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Chemical Engineering and Processing, Vol.50, No.9, 893-903, 2011
Theoretical investigation of aromatics production enhancement in thermal coupling of naphtha reforming and hydrodealkylation of toluene
In the current research, an exothermic reaction is proposed to be coupled with naphtha reforming reactions. Hydrodealkylation (HDA) of toluene, which is a well-known petrochemical reaction, is discussed and is suggested as a potential exothermic reaction to be coupled with the endothermic naphtha reforming reactions. The first, the second, and the third reactor of the conventional naphtha reforming process have been substituted in three different cases by thermally coupled reactor; and optimized parameters of the final case have been investigated. Considering lower operational costs due to the elimination of inter stage heaters, investigation of thermally coupled reactors has been the first priority of this research. The investigation shows that substitution of the first two reactors and, in the final case, all conventional reactors by the new configuration can improve the production yield of the aromatics by 14% and 21%, respectively compared with conventional naphtha reforming process. The final case has been optimized as well, and 45% and 11% improvement in aromatics and hydrogen production has been observed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Naphtha reforming process;Aromatic production;Recuperative coupling;Hydrodealkylation of toluene