A new configuration in the tail-end acetylene hydrogenation reactor to enhance catalyst lifetime and performance

Due to importance of acetylene removal from ethylene rich stream in polymerization units in order to prevent formation of highly explosive compounds, presenting any strategies improving the process efficiency has attracted researchers and industries interests. Proposing novel configurations in the reaction regeneration cycles with lower energy consumption and enhanced catalyst lifetime leading to profits for the polymerization units is of a great interest. In this regard, a new configuration for the tail-end acetylene hydrogenation reactor of a commercial olefin plant was proposed in the present study. Based on the proposed configuration, a new protocol is applied to the process for utilizing total capacity of active catalysts in each fixed bed. A mathematical model based on component and energy balance was developed and validated to evaluate the operability of the proposed configuration. Operation of different runs in the new protocol was compared with the conventional configuration. The obtained results revealed that the new configuration is managed to decrease the volume of the regenerated catalyst in a 4-year period of operation. A 33.3% decrease in the volume of the regenerated catalyst was observed. Such an achievement was obtained without reducing acetylene conversion and ethylene yield. (C) 2016 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.