Separating group compositions in naphtha by adsorption and solvent extraction to improve olefin yields of steam cracking process

In order to improve the steam cracking feeds, several model compounds including normal paraffins, iso-paraffins, cyclanes and aromatics were selected as the feeds of steam cracking process and the olefin yields were investigated. In the typical reaction conditions, the normal paraffins in the naphtha contribute most to the ethylene in the products; the iso-paraffins are the main sources of the propylene; the cyclanes mainly produce the butadiene and the aromatics can hardly produce olefins. According to this, the adsorption process and solvent extraction process were adopted to separate the group compositions in naphtha properly to optimize the cracking feeds. The n-paraffins in naphtha were gathered through adsorption process using 5A molecular sieves. The ethylene yield improved by 13% using the desorption oil rich in n-paraffins as the cracking feed. The aromatics and the cyclanes were extracted from the naphtha. Compared with the naphtha, the ethylene and propylene yields of the extraction raffinate oil were 3.0 and 1.5% higher respectively.