MODELING OF HYDROCRACKING REACTION KINETICS

Abstract

Hydrocracking is a very important secondary refining process used to convert low value vacuum gas oils into high value fuels. The chemistry of the hydrocracking process is very complex due to the involvement of high molecular weight. complex hydrocarbons in the reactions. Process modeling and simulation of the hydrocracking unit is very challenging due to the complexities of chemistry and the process. In the present work, a mathematical model is described to analyze the performance of the hydrocracking process in terms of product yields. A continuous lumping approach is employed. The main advantage of the continuous lumping model is that it provides a continuous description of the species concentrations with respect to the normalized TBP, 0, and as' a function of the reaction time. The parameters of the model were taken from literature. The model equations were solved using MATLAB 7. The model predictions were found to agree well with the general trend of hydrocracking reactions. The validated model was then used to estimate the composition of products divided into 8 different petroleum cuts with desirable accuracy.