Carbon-Number-Based Kinetics, Reactor Modeling, and Process Simulation for Coal Tar Hydrogenation

A new
carbon-number-based kinetic model containing 18 hydrocarbon groups
was developed in this work to describe coal tar hydrogenation, and
the kinetic parameters were determined by means of fitting the experimental
data, obtained in a two-stage fixed-bed reactor hydrogenation experiment,
under various operating conditions. Model validation revealed that
experimental data considerably agreed with expected outcomes. On this
basis, a non-isothermal reactor model based on mass balance and energy
balance as well as the proposed reaction kinetic model were constructed
to further investigate the behavior of the hydrogenation fixed-bed
unit, and the reactor model applied in a bench-scale plant of coal
tar hydrogenation accurately simulated and predicted the yield distribution
of carbon number products and the temperature profile along with the
reactor. In addition, the entire process simulation for coal tar hydrogenation
was developed using Aspen Plus. The simulation provided a significant
guide for the optimization and design of industrial-scale hydrogenation.