Long term static modeling of Arak refinery hydrogen plant and prediction of temperature and conversion profiles in the reformer tube

This paper describes steady-state modeling of Arak Refinery Hydrogen Plant (ARHP). Extensive refinery data consisting of temperatures and partial pressures of inlet and outlet gases of the reformer were collected over a five-year period. A one dimensional pseudo-homogeneous reactor model comprising of Langmuir-Hinshelwood-Hougen-Watson (LHHW) reaction kinetic has been developed. The model parameters were optimized using the fresh catalyst refinery data and the validated model was used to predict the ARHP conversions and temperature profiles in the reformer tube. Parametric sensitivity analysis involving the effect of inlet gas temperature, inlet flow rate of gas, reactor pressure, diameter of tube on conversion of methane and the reformer tube temperature profile are presented.

Keywords:

steam reforming , modeling , one-dimensional pseudo-homogeneous model