Catalytic reforming is carried out to make hydrocarbons more branched, and in some cases cyclic, in order to increase the octane number of gasoline (Recent Developments in Chemical Process and Plant Design, Y. A. Liu, A. A. McGee, and W. R. Epperly, Eds., Wiley, New York, 1987, p.33). A hydrocarbon feed stream is passed through a reforming catalytic reactor containing platinum-on-alumina catalyst. The following data were obtained from measurements on the exit stream of the reactor at various times since fresh catalyst was placed in the reactor.
t(h) | 0 | 35 | 100 | 200 | 300 | 500 |
Research Octane Number | 106 | 102 | 99.7 | 98 | 96 | 94 |
Model the reactor as a fluidized-be CSTR. The following temperature-time trajectory was implemented to offset the decay.
t(h) | 0 | 175 | 250 | 500 |
T(°C) | 500 | 515 | 520 | 530 |
[3rd Ed. P10-20]