Project number
25074
Organization
UA Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
The demand for liquid fuel has risen in the last decade while environmental standards for greenhouse gas emissions have become stricter. In response, the fuel production industry developed an innovative alternative to conventional refinery methods known as methaforming. This process converts full range naphtha – a by-product of crude oil distillation – and ethanol into gasoline, blending stock to reduce costs and a lower environmental impact.
This project aims to help meet the growing demand for fuel by developing a methaforming unit within an existing refinery in Texas. The unit utilizes full range naphtha and ethanol to create the methaformate product, and the main byproducts are hydrogen rich gas and liquefied petroleum gas. The process uses a catalytic bed reactor to increase the gasoline blending stock’s research octane number to 90 with an output rate of 5,000 barrels per standard day.
The team used modeling software to simulate the reactions that take place in a methaforming unit: dehydration of alcohol, aromatization of olefins, alkylation of aromatics, aromatization of paraffins, and isomerization of paraffins. The team iterated the unit operation conditions to meet market specifications of liquefied petroleum gas and hydrogen-rich gas and adhere to product specifications for gasoline blending stock. Introducing expander/compressor pairs – for pressure integration and maximizing the heat flux values of heat exchangers – further optimized energy efficiency.
This project aims to help meet the growing demand for fuel by developing a methaforming unit within an existing refinery in Texas. The unit utilizes full range naphtha and ethanol to create the methaformate product, and the main byproducts are hydrogen rich gas and liquefied petroleum gas. The process uses a catalytic bed reactor to increase the gasoline blending stock’s research octane number to 90 with an output rate of 5,000 barrels per standard day.
The team used modeling software to simulate the reactions that take place in a methaforming unit: dehydration of alcohol, aromatization of olefins, alkylation of aromatics, aromatization of paraffins, and isomerization of paraffins. The team iterated the unit operation conditions to meet market specifications of liquefied petroleum gas and hydrogen-rich gas and adhere to product specifications for gasoline blending stock. Introducing expander/compressor pairs – for pressure integration and maximizing the heat flux values of heat exchangers – further optimized energy efficiency.