Majid Mohadesi

One of the important processes in oil refining industry, is the catalytic naphtha reforming. In this process naphtha with low octane number converted to gasoline with high octane number. The major reaction is highly endothermic and results in a large temperature decrease between the inlet and outlet of the reactor, so a heater is used before each reactor. In this paper, catalytic naphtha reforming unit in Isfahan Oil Refinery has been investigated. Smith’s model for process modeling has been used. The activation energies have been estimated using plant production data. The reactor model is validated against plant data. The agreement between predicted results and observations is generally good. Finally, the effects of inlet temperature and H2/HC on performance were investigated. The amount of aromatics increases with increasing temperature and decreasing H2/HC.