US 11,834,615 B2
Staged catalytic reforming process
Omer Refa Koseoglu, Dhahran (SA)
Assigned to SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Dec. 3, 2019, as Appl. No. 16/702,128.
Prior Publication US 2021/0163829 A1, Jun. 3, 2021
Int. Cl. C10G 35/02 (2006.01); C10G 35/24 (2006.01); C10G 63/02 (2006.01)
CPC C10G 35/02 (2013.01) [C10G 35/24 (2013.01); C10G 63/02 (2013.01); C10G 2300/4006 (2013.01); C10G 2300/4012 (2013.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A reforming process for upgrading a heavy naphtha feedstock, comprising:
feeding the heavy naphtha feedstock to a first stage consisting of dehydrogenating naphthenes in the heavy naphtha feedstock in one or more dehydrogenation reactors of a three-stage reforming system to form a first effluent stream comprising aromatics, wherein the dehydrogenation is conducted at a pressure ranging from 1 to 20 bars, at a temperature ranging from 400 to 450° C., and with a hydrogen to hydrocarbon molar ratio ranging from 6 to 8, and
wherein the dehydrogenation is conducted at a liquid hourly space velocity ranging from 0.5 h−1 to 2 h−1;
flowing the first effluent stream to a second stage comprising separating extracted aromatics from raffinate paraffins via extraction of the extracted aromatics from the first effluent stream to produce a second effluent stream containing the raffinate paraffins, wherein separating the extracted aromatics from the raffinate paraffins comprises:
separating the first effluent stream into a reformate stream and a hydrogen gas stream, wherein the hydrogen gas stream is split and a portion of the hydrogen gas stream is recycled back to the heavy naphtha feedstock and the remaining portion is directed away from the reforming to a refining unit, and
extracting the extracted aromatics from the reformate stream in an aromatic extraction unit of the three-stage reforming system, thereby providing the second effluent stream containing at least 95 wt % raffinate paraffins; and
flowing the second effluent stream to a third stage comprising subjecting the second effluent stream to cyclization reactions in one or more cyclization reactors of the three-stage reforming system to produce a third effluent stream comprising aromatics, wherein the first effluent stream and the third effluent stream are combined prior to extraction,
wherein the cyclization reactions are conducted at a LHSV ranging from 0.5 h−1 to 2 h−1, and
wherein the cyclization reactions are at a temperature ranging from 480 to 520° C.