Model discrimination in hydrocracking of vacuum gas oil using discrete lumped kinetics

In this work, a discrete lump kinetic model for hydrocracking is developed from continuous kinetics using carbon number and true boiling point as the basis. The typical global reactions that occur in hydrocracking are isomerization and cracking. The latter reaction is assumed to model the hydrocracking process. The C-C bond cleavage in hydrocracking is a binary process in which only two products are formed in each scission. The product yield distribution is assumed to be defined by the stoichiometric kernels. This describes the frequency distribution of the reactions, which each lump undergoes. The preexponential factor and activation energy of the lumped rate coefficients are estimated by regression. The applicability of the proposed method is validated using data cited in the literature. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.