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Naphtha Hydrotreating Unit

Heavy Naphtha cut f rom the atmospheric crude oil distillation column in a ref inery is sent to a Naphtha Hydrotreater Unit. Af ter the hydrotreater unit, naphtha is sent to an isomerisation unit or a catalytic ref ormer unit, which of ten use ref orming catalysts. Most ref orming catalysts contain platinum as the active material. Sulf ur and nitrogen compounds present in naphtha cut f rom atmospheric distillation column can deactivate the catalyst and must be removed prior to catalytic ref orming. Purpose of the naphtha hydrotrater unit is to remove sulphur and Fig ure 1 - Typ ic al PFD fo r a nap htha hyd ro tre ate r unit nitrogen compounds. T he naphtha hydrotreating unit uses a cobaltmolybdenum catalyst to remove sulf ur by converting it to hydrogen sulf ide that is removed along with unreacted hydrogen. Some of the hydrogen sulphide-hydrogen mixture is recycled back to the reactor to utilize the unreacted hydrogen, using a compressor. Reactor conditions f or naphtha hydrotreater unit are around 400-500F (205-260C) and pressure of 350650 psi (25-45 bar). As coke deposits on the catalyst, reactor temperature must be raised. Once the reactor temperature reaches ~750F (400C), the unit is scheduled f or shutdown and catalyst replacement. If required, the boiling range of the catalytic ref orming charge stock can be changed by redistilling in the naphtha hydrotreater in a stripper as shown in Figure-2. Of ten light naphtha containing pentanes, hexanes and light naphtha are stripped of f and sent directly to gasoline blending or pretreated in an isomerization unit prior to gasoline blending. T he heavy naphtha f rom the bottom of the stripper column goes back to the catalytic ref ormer unit bef ore blending with gasoline.
Fig ure 2 - Strip p e d in the nap htha hyd ro tre ate r unit