Coupling Simulation of Delayed Coking and Hydrotreating Process at Molecular Level

Abstract

For the highly integrated system in the petrochemical industry, establishing a coupling simulation model for the units that are closely related at the molecular level was a big challenge due to the difficulty of massive and effective data interaction. Based on the structure-oriented lumping (SOL) method, the molecular composition matrix, which includes material molecular information quantitatively, made it possible to build up the coupling simulation model. An interoperable molecular composition matrix including 1228 row vectors connected the delayed coking model and the hydrotreating model in series. The coupling simulation model of delayed coking and hydrotreating process was established at the molecular level. In addition to predicting the molecular composition of the products, the simulation model could track the reaction path and reflect the synergistic transformation effect of hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon molecules. And the simulation model could also quantitatively calculate the influence of changes in upstream reaction conditions on downstream products. The coupling simulation model provided useful explorations to achieve the petroleum molecular management throughout the whole petrochemical process.

Keywords: molecular management, coupling simulation, structure-oriented lumping, delayed coking, Hydrotreating