Kinetic modeling of hydrocarbon processing and the effect of catalyst deactivation by coke formation

Previously derived fundamental rate equations for coke formation and catalyst deactivation are applied to the modeling of a number of commercial processes: steam reforming of natural gas, styrene production from ethylbenzene, catalytic cracking of heavy oil fractions, methanol-to-olefins on SAPO 34, and solid acid alkylation on a Y zeolite. The modeling accounts in great detail for the chemistry of the process, including the formation of the deactivating agent, commonly called coke. It is shown that the deactivating agent is not an inert substance but is involved in reactions, sometimes of the same type as those leading to the main products of the process.