Document Type : Review Paper

Authors

• Mohammed Saad Alassadi ¹
• Khalid Ajmi Sukkar ²
• Ramzy Syhood Hamied ³

¹ The Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control Ministry of Planning, Baghdad, Iraq

² Department of Chemical Engineering/University of Technology, Iraq

³ University of Technology - Petroleum Technology Department - Iraq

Abstract

The hydroisomerization process of light naphtha is the chief process to produce high-octane gasoline in petroleum refineries. The reaction mechanism is designed to produce branched hydrocarbons with high octane numbers.
The hydroisomerization reaction mechanism over bifunctional catalysts is influenced by both acid and metallic sites on the catalyst surface. Moreover, it was found that the product quality and distribution in this process are highly dependent on the catalyst type and operating conditions in the fixed-bed reactor. The feed quality (light naphtha) is the major challenge in this process due to its direct effect on the catalyst activity, selectivity, and deactivation mechanism (catalyst lifetime). According to the results of many authors, it has been observed that the pre-treatment processes usually carried out on the light naphtha feedstock provided high performance for the applied bifunctional catalysts.
Finally, the economic feasibility of this process is a function of the catalyst type and its resistance to the contaminants present in the light naphtha.

Keywords

• Light naphtha
• Hydroisomerization mechanism
• Branched hydrocarbons
• Deactivation
• Hydroisomerization Catalyst