Abstract
Catalytic hydrotreating is one of the processes used intensively in the modern petroleum refining industry. It is series of reactions considered as a mature process that improves the quality of petroleum products and removes Sulphur and undesired impurities. This study aims to develop and enhance the performance of a whole petroleum refining plant, which follows the concept of crude oil hydrotreating (HDT). The study was carried out using Aspen HYSYS simulator building a model-based analysis for the refinery plant. Two refineries have been simulated separately; one with a crude oil hydrotreating and the other followed the conventional method. The comparison and analysis focused on enhancing the yield of middle distillates while reducing the total energy consumption and overall costs. Hydrodenitrogenation and Hydrodesulfurization were the two reactions that took place in the trickle bed reactor at 400 °C and 10 MPa. The hydrotreated crude oil enters then the atmospheric distillation column, where six main products were distilled (LPG, Light Naphtha, Heavy Naphtha, Kerosene and Residual crude). In the model-based analysis, the crude HDT process configuration was completed first using Kirkuk crude oil, and to confirm the significance of the study, Siberian crude was used as an alternative feedstock. Finally, the results confirmed that the crude oil hydrotreating method can be followed using different types of feedstock around the world.