesel. The work presented in this report is the combined effort of Fausto Mares-Davila, Jason Green, Toluwani Omotinugbon, and Jun Terashima.
    [Show full text]