Dearomatisation of

Naphtha

Malaviya National Institute Of

Technology
Jaipur

Submitted to:
Mr. Shiv Om Meena
Assistant Professor
Chemical Engineering
Department

Submitted by:
Mohsin Khan
2013UME1453

Content

Naphtha dearomatization
-Introduction
-Major components in naphtha
-Commercial processes of dearomatization
-Oleum treatment
-Udex process
-Hydrogenation
-Reference

Introduction

Petroleum naphthais an intermediate hydrocarbon

liquid stream derived from therefiningofcrude oil

Naphtha is a colourless to reddish-brown volatile

aromatic liquid

Dearomatization: Removal of aromatic compounds from

a mixture

Aromatic components in naphtha are the most

undesirable components as they have no
ethylene potential.

Aromatics contribute heavily to furnace fouling

thus should be removed immediately.

Aromatics recovery by extraction is a well

established technology and major licensors are
UOP(Universal Oil Products).

In general 9-17% aromatic compounds are

available in naphtha.

The petrochemical industry use naphtha with

an aromatic percentage of 4-6%.

The fertilizer industry sets a benchmark of 1012% aromaticity in the naphtha feed stock
used in production.

Therefore modern naphtha crackers are

designed with dedicated aromatics extraction
unit to recover aromatics from the pyrolysis
gasoline by product.

Naphtha

Open Spec
Naphtha A
Naphtha(OSN
)

Naphtha B

Dearomatiz
ed Naphtha
A

Dearomatized
Naphtha B

(Wt%)

(Wt%)

(Wt%)

(Wt%)

(Wt%)

N- Paraffins

31.90

25.00

20.00

32.89

26.67

I-Paraffins

34.43

30.00

21.00

39.47

28.00

Nephthenes

24.27

21.00

34.00

27.63

45.33

Aromatic

9.40

24.00

25.00

0.00

0.00

Total

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

Table:- Component In Naptha

Naphtha Dearomatization
Commercial Methods

Extractive
Distillation

Oleum
Treatment
Hydrogenation

Adsorption

Solvent Extraction

Oleum Treatment

Generally high concentrated(98%)fuming

sulfuric acid is used in this process.

The acid and the feed stock in desired

proportion is brought in to contact at a suitable
temperature.

The phases are separated by leaving the

mixture to settle.

The oily phase is neutralized and the spent

acid is discarded.

As a last step the product is fractionated to

remove high boiling material produced during
treatment.

Solvent Extraction Process

The process is also known as Udex(Glycol)

Extraction process.

Aqueous solution of Di ethylene glycol is used

for the extraction of light aromatics(BTX) from
catalyst reformate or cracked naphtha.

Most of the products from Udex process serves

as a feed to petrochemical industry thus
refluxed systems are used.

The feed stock

reformate.

is

usually

catalytic

Rich solvent from the extractor passes to a

solvent stripper.

Next the extract from the extractor unit is

taken overhead with the aid of steam.

Fig:-Udex Process

Hydrogenation

In this process the unsaturated bonds of aromatic

compounds are saturated by reacting the
compounds with hydrogen (H2).

Feed stock is straight-run naphtha, reformate,

cracked light naphtha and/or cracked heavy
naphtha with boiling point range 20C to 190C,
sp. gr. 0.600 to 0.830, and aromatics content 0 to
30% vol. (before hydrogenation).

By means of this process the aromatic content of

naphtha can be reduced up to 0-5% by volume.

The

dearomatization is carried out in the

presence of a nickel catalyst(Ni) which is suitable
for hydrogenation of edible oils.

After hydrogenation, the liquid product obtained

is fed to a product stabilization section, wherein
light (paraffinic) hydrocarbons and hydrogen are
removed in a distillation column or a steam
stripper.

Heat
Exchanger
3
Reacto
r2

Reactor
1
Distillation
Column
Heat
exchange
r2

Pump

Heat
exchange
r1
Fig:-Hydrogenation

CONCLUSION

Todays mega size naphtha crackers are designed with

dedicated aromatics extraction units to recover
aromatics from pyrolysis gasoline products.

Thus by combining aromatics from these units with

feed naphtha has proven the de-aromatization
technique to be economically feasible.

Also De-aromatization of heavy naphtha can de

bottleneck existing furnaces thereby avoiding addition
of extra furnace capacity.

Also cracking de-aromatized heavy naphtha results in

lower coke lay down, quench exchanger duty and firing
per pound of ethylene.

Also extracted aromatics can be used in manufacture

of synthetic Fibers .

Normal petroleum refineryoperation allows the light

hydrocarbon gases to become dissolved into the
petroleum.

Siphoning off these gases gives the oil company another

energy source to market but makes the petroleum more
efficient by decreasing plugging and fouling of burner
tips.

References

www.google.com/patents/EP0794241A2

books.google.co.in/books

www.allindianpatents.com/patents/191005

Bhirud, V. L., Improve naphtha quality for olefin

cracking, Hydrocarbon Processing, April 2007, page 69

http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Petroleum_naphtha

www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-debutanizer.htm

www.google.co.in/patents/US2049027