Aromatics Complex

Aromatics

An aromatics complex is a combination of process units

which are used to convert naphtha, from a variety of
sources, and pyrolysis gasoline into the basic petrochemical intermediates: benzene, toluene, and xylenes
(BTX). Benzene is a building
block for over 250 products,
including ethyl benzene (for
styrene), cumene (for phenol),
and cyclohexane. Toluene has
become increasingly valuable
for the production of xylenes
through toluene disproportionation and transalkylation with
C9/C10 aromatics. If benzene
is favored over toluene, a portion of the toluene produced
can be used to make additional benzene through
hydrodealkylation. The xylenes product contains four different C8 isomers: para-xylene, ortho-xylene, metaxylene, and ethyl benzene. The majority of the xylenes
are processed further within the complex to produce one
or more of the individual isomers. The isomer with the
broadest commercial use is para-xylene, which is used
almost exclusively for the production of polyester fibers,
resins, and films. Ortho-xylene is used for the production of phthalic anhydride, typically used as a plasticizer. Meta-xylene
is used for the production of iso-phthalic acid, which is
gaining broader acceptance in PET resin blends.
Production of meta-xylene is addressed separately in
the MX Sorbex datasheet. Ethyl benzene is converted
to benzene or xylenes within the aromatics complex.

Typical configuration
The configuration of a complex depends upon the
available feedstock, the desired product slate, and the
amount of investment capital. A fully integrated modern
complex designed to produce benzene, para-xylene,
and ortho-xylene from naphtha typically contains the
following UOP process technologies:
UOP Naphtha Hydrotreating Process - Removes
sulfur and nitrogen contaminants in the naphtha

CCR Platforming Process - Selectively reforms

naphtha to aromatics (BTX) and high purity hydrogen
ED Sulfolane Process - Extracts benzene and
toluene from the reformate using an extractive distillation
flowscheme, (Liquid-Liquid Extraction can also be
applied for certain feedstocks)
Tatoray Process - Disproportionates toluene and
transalkylates toluene with C9 /C10+ aromatics to benzene
and xylenes
UOP THDA Process - Thermal hydrodealkylation of
toluene and heavier aromatics to benzene
Parex Process - Separates high purity para-xylene
from mixed C8 aromatics isomers
Isomar Process - Re-establishes an equilibrium mixture of isomers via xylene isomerization and conversion
of ethyl benzene to benzene or xylenes
The choice between the THDA and Tatoray processes
depends upon whether the principal product is benzene
or para-xylene and their relative values. The incorporation of a Tatoray unit into the complex can more than
double the yield of para-xylene from a given feedstock.
THDA is considered when incremental benzene is preferred to increased xylenes production. THDA is usually
the most costly source of benzene, relative to other
production options, and for that reason is less commonly
applied to a modern aromatics complex.

Alternative configuration
Another option would be to add an RZ PlatformingTM unit
to the flow scheme to allow additional benzene/toluene
production. The RZ Platforming unit would process a
light naphtha cut to convert C6/C7 paraffins to benzene
and toluene. There are a variety of flowschemes which
could be considered such as recycling the nonaromatic
ED Sulfolane raffinate back to the RZ Platforming unit to
produce additional aromatics. See the RZ Platforming
Tech Sheet for additional details

Process description
The principal products from the aromatics complex
illustrated in the flow diagram are benzene, para-xylene,
and ortho-xylene. If desired, a fraction of the toluene,

Aromatics

Application

Aromatics Complex

mixed xylenes, or C9+ aromatics can be taken as products. Also, some of the reformate may be used as a
high-octane gasoline blending component rather than
for petrochemicals production.

Heavy Aromatics column, and charged to the Tatoray

unit for production of additional xylenes and benzene.
The effluent from the Tatoray unit is sent to a stripper
column within the Tatoray unit to remove light ends,
then recycled to the BT fractionation section.

The naphtha is first hydrotreated to remove sulfur and

nitrogen compounds and then sent to a CCR
Alternatively, the toluene and heavy aromatics can also
Platforming unit. In the CCR Platforming unit, paraffins
be charged to a THDA unit for production of benzene.
and naphthenes are converted to aromatics. This is the
The effluent from the THDA unit is stripped to remove
only unit in the complex that actually creates aromatic
light ends and sent to the BT fractionation section.
rings from nonaromatics. The other
UOP Aromatics Complex
units in the complex either separate
the various aromatic components
Raffinate
into individual products or convert
Sulfolane
Hydrogen
various aromatics species into
Reformate
Benzene
higher-value aromatics products.
Splitter
Toluene
Platforming

The CCR Platforming unit is

designed to run at very high severity,
NHT
producing 104 -108 Research
Octane Number (RONC) reformate,
in order to maximize the production
Naphtha
of aromatics. This high severity operation also greatly reduces nonaromatic impurities in the C8 fraction of
the reformate, eliminating the need
for extraction of the C8 aromatics.
The CCR Platforming unit is also a
significant provider of hydrogen
makeup within the aromatics complex, with the bulk of the hydrogen
available for export from the complex
to the refinery. The CCR Platforming
unit includes a debutanizer column, which strips off the
light ends from the reformate.
The reformate from the debutanizer column bottoms is
sent to a reformate splitter column. The C7- fraction from
the overhead is sent to the ED Sulfolane unit for extraction of benzene and toluene. The ED Sulfolane unit
extracts the aromatics from the reformate splitter overhead and rejects an aromatics-free raffinate stream,
which can be further refined into paraffinic solvents,
blended into gasoline or used as feedstock for an ethylene plant. The aromatics extract is treated to remove
trace olefins, and then individual high-purity benzene
and toluene products are recovered in the BT fractionation section of the complex. Benzene is recovered as
overheads from the benzene column, with C7+ material
flowing from the benzene column bottoms to the toluene
column. The C8+ material from the bottom of the toluene
column is sent to the xylenes recovery section of the
complex. Toluene from the toluene column overhead is
usually blended with A9/A10 from the overhead of the

THDA

Bz
Col

Heavy
Aromatics
Col

Tol
Col

Tatoray
Heavy Aromatics

para-Xylene
Parex

Xylenes
Splitter

Light Ends

Isomar

ortho-Xylene
OX
Column

DeHept
Column

The overhead material from the Tatoray stripper or

THDA stripper column is separated into gas and liquid
products. The overhead gas is exported to the fuel gas
system, and the overhead liquid is normally recycled
back to the benzene column for recovery of residual
benzene.
The C8+ fraction from the bottom of the reformate splitter
is treated to reduce olefin content and then charged to a
xylenes column at the front end of the xylenes recovery
section. The overhead from the xylenes column is sent to
the Parex unit for recovery of para-xylene. The bottoms is
sent to the Heavy Aromatics column, where the A9/A10
fraction is recovered and then recycled to the Tatoray or
THDA unit. If there is no Tatoray or THDA unit, the A9+
material is usually blended into gasoline or fuel oil.
If ortho-xylene is to be produced in the complex, the
xylenes column is designed to make a split between metaand ortho-xylene and drop a targeted amount of orthoxylene (OX) to the bottoms. The xylenes column bottoms

Aromatics Complex

are then sent to an OX column where high purity orthoxylene product is recovered overhead. The bottoms of the
OX column are then sent to the Heavy Aromatics column.
The xylenes column overhead is sent directly to the
Parex unit, where 99.9 wt-% pure para-xylene is recovered by adsorptive separation at 97 wt-% recovery per
pass. Any residual toluene in the extract is fractionated
out in the finishing column within the Parex unit, and
then recycled to the Tatoray or THDA unit. The raffinate
from the Parex unit is almost entirely depleted of paraxylene, to a level of less than 1 wt-%. The Parex raffinate is sent to the Isomar unit, where additional
para-xylene is produced by re-establishing an equilibrium distribution of xylene isomers. Ethyl benzene in the
Parex unit raffinate is either converted to additional
xylenes or dealkylated to benzene, depending upon the
type of Isomar catalyst used. The effluent from the
Isomar unit is sent to a deheptanizer column. The bottoms
from the deheptanizer are recycled back to the xylenes
column. In this way, all the C8 aromatics are continually
recycled within the xylenes recovery section of the
complex until they exit the aromatics complex as paraxylene, ortho-xylene, or benzene. The overhead from
the deheptanizer is split into gas and liquid products.
The overhead gas is exported to the fuel gas system
and the overhead liquid is normally recycled back to the
benzene column for recovery of residual benzene.

provision of engineering and technical services. Through

close contact and continuous support from the time the
plant is in its basic design and throughout its operating
lifetime, our licensees are able to understand how to
apply the technology to their plant and keep it running
safely and reliably.

Case study
Feed Basis: Mid East Naphtha Heartcut
Product objectives: Maximize para-xylene production
Naphtha Feedstock Properties
Feed, specific gravity
IBP, C
EP, C
P/N/A (wt-%)

0.753
82
176
48/37/15

Overall Material Balance, KMTA

Feed naphtha

1535

Products
Benzene
Para-xylene
Ortho-xylene
Heavies
Sulfolane raffinate
Pure hydrogen
LPG
Light ends

238
700
100
9
174
40
22
252
1535

Features and benefits

Lowest investment and operating cost - The combination of UOPs engineering practices, vast design experience and operational experience, result in the economic
optimization of our designs, which allows our licensees to
build plants with the lowest investment and operating costs.
Maximum reliability and operability from experience
- UOP licensees benefit from our extensive database of
operating plants, which allows licensees to reliably operate
the technology under a wide range of economic conditions.
Continued R&D investment in technology - New
catalysts, adsorbents and process improvements are
continuously being developed by UOP. Licensees can
benefit from these developments to keep their plants on
the forefront of technology improvements, which result
in real economic benefit in the form of reduced operating
and feedstock costs and increased capacity. Recent
developments have enabled capital cost reductions of
more than 15% from the previous generation aromatics
complex design.
Superior technology transfer and support - UOP transfers technology to our licensees primarily through our

Estimated Erected Cost, MM US$ 290

(Inside battery limits only, 2006 US Gulf Coast basis)
Utility Consumption
Electric power, kW

26,953

Medium pressure steam, MT/hr

Cooling water, m3/hr

152
1,479

Fuel fired, MMkcal/hr*

54

* credit not taken for heating value of light ends

Commercial experience
UOP is the worlds leading licensor of process technology for aromatics production. As of 2006, UOP has
licensed more than 725 separate process units for
aromatics production including over 238 CCR
Platforming units, 147 Sulfolane units, 89 extraction
units using other technology (UdexTM/Carom), 88 Parex
units, 68 Isomar units, 48 Tatoray units, and 38 THDA
units. UOP has designed 88 integrated aromatics complexes which produce both benzene and para-xylene.
These complexes range in size from 21,000 to
1,700,000 MTA. Since the introduction of Parex in 1971

Aromatics Complex

UOP has been selected for 90% of the para-xylene

capacity built.
In addition to licensing new facilities, UOP also has
extensive experience revamping existing aromatics
complexes to achieve higher capacity or better operating efficiency. UOP undertakes several major aromatics
complex revamp projects every year. These projects
cover a broad range of possibilities, such as the addition
of toluene disproportionation or para-xylene recovery
sections into existing complexes, installing parallel
process unit trains, debottlenecking projects, and
revamping individual units for higher capacity, improved
product qualities, or improved energy efficiency.

For more information

Aromatics technology services are available upon
request. For more information, contact your local UOP
representative or our Des Plaines sales office:
e-mail: info@uop.com
fax:
+1-847-391-2253
phone: +1-847-391-2000

UOP LLC
25 East Algonquin Road
Des Plaines, IL 60017-5017
U.S.A.
www.uop.com

2006 UOP LLC. All rights reserved.

The information in this document should not be construed as a representation for
which UOP assumes legal responsibility, or an authorization or recommendation
to practice a patented invention without a license.
UOP 4680-1 1106AR0S