SIMULATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF CATALYTIC REFORMING UNIT

Abstract

One o f the most important and critical processes in petroleum refineries is catalytic reforming in which high octane gasoline and valuable aromatics such as Benzene, Toluene and Xylene (B.T.X) are produced. In view o f its importance the present work carries out the simulation and optimization of catalytic reforming unit. The process model has been simulated using ODE Toolbox o f MATLAB to predict temperature and reformate composition profiles in a commercial continuous catalytic reforming unit consisting o f a series o f three or four catalytic reactors. A multiobjective optimization strategy for an industrial naphtha continuous catalytic reforming process that aims to obtain aromatic products has been proposed. The process model is based on a 5-lumped kinetics reaction network and has been proved to be quite effective in terms o f industrial application. The primary objectives include maximization of yield o f the aromatics and minimization of the yield o f lighter hydrocarbons. Four reactor inlet temperatures, reaction pressure, and hydrogen-to-oil molar ratio are selected as the decision variables. SEPA has been applied to solve this multiobjective optimization problem. The relations between each decision variable and the two objectives are also proposed and used for choosing a suitable solution from the obtained Pareto set.