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Simulation of light gasoline isomerization process

Isomerization is a mild version of the reforming process, used for the production of light gasoline with high octane number. During this process octane number of light gasoline is increased by conversion of n-paraffines to iso-paraffines. Zirconium sulfate catalyst, as a representative of the newest generation of isomerization catalysts, has been in commercial use for the past few years, but still the nature of its active centers, as well as its detail promoter mechanism, are not fully explained. In order to conduct a more detail investigation of reaction kinetics on this new catalyst, laboratory apparatus for isomerization of hydrocarbons in the presence of hydrogen, was designed and built. By selecting four key components: n-pentane, n-hexane, 2-methylpentane and 2, 2-dimethylbutane, reaction kinetics of production of 8 most important isomers was investigated. In addition, isomerization experiments with real commercial feed were also conducted and obtained values were compared to those obtained using model solutions. Experimentally determined key conversion values obtained at different temperatures, LHSV, hydrogen and feed flows, allowed solving of the multiple reaction equation system that describes isomerization process. Simulation of the isomerization process of light hydrocarbons on the new zirconium-sulfate catalyst and modeling was carried out using ChemCad software.

C5/C6 Isomerization; Zirconium sulfate catalyst; Simulation

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