Development of a Kinetic Model for Catalytic Reforming of Naphtha and Parameter Estimation Using Industrial Plant Data

In the present paper, a semi-empirical kinetic model for catalytic reforming has been developed. In the developed model, the component “lumping” strategy is based on a paraffins, olefins, naphthalenes, and aromatics (PONA) analysis. “Activation energy lumps” are introduced to take into account different values of activation energies within specific reaction classes. The parameters of the model have been estimated by bench marking with industrial data. Simulation results have been found to be in very close agreement with plant data. One of the advantages of the present kinetic model is that it predicts the concentration of hydrogen and light gases very well. Because it is formulated from basic principles, this kinetic model with some modification can be applied to any catalytic reformer.