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Reformate: Straight-Run Naphtha over Platinum-Alumina-Fluorine Catalyst at 874 °F and 500 psi (Haensel, UOP, US 2,479,110)
Straight-run naphtha knocks badly in an engine. Passed hot and under pressure over Haensel's platinum catalyst, its molecules are reshaped into aromatics and smaller ones, and the octane number nearly doubles.
Result (Ex. I): a Pennsylvania naphtha of octane 41.8 gave 82.5 % by volume of reformate of octane 78.8 (A.S.T.M. motor method).
Variable: reforming temperature. At 824 °F: 95.9 % by weight, octane 65.7, too cool. At 874 °F: 83.2 %, octane 78.8; more of the charge goes to gas.
Source: Haensel, US 2,479,110 (1949), Ex. I-II. Not given: reactor size, how the products are fractionated. Hot hydrogen and oil vapour under pressure: fire risk. Picture drawn by Youblob.
Expert
1 day
Instructions
1
1
Pack the catalyst in a fixed bed
Pack the catalyst in a fixed bed
Put the platinum reforming catalyst in the reaction zone as a fixed bed. The oil is passed through it, upward or downward.
Tools needed:
Platinum Reforming Catalyst
Fixed-Bed Tubular Reactor2
2
Feed a straight-run naphtha
Feed a straight-run naphtha
Use a straight-run naphtha. Haensel's: a Pennsylvania naphtha boiling from 226 to 350 °F, with an A.S.T.M. motor octane number of 41.8.
Materials for this step:
Naphtha1 as requiredTools needed:
Oil Storage Tank3
3
Start with hydrogen
Start with hydrogen
The reaction can make enough hydrogen for itself, but the patent prefers to bring hydrogen in from outside at the start and then recycle it, so the reaction zone always holds enough.
Tools needed:
Hydrogen
Pressure Gas Cylinder4
4
Reform at 874 °F, 500 psi
Reform at 874 °F, 500 psi
Pass the naphtha over the catalyst at about 874 °F and 500 pounds per square inch, at a weight hourly space velocity of about 2: twice the catalyst's weight in oil each hour.
Tools needed:
Fixed-Bed Tubular ReactorPlatinum Reforming Catalyst
Pressure Gauge5
5
Fractionate off the hydrogen, collect the reformate
Fractionate off the hydrogen, collect the reformate
Fractionate the products to separate the hydrogen, which goes back into the process, and recover the reformate: 82.5 % by volume of the charge, octane 78.8. Ours: a fractionating still.
Tools needed:
Fractionating StillPressure Gas CylinderOil Storage TankTools Required
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