Aysar T. Jarullah

Optimal design and operation of an industrial three phase reactor for the oxidation of phenol

Abstract Among several treatment methods catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) treatment is considered as a useful and powerful method for removing phenol from waste waters. In this work, mathematical model of a trickle bed reactor (TBR) undergoing CWAO of phenol is developed and the best kinetic parameters of the relevant reaction are estimated based on experimental data (from the literature) using parameter estimation technique. The validated model is then utilized for further simulation and optimization of the process. Finally, the TBR is scaled up to predict the behavior of CWAO of phenol in industrial reactors. The optimal operating conditions based on maximum conversion and minimum cost in addition to the optimal distribution of the catalyst bed is considered in scaling up and the optimal ratio of the reactor length to reactor diameter is calculated with taking into account the hydrodynamic factors (radial and axial concentration and temperature distribution).

Enhancement of Productivity of Distillate Fractions by Crude Oil Hydrotreatment: Development of Kinetic Model for the Hydrotreating Process

Abstract Crude oil hydrotreatment enhances the productivity of distillate fractions due to chemical reactions. A trickle bed reactor (TBR) is used in this work for hydrotreating (HDT) crude oil. In order to obtain a useful model for the reactor which can be confidently applied to design, operation and control, accurate estimation of kinetic parameters of the relevant reactions are required. A kinetic model for those chemical reactions is proposed here. An optimization technique is used to obtain the best values of the kinetic parameters based on pilot plant experiment. The predicted hydrotreated product composition shows very well agreement with the experimental data for a wide range of operating conditions with absolute average errors less than 5% and clearly shows enhancement of productivity of distillate fractions.

Naphtha Catalytic Upgrading for Production of Environmentally - FriendlyGasoline

The recent economic climate, impact of government regulation, and new market trends has impacted the catalyst designers to improve the performance of catalyst. To achieve this goal, a series of experiments were conducted to focus on the influence of Ga and Re addition on the catalytic activity of Pt–Re/Al2O3 naphtha reforming catalysts. To supported γ-Al2O3 the Ga-Re-Pt prepare by using incipient wetness impregnation method. Many characterization tests are used such as scanning electron microscopy, temperature programmed desorption, X-ray diffraction and BET surface area. The liquid product yield tested by PONA method. In this study the benzene content is used as main performance criteria throughout many experiments performed at different liquid hourly space velocity, hydrogen/ hydrocarbon ratios and different operating temperature. According to the catalyst characterization tests the coimpregnation method showed good result in term of performance and properties. The catalyst exhibited good liquid product distribution and significant minimization of benzene content.

Economic Analysis of an Industrial Refining Unit Involving Hydrotreatment of Whole Crude Oil in Trickle Bed Reactor using gPROMS

Abstract In this work, the economic analysis of an industrial refining process involving upfront hydrotreating (HDT) and then distillation is presented. The process economics are compared with those obtained for traditional industrial refining units where distillation is carried out upfront and followed by HDT. Detailed pilot plant experiments were conducted in a continuous flow isothermal trickle bed reactor (TBR) and the crude oil was hydrotreated using a commercial cobalt-molybdenum on alumina as a catalyst. The main HDT reactions considered are: hydrodesulfurization (HDS), hydrodenitrogenation (HDN), hydrodeasphaltenization (HDAs) and hydrodemetallization (HDM) that includes hydrodevanadization (HDV) and hydrodenickelation (HDNi). The reaction temperature, the hydrogen pressure, and the liquid hourly space velocity were varied within certain ranges. The hydrotreated crude oil was distilled into various fractions: light naphtha (L.N), heavy naphtha (H.N), heavy kerosene (H.K), light gas oil (L.G.O) and reduced crude residue (R.C.R). Finally, experimental data, kinetics, and a reactor model are employed within a commercial process simulator (gPROMS) for the economic analysis of the refining process.

Detoxification of crude oil

Petroleum contributes significantly to our lives and will continue to do so for many years to come. Petroleum derivatives supply more than 50% of the world’s total supply of energy (Jarullah Kinetic modelling simulation and optimal operation of trickle bed reactor for hydrotreating of crude oil. University of Bradford, UK, 2011 [20]). Traditionally, crude oil goes through fractional distillation to produce different grades of fuel such as gasoline, kerosene, and diesel oil providing fuel for automobiles, tractors, trucks, aircraft, and ships. Catalytic hydrotreating (HDT) is used to detoxify the oil fractions produced by fractional distillation in the petroleum refining industries which involve removal of pollutants such as sulfur, nitrogen, metals, and asphaltene in trickle-bed reactors. Recently, Jarullah and co-workers proposed detoxification of whole crude oil a priori before the crude oil enters further processing in a fractionating column. This chapter highlights this new technology.

Simulation of hybrid trickle bed reactor-reverse osmosis process for the removal of phenol from wastewater

Abstract Phenol and phenolic derivatives found in different industrial effluents are highly toxic and extremely harmful to human and the aquatic ecosystem. In the past, trickle bed reactor (TBR), reverse osmosis (RO) and other processes have been used to remove phenol from wastewater. However, each of these technologies has limitations in terms of the phenol concentration in the feed water and the efficiency of phenol rejection rate. In this work, an integrated hybrid TBR–RO process for removing high concentration phenol from wastewater is suggested and model-based simulation of the process is presented to evaluate the performance of the process. The models for both TBR and RO processes were independently validated against experimental data from the literature before coupling together to make the hybrid process. The results clearly show that the combined process significantly improves the rejection rate of phenol compared to that obtained via the individual processes.

Optimal operation of a pyrolysis reactor

Abstract In the present study, the problem of optimization of thermal cracker (pyrolysis) operation is discussed. The main objective in thermal cracker optimization is the estimation of the optimal flow rates of different feeds (such as, Gas-oil, Propane, Ethane and Debutanized natural gasoline) to the cracking furnace under the restriction on ethylene and propylene production. Thousands of combinations of feeds are possible. Hence the optimization needs an efficient strategy in searching for the global minimum. The optimization problem consists of maximizing the economic profit subject to a number of equality and inequality constraints. Modelling, simulation and optimal operation via optimization of the thermal cracking reactor has been carried out by gPROMS ( g eneral PRO cess M odelling S ystem) software. The optimization problem is posed as a Non-Linear Programming problem and using a Successive Quadratic Programming (SQP) method for solving constrained nonlinear optimization problem with high accuracy within gPROMS software. New results have been obtained for the control variables and optimal cost of the cracker in comparison with previous studies.