Light naphtha is a mixture produced by distillation of crude oil. Light naphtha primarily contains alkane compounds

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Light naphtha is a mixture produced by distillation of crude oil. Light naphtha primarily contains alkane compounds (paraffins) and it can be blended into gasoline. The octane value of methyl-substituted alkanes (iso-paraffins) is higher than that of straight-chain compounds (normal paraffins), so it is often advantageous to isomerize the light naphtha to increase the proportion of branched compounds. 

A simple naphtha isomerization process has a feed of 10,000 barrels per day (bpd) of a 50 wt% mixture of n-hexane and methyl pentane. The feed is heated and sent to a reactor where it is brought to equilibrium at 1300 kPa and 250 °C. The reactor products are cooled to the dew point and fed to a distillation column operated at 300 kPa. The bottoms product of the distillation is rich in n-hexane and is recycled to the reactor feed. An overall conversion of n-hexane of 95% is achieved. Simulate the process to determine the recycle flow rate and composition.

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Chemical Engineering Design

ISBN: 9780081025994

6th Edition

Authors: Ray Sinnott, R.K. Sinnott, Sinnott Gavin Towler

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