Determination of optimum operating parameters of a naphtha reforming process

The process of reforming naphtha is considered one of the important processes in the oil industry. In this process, the molecular structure of hydrocarbon compounds with a low octane number is converted into hydrocarbon compounds with a high-octane number using the catalyst, platinum metal support on alumina. This work focuses on simulating the process of reforming naphtha to increase the octane number and studying the effect of operating conditions on the quantities of products. The study aims to optimize the conditions of the naphtha reforming process and operating conditions inside the reactors to obtain a high-octane number. These conditions are the temperature of the feedstock entering the reactors (RiT), the amount of hydrogen-rich return gas (RG) injected with the naphtha, temperatures of separation vessels (HPS and LPS), and pressure of the stabilizing tower. The optimization process was restricted by determining the minimum amount of reformate (C5+) at least 80% wt.%. In this work, a simulation of the naphtha reforming process was done in the Salah Al-Din/2 refinery in Iraq using the AVEVA PRO/II simulation program and matching the results obtained from the simulation with the real results taken from the factory. The results were getting aromatic content, octane number and hydrocarbon concentrations close to each other. The optimization was carried out using the same program to obtain an increase in octane number, where certain ranges were entered for the operational conditions that directly affect the specifications of the final product, as follows; RiT = (460-500 oC), LPS Temp = (35-40 oC), HPS Temp=(35-45 oC), Tower Pressure=(15-20 barg), RG= (60-120 ton/hr), Feed Quantity= (66-110 m3 /hr). The optimization result was that reducing the amount of RG to 60 tons raises the octane number from (90.5 to 93.7) value with a slight change to other operating conditions.Among the benefits of the optimization process, an 18,467% improvement was achieved in the heat exchanger and the total amount of energy consumed in the process. In addition, a 22.838% improvement in energy efficiency in compressors and pumps was achieved. These results have shown that the implementation of simulation and optimization can be applied and adapted in the process, which reduces costs in terms of the process and has a positive effect on process efficiency. For this reason, the simulation and optimization work has achieved its goal.