Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils, Vol. 43, No.

6, 2007

METHODS OF ANALYSIS

CORRELATION OF THE OCTANE NUMBER OF THE NAPHTHA CUT

WITH THE AROMATIC HYDROCARBON CONTENT

Osman Burkhan, I. M. Kolesnikov, R. I. Guseinov, and A. Gerbi UDC 547.542.97

Commercial gasolines obtained by blending straight-run naphtha cuts, reforming, and catalytic cracking
contain aromatic, n- and isoparaffins, naphthenes, and olefins. The octane number of commercial gasolines is
basically determined by the content of aromatics and isoparaffins. In the absence of octane-boosting additives,
aromatic hydrocarbons from toluene to isopropylbenzene, which have a motor octane number (MON) within the
limits of 96-103 units, play the basic role in boosting it.
The continuous increase in the octane number (ON) of gasolines with an increase in the aromatic
hydrocarbon content c ar is reflected by the function dependence of the type of ON (MON) = f(c ar ). From a
scientific and practical point of view, it is useful to derive a parametric equation that will describe this dependence.
We used the data obtained in atmospheric catalytic reforming of the 80-185°C naphtha cut on a mixture
(60:40 vol.) of catalysts TsVK-H and Al-Co-Mo-O to create the parametric equation. The experiments were conducted
at temperatures of 320-480°C and naphtha cut feedstock velocity of 1 cm 3 /(cm 3 h). The duration of uninterrupted
work of the catalyst was 1 h. The results of the experiments are reported in Table 1.
Isoparaffins have an octane number within the limits of 90-104 units, i.e., within the limits characteristic of
aromatic hydrocarbons. As a consequence, they do not change the type of the functional correlation.
As Table 1 indicates, ON increases sharply with an increase in the aromatic hydrocarbon content c ar in the
reformate to 30 wt. %, and with a further increase, c ar increases more slowly. We can hypothesize a parabolic or
semilogarithmic experimental dependence of the ON on c ar.
Such a dependence can be represented by an equation in differential form:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I. M. Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas. Translated from Khimiya i Tekhnologiya Topliv i
Masel, No. 6, p. 45, November – December, 2007.

0009-3092/07/4306–0519 © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 519

Table 1

Reformate: sample
Indexes Feedstock
1 2 3 4 5
Hydrocarbon composition, wt. %
n-pentane 18.1 11.67 8.28 5.98 4.15 1.77
28.71
isopentane 28.15 27.6 22.18 15.76 9.66
aromatics 9.14 17.15 25.70 36.30 51.39 69.71
33.03 26.29 16.02
naphthenes 30.83 30.70 22.47
olefins 0.01 0.91 0.98 0.87 0.65 0.43
С11+ 3.46 2.57 2.80 3.01 3.16 1.52
MON 47.6 61.5 70.8 76.5 81.8 90.0

Table 2

ON-ONi ln(car/car.i) k
13.9 0.626 22.2
23.2 1.033 22.4
28.9 1.379 20.9
34.2 1.730 19.8
42.4 2.08 20.9
21.24

dON/dc ar-1 = kcar-1 (1)

where k is the constant of the change in ON per unit of change in the concentration of aromatic hydrocarbons in
the naphtha cut.
Having separated the variables in Eq. (1), after its integration we obtain

ON-ON i = k ln (car / car i ) (2)

where ON i , c ar.i are the initial values of the octane number and aromatic hydrocarbon content.
To establish the adequacy of Eq. (2) of the experimental dependence, let us process the data in Table 1
with this equation with calculation of the value of constant k. As follows from Table 2, the value of k is obtained
with good constancy. As a consequence, Eq. (2) adequately reflects the experimental dependence of the octane
number of gasoline on its aromatic hydrocarbon content. In consideration of the numerical value of
constant k, let us represent it in the following form:

ON = 47.6 + 21.24 ln (car / 0.091) (3)

The ON of commercial gasoline can be estimated with Eq. (3) based on its aromatic hydrocarbon content.

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