Reforming process design

A few years after UOP introduced the CCR Platforming process, another continuously regenerable reforming process design was offered by the Institut Francais du Petrole (IFP). The reforming unit designed by IFP differs most notably in that the reactors are always located side-by-side with catalyst transfer between each reactor. 

The reforming process model is designed to predict the performance of many reactor configurations. The model can be run in four modes, combining adiabatic or isothermal reactors with recycle or single-pass (no recycle)... 

This variability is sometimes lessened, and sometimes increased by the refining processes to which these products are subjected. Such processes as cracking are used to increase the yields of specific products and often result in improved properties of these products but not necessarily of coproducts. Other processes—e.g., treating or reforming— are designed to improve such specific properties as stability and antiknock value. The effectiveness of all these processes and the extent to which they are used are determined... 

The necessary fuel processing of natural gas or other hydrocarbons and coal before its use in the SOFC changes the system design. The following investigations have been done for methane as the main component of natural gas to keep the calculations simple. A common type of fuel processing for hydrocarbons is the endothermic steam reforming process as shown for methane in Equation (2.105) with the heat demand Equation (2.106)... 

In some cases, a fourth category can be added and includes processes such as the reforming (molecular rearrangement ) processes. For the purposes of this text, reforming (etc.) processes are included in the finishing processes because that is precisely what they are. Processes designed to finish various refinery streams and render them ready for sale. 

Some reforming processes are designed for reduced primary reforming by moving some of the heat duty to the secondary reformer because of the marginal... 

A standard primary and secondary reforming front end of the plant will operate at proven process conditions. Scale-up of the reforming section is straight-forward when using a top-fired box reformer with a cold outlet manifold system. The size of the reformer is much smaller than reformers currently designed for large-scale methanol projects218. 

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