Journal Pre-proof

Simulation and optimization of aromatic extraction from lube oil cuts by

liquid-liquid extraction

Mohammad Taghi Fouladvand, Javad Asadi, Mohammad Nader

Lotfollahi

PII: S0263-8762(20)30532-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cherd.2020.10.026
Reference: CHERD 4281

To appear in: Chemical Engineering Research and Design

Received Date: 22 June 2020

Revised Date: 22 October 2020
Accepted Date: 27 October 2020

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© 2020 Published by Elsevier.

Simulation and optimization of aromatic extraction from lube oil cuts by
liquid-liquid extraction

Mohammad Taghi Fouladvand 1, Javad Asadi 2, Mohammad Nader Lotfollahi 1,*

1
. Faculty of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, Semnan University, Semnan 35195-363, Iran
2
. School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

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Corresponding author: Mohammad Nader Lotfollahi (mnlotfollahi@semnan.ac.ir)

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Highlights


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Simulation of aromatic extraction from SAE-10 lube cut using furfural is presented.
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Binary interaction parameters are estimated by regression with equilibrium data.
 NRTL model is used for modeling of LLE based on pseudo-component approach.

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By increasing temperature, the refractive index, and density of raffinate decreased.

 Multi objective optimization is conducted using MLMOPSO algorithm.
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Abstract
The simulation and optimization of aromatic extraction process from lube oil cuts using furfural as a solvent
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are conducted by linking the Aspen Plus simulator and MATLAB. The standard ASTM experiments are
performed for determining density, refractive index, and viscosity of oil cut to apply the pseudo-component
approach. The NRTL model was used for modeling the liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) of the system, and the
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binary interaction parameters (BIP) were determined by regression with the phase equilibrium data. The
modeling results demonstrated that by increasing the solvent to feed ratio and the extraction temperature,
the refractive index and the yield of raffinate phase decrease; however, the value of the viscosity index and
total energy consumption of the process is increased. Finally, multi-objective optimization using an
evolutionary algorithm is conducted to present the best trade-offs between the extraction efficiency,
refractive index, and process energy consumption. Also, the single optimum point obtained from
optimizing the linear combination of objective functions showed that the values of raffinate phase yield
and refractive index are 30.77% and 1.449, respectively. However, the energy consumption of the process
increases by about 20%, compared to the base case.

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Keywords: Liquid-liquid extraction; Lubricating oil; Aromatic extraction; Furfural; Optimization

Nomenclature
ANN Artificial Neural Network
ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers
CA Aromatic components
CR Ring structure
D Density
H Kinematic viscosity at 40°C for oils with viscosity index 100

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HND Heavy Neutral Distillate
kv Kinematic Viscosity
LLE Liquid-Liquid Extraction
L Kinematic viscosity at 40°C for oils with viscosity index 0

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M Molecular weight
MINLP Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programs
MLMOPSO Multi Leader Multi Objective Particle Swarm Optimization

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NBP Normal Boiling Point
Norm Normalized value
PSO Particle Swarm Optimization
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R2 R-squared value
Raff Raffinate stream
RI Refractive Index
RMSE Root Mean Square Error
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RDC Rotating Disc Contactor

SIF Social Influence Factor
SAE Society of Automotive Engineers
SG Specific Gravity
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SPD Spindle Distillate

S Sulfur
T Temperature
U Kinematic viscosity of oil at 40°C
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x Mole fraction
𝛾 Liquid activity coefficient
𝛼 Non-randomness parameter related to the interaction of component i and j
𝜏 Energy parameter for the interaction between two components
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1. Introduction

Nowadays, by a significant increase in industrial activities, the application of lubricating oils is considerably
increased in order to reduce the adverse effects caused by friction, specifically in moving parts. On the
other hand, the quality of the lubricating oil is expected to be improved considerably due to the higher
requirements for lubricants used in automobile industries. Accordingly, the lubricating oils are anticipated
to have higher saturate content, lower viscosity, and lower volatility, which may lead to lower fuel
consumption, lower air pollution, and longer engine and lubricant life (Hsu et al., 2019). Lubricating oils are
mainly produced from the vacuum distillation of crude oil atmospheric distillation residue. Naphthenic,
aromatic, and paraffinic components are normally present in lube oil cuts. The aromatic content of the lube
oil cut in the lubricating oil manufacturing process should be separated by liquid−liquid extraction in order

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to achieve the desired specifications and better quality products (Espada and Rodríguez, 2017). By
extracting the aromatics from the oil cuts, the viscosity index and the chemical stability of the oil will be
increased, which leads to the uniform performance of the oil in different temperature conditions (Fakhr

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Hoseini et al., 2009).

The separation of aromatic components from a lube-oil cut is usually carried out by using a proper solvent

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(Ferro et al., 2015). A good solvent with high capacity (solvent power) and high selectivity toward aromatic
hydrocarbons is needed for the extraction of aromatics from the lube oil cut. These properties (solvent
selectivity and capacity) vary with extraction temperature and solute composition. Several studies have
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been performed to investigate the effect of solvents and to select an appropriate solvent for separating the
aromatic contents from lube oil cuts (Amani et al., 2017; Idrees et al., 2019; Izza and Korichi, 2017a;
Mostafa et al., 2019). Furfural is one of the most widely used solvents for this process. It has sufficient
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selectivity and suitable capacity for aromatic separation from the lube oil cut (Lucas et al., 1993). In
addition, the furfural selectivity decreases less comparing to other solvents by increasing the temperature,
which is suitable for both light and heavy lube oil cuts (Kumar and Mohan, 2011). Izza and Korichi (2017)
performed an experimental study to investigate the effect of adding a surfactant to furfural for the
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extraction of aromatics from the lube oil. They showed that the addition of sodium lauryl ether sulfate to
the solvent increases the furfural selectivity toward aromatic components in the aromatic extraction
process from the lube oil cut. Habaki et al. (2019) performed an experimental study to separate aromatic
components from a cracked gas oil using different extraction solvents such as furfural, methanol, and
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sulfolane. They substantiated that using furfural as a solvent in a batch liquid-liquid extraction system leads
to a higher yield of aromatic components compared to sulfolane and methanol solvents. However, the
sulfolane solvent showed larger separation selectivity of aromatics with respect to alkanes, compared with
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the other solvents. Although using sulfolane in the aromatic extraction process may be beneficial, the
overlapping of the sulfolane boiling point with the boiling point range of lube cuts is a major challenge
which complicates the solvent recovery process and limits the industrial application of this solvent. Ionic
liquids are the other alternative solvents for selective extraction of aromatic, which is suitable for mixtures
with a low concentration of aromatic such as feed stream to naphtha crackers (Meindersma and de Haan,
2008; Navarro et al., 2017).

The separation of aromatic components from a lube-oil cut is carried out by contacting the feed and
solvent in an extraction column with a proper agitation rate and residence time. Rotating disc contactor

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(RDC) is one of the most efficient extractors for this process. The RDC is one type of extraction column in
which the necessary interface for mass transfer is achieved with rotors placed one above the other in
compartments. A comparison between several conventional contactor devices shows that the RDC
advantages are its suitable extraction yield, low energy consumption, ease of operation, and maintenance
(Kalem et al., 2011). Two immiscible phases produce in an RDC column include the light phase as raffinate
(paraffinic and naphthenic, top output stream) and heavy phase as the extract (aromatic and solvent
compounds, bottom output stream) (Mehrkesh et al., 2013).

Regarding the simulation of extraction process, the application of empirical methods by defining all the
components of hydrocarbon mixture requires large experimental information. The key parameter to
describe the vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) in distillation separation processes is the relative volatility.
Hence the pseudo-components approach based on distillation curves is applicable for complex

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hydrocarbon mixtures in distillation processes. However, different approaches should be implemented for
the liquid-liquid extraction processes due to the different chemical nature of hydrocarbons in the

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lubricating oil cut (Amani and Asadi, 2018; Montahaie et al., 2009). Lubricating oil has a very complex
composition, which complicates the description of the liquid-liquid equilibrium involved. Thus, the
lubricating oil should be characterized by defining some pseudo-components to avoid the high

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computational time needed for its process simulation. In other words, an effective approach to define
pseudo-components for thermodynamic modeling of lubricating oil cut is needed. Many approaches for
defining the pseudo-components for lubricating oil have been reported in the literature. Riazi and Daubert
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(1986) have presented the correlations based on the physical properties of a mixture (such as the refractive
index and the viscosity) for calculating the composition of pseudo-components (paraffin, naphthene, and
aromatic) for the petroleum mixtures. In addition, Vakili‐Nezhaad et al. (1999) have used the same pseud-
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components for modeling of lube oil cuts. Several authors (Coto et al., 2006a; van Grieken et al., 2008) have
implemented a pseudo-component approach based on saturates, aromatics, and polar components to
describe LLE in the furfural and lubricating oil systems. The most important properties for characterizing
the lubricating oils are refractive index and density (Vargas and Chapman, 2010). The refractive index is
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commonly used for determining the quality of lube oils, and density is an input for process simulator and is
used for the calculation of different transport properties (Espada et al., 2008; Sánchez-Lemus et al., 2015).
These properties can be measured experimentally for determining the composition of pseudo-components
in the lube oil cuts, as implemented by Montahaie et al. (2009).
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A consistent thermodynamic model should be implemented to design and simulate the liquid-liquid
extraction process and hence to describe the liquid–liquid equilibrium (LLE). There are numerous works in
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the literature on the modeling of the liquid-liquid extraction process using various thermodynamic models
such as NRTL, UNIQUAC, and UNIFAC (Maurer and Prausnitz, 1978; Renon and Prausnitz, 1968; Weidlich
and Gmehling, 1987). Van Grieken et al. (2008) modeled the aromatic extraction process of a paraffinic
lubricating oil system based on the pseudo-component concept. They considered the NRTL model in the
ASPEN PLUS software for the simulation of this process, and a good agreement was obtained between their
estimations and the experimental data. Van Grieken et al. (2005) proposed a model based on such pseudo-
components and the NRTL model to simulate the extraction operation for the system furfural and heavy
neutral distillates. De Lucas et al. (1993) have shown that the NRTL model is an appropriate model to
describe the LLE of the furfural and heavy lubricating oil system. Coto et al. (2006a) used the aromatics,

4
saturates, and polar pseudo-components for considering the liquid phase based on the ASTM D2007
standard test method. They determined the composition of complex hydrocarbon mixtures by using
specific gravity, refractive index, density, and sulfur content. They assumed a linear temperature
dependence of the pseudo-component properties and the NRTL parameters. Espada et al. (2008) applied a
generalized method in simulating a pilot plant scale of an aromatic extraction system with different
lubricating oil cuts between the range of spindle distillate- heavy neutral distillate (SPD-HND), and they
obtained good results for estimating refractive index and yields at 343 K for the heavier lubricating oil cuts.
In addition, they investigated the model accuracy by simulating the multi-stage extraction systems with
Aspen Plus software. Fakhrhoseini et al. (2013) proposed a mathematical modeling for evaluating the
performance of an RDC column, and they presented the effect of operational parameters such as solvent to
feed ratio and temperatures on the extraction yield and the energy consumption of the system. However,

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the optimum operating conditions, as well as the effects of operating parameters on the refractive index
and viscosity, have not been investigated in previous works (Fakhrhoseini et al., 2013; Mehrkesh et al.,
2011). Espada and Rodríguez (2017) determined the refractive index and liquid density by applying the

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pseudo-component concept for lubricating oil mixtures at 20 °C. Their research showed that the pseudo-
component concept has better accuracy than quadratic correlation to calculate density and refractive index
of raffinate obtained from light and medium neutral distillate feedstock.

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In this research, the aromatic extraction process from lube oil cuts by liquid-liquid extraction is investigated
using the pseudo-component approach and liquid-liquid extraction data on production scale. Accordingly, a
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characterization method based on the measurement of density, refractive index, and viscosity is
implemented for calculating the composition of pseudo-components represented as paraffins, naphthene,
and aromatics. This method is suitable for describing complex lube oil cuts since these properties could be
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experimentally measured. In addition, the NRTL parameters are calculated by regression with the LLE
experimental data for the considered system at various temperatures and furfural/feed ratios. Although
several studies have been accomplished on predicting the thermodynamic properties using the pseudo-
component approach and by comparing the modeling results with experimental data, little research studies
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have been dedicated to analyze the effects of operating conditions on the performance of a production
scale liquid-liquid extraction plant for aromatic removal. In addition, for increasing the accuracy of process
simulation, the binary coefficients of the thermodynamic model (NRTL model) are calculated based on the
phase equilibrium data, which leads to a minimum deviation between the modeling results and industrial
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data. Moreover, multi-objective optimization using evolutionary algorithms is an efficient framework for
dealing with the problem including multiple conflicting objectives, which have not been addressed by
previous works for the aromatic extraction process via liquid-liquid extraction. Indeed, optimization as a
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major quantitative tool in the process of decision making is implemented in this study to minimize the cost
of energy and improve the product quality.
The purpose of this research is the simulation and optimization of an aromatic extraction process from SAE-
10 lube oil cuts by using furfural as a solvent, which can significantly improve the performance of this
process in the industry. The system is modeled using industrial data and considering complex mixture as
three pseudo-components. Afterward, the effects of operating conditions such as temperature and solvent
to feed ratio on the extraction efficiency, product quality, and energy consumption are investigated. Finally,

5
multi-objective process optimization has been done to maximize the quality of lubricating oil products and
minimize the energy consumption of the system. The overall framework of this study is shown in Fig. 1.

2. Process description
The primary feedstock of the lubricant oil extraction process is obtained from the vacuum crude-oil
distillation column with various degrees of viscosity. This process is usually carried out in an RDC extractor
in order to selectively separate aromatic contents from the feedstock through the liquid-liquid extraction
process. In this process, lube oil cut after becoming liquid droplets by passing through a nozzle, is fed to the

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bottom of the RDC column. Furfural, as a common solvent, is fed to the top of the RDC column. In the
extraction process, the feedstock is separated into two phases, the light phase is the raffinate moving to

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the top through the RDC column due to the buoyancy force, and the extract is the heavy phase moving to
the bottom through the RDC column for its gravitational force. Afterward, these two streams are fed to

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solvent recovery sections, which include stripping towers with necessary heating equipment in order to
separate and recycle the remaining amount of furfural in both raffinate and extract streams.
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3. Materials and methods
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By providing required samples of all input and output streams for this process, taken at the predetermined
operational times during test-runs of an Oil Refinery, standard ASTM (American Society for Testing and
Materials) experiments for determining density, refractive index, and viscosity have been performed in
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order to calculate the composition of each stream (Saleem and Karim, 2020). Density and viscosity were
measured based on the ASTM D-7042 standard by using a rotational viscometer (Anton Paar SVM3000).
This instrument calculates the kinematic viscosity of samples from the measured values of dynamic
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viscosity and density automatically with the uncertainty in the measurement of ±0.01 (cSt) for kinematic
viscosity and ±0.0001 (g/cm3) for density. For measuring the refractive index (RI) of samples, the GPR 11-
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37-E refractometer model (Index instrument Inc.) with an accuracy of ±0.0001 was applied. The RI and
density (d) of the samples were measured at 20°C in order to use ASTM D-3238 for the characterization of
petroleum mixtures (Espada et al., 2007). Furthermore, the molecular weights were obtained based on
ASTM D-2502 by applying a graphical approach and using the measured kinematic viscosity (kv) of the
samples at 37.8°C and 98.89°C. Also, the sulfur content of samples was measured using a Perkin-Elmer
Optima-5300V analyzer with an accuracy of ±0.01.

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The measured properties of the lube oil stream are as follows: The values of kv at 98.89 °C and 37.78 °C are
5.26 and 32.12 cSt, respectively. Also, the measured values of density, refractive index, and sulfur weight
percent are 0.8761 g/cm3, 1.4798, and 0.65 %wt, respectively.
The ASTM D-2502 procedure is followed to calculate the molecular weight of the mixture, which is a
graphical method for determining molecular weight through the viscosity measurement at the two
different temperatures (37.78 and 98.89 °C).
The aromatic, naphthenic, and paraffinic contents of different samples were determined based on ASTM D-
3238. According to this procedure, the two following constant is calculated by using measured density (d)
and refractive index (RI).

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𝑣 = 2.51(𝑅𝐼 20 − 1.475) − (𝑑20 − 0.851) (1)

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𝑤 = (𝑑20 − 0.851) − 1.11(𝑅𝐼20 − 1.475) (2)

Finally, the percentage of aromatic components (𝐶𝐴 ) and ring structure (𝐶𝑅 ) hydrocarbons (aromatic and

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naphthenic) are calculated using calculated constants (v and w), sulfur content (s), and molecular weight
(M) by Eqs. 3 to 6.
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If v is positive: %𝐶𝐴 = 430𝑣 + 3660/𝑀 (3)

If v is negative: %𝐶𝐴 = 670𝑣 + 3660/𝑀 (4)

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If w is positive: %𝐶𝑅 = 820𝑤 − 3𝑠 + 10000/𝑀 (5)

If w is negative: %𝐶𝑅 = 1440𝑤 − 3𝑠 + 10600/𝑀 (6)

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The weight percentage of naphthenic and paraffinic components could be calculated by Eqs. 7 and 8,
respectively.
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𝑤𝑁 = 𝑤𝑅 − 𝑤𝐴 (7)

𝑤𝑃 = 1 − 𝑤𝑅 (8)
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The calculated properties and composition of pseudo-component for SAE-10 lube oil are presented in Table
1, according to the above-mentioned procedure.

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Furthermore, by sampling 150 gr of raffinate product and separating the furfural component by heating,
the above-mentioned experiments are implemented to identify the weight percentage of different
components in the remaining mixture.

The viscosity index of raffinate oil is calculated according to ASTM D-2270 (Azim et al., 2009) based on the
measured lube oil kinematic viscosity at 40 and 100°C and by using Eq. 9:

𝐿−𝑈
𝑉𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥 = × 100 (9)
𝐿−𝐻

where L and H refer to the kinematic viscosity at 40°C for oils with viscosity index 0 and 100, respectively,

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which have an equal viscosity at 100°C with the oil whose viscosity index is to be determined. Also, U is the
kinematic viscosity of the oil (cSt) at 40°C. The values of H and L can be found in the mentioned standard.

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4. Process simulation

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Process simulator tools have been widely used in the chemical industries to facilitate process analysis,
evaluation, and optimization with a good degree of accuracy (Seider et al., 2009). In this study, the
simulation of aromatic extraction from lubricating oil is performed using Aspen Plus© version 10, which is
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highly efficient and includes various thermodynamic models. For the simulation of the process, the NRTL
model is selected as the thermodynamic model, which is also recommended in the literature (Coto et al.,
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2006a; Espada and Rodríguez, 2017; Mehrkesh et al., 2013). This model suggests a linear correlation
between the NRTL parameters and the properties of pseudo-component with the average boiling point of
the feed (furfural+ pseudo-component) (Coto et al., 2006b).
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After selecting the NRTL thermodynamic model, the binary interaction coefficients were obtained by
regression with the experimental phase equilibrium data. The NRTL thermodynamic model, as a local
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composition model, is able to effectively model the LLE generated in the extraction process. This model
includes binary interactions based on Eqs. 10 to 12 (Renon and Prausnitz, J.M., 1968; Prausnitz et al., 1998).
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∑𝑐𝑗=1 𝑥𝑗 𝜏𝑗𝑖 𝐺𝑗𝑖 𝑥𝑗 𝐺𝑖𝑗 ∑𝑐𝑚=1 𝑥𝑚 𝜏𝑚𝑗 𝐺𝑚𝑗

ln 𝛾𝑖 = ∑𝑐𝑘=1 𝑥𝑘 𝐺𝑘𝑖
+ ∑𝑐𝑗=1 [∑𝑐 (𝜏𝑗𝑖 − ∑𝑐𝑘=1 𝑥𝑘 𝐺𝑘𝑗
)] (10)
𝑘=1 𝑥𝑘 𝐺𝑘𝑗

𝐺𝑖𝑗 = exp(−𝛼𝑖𝑗 𝜏𝑖𝑗 ) (11)

𝑏𝑖𝑗
𝜏𝑖𝑗 = 𝑎𝑖𝑗 + 𝑇 (12)
𝑒𝑥𝑡

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where 𝛾 stands for the liquid activity coefficient, x denotes the mole fraction, 𝛼 is a non-randomness
parameter, and 𝜏 is the energy parameter related to the interaction between the components i and j. Also,
𝑎𝑖𝑗 and 𝑏𝑖𝑗 are the NRTL binary parameters and the 𝑏𝑖𝑗 has the unit of temperature (K).

In this study, the experimental data of phase equilibrium in the lube oil mixture are used for estimating
binary interaction coefficients by performing data regression in the Aspen Plus software, in which the
resulted root mean square error (RMSE) is equal to 1.53%. The results of NRTL binary interaction
parameters between various pseudo-components, including paraffinic, aromatic, naphthenic, and furfural
component are presented in Table 2.

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The required information for simulating the feed stream, which is modeled as the pseudo-components, is

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mentioned in the previous section. Feed and solvent streams with tank temperature (305 K) are entered
into the heat exchanger to be heated up to the extraction temperature. The RDC column is modeled as a

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liquid-liquid extractor module in Aspen Plus, which includes 25 stages with operating pressure equal to 44
psi and operating temperature equal to 345 K according to the datasheets provided by the Oil Refinery. In
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addition, based on the process flow diagram of the case study, the feed and solvent flow rates are 215 and
1008 liter per minute, respectively. It should be noted that the product purification section is not the core
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part of the operation and is not studied in this paper. The flowsheet of this process in the Aspen Plus
software environment is shown in Fig. 2.
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5. Process optimization
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Multi-objective optimization is an efficient and common tool in the field of chemical processes for finding
the optimum operating conditions (Inamdar et al., 2004; Rangaiah, 2009). In many optimization problems,
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there are conflicting objective functions needed to be simultaneously addressed, which results in Pareto
optimal solutions set. For a Pareto curve consisting of a set of optimal points, any objective cannot be
improved in a set without sacrificing at least one of the other objective functions. Particle swarm
optimization (PSO) is a population-based optimization method, and numerous researchers have applied
this algorithm because of its good performance for handling nonlinear and non-continuous objective
functions (Asadi et al., 2018; Shaahmadi et al., 2018; Shokrian and High, 2014a). This algorithm has two

9
main steps, including generating the positions and velocities of particles and updating the positions and
velocities of particles. In this algorithm, particle indicates a point in the design space that its position in
each iteration (move) changes according to velocity updates. The velocity update equation has random
parameters to efficiently cover the whole design space. The new search direction is determined by three
values, including the particle own memory, current motion, and swarm influence.
Multi-Leader Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MLMOPSO) algorithm is a modified version of
basic PSO, which can handle multi-objective optimization problems with constraints. This method has
successfully applied to solve mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) problems (Asadi et al., 2018;
Shokrian and High, 2014b, 2014a). In this algorithm, the new particle positions in the swarm establish by an

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efficient position updating approach using the information of non-dominated solutions, called leaders.
Also, the performance of this algorithm is improved by introducing Social Influence Factor (SIF) for

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determining the velocity vector, which enables particles to use the information of leaders. The details of
the MLMOPSO algorithm are provided in the literature (Shokrian and High, 2014b).

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In this study, a steady-state simulation of the process is implemented in the Aspen Plus v10 simulator, and
the optimization algorithm is programmed in MATLAB 2019a for optimization of the process. It should be
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noted that the Aspen HYSYS simulator can be conveniently connected with MATLAB software using the
actxserver command, as implemented by many authors for process optimization application (Asadi and
Jalali Farahani, 2018; Ibrahim et al., 2018). However, it is more convenient to use Microsoft Excel VBA as an
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interface to transfer information between Aspen Plus and MATLAB (Xu et al., 2014). More details about the
interconnection of Aspen Plus and MATLAB by VBA can be found in the Aspen Plus User Guide and the
work of Ponce-Ortega and Hernández-Pérez (2019).
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5.1. Objective functions and decision variables

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The process of aromatic extraction of lubricating-base-oils by furfural was simulated with the aim to find
the optimal operating conditions to minimize the cost of the process and to improve the product quality. In
this regard, critical operating parameters, including solvent to feed ratio and extraction temperature, are
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considered as manipulated variables. The most important step in optimization is the selection of objective
functions. Accordingly, the following three objective functions are optimized simultaneously.
 Minimization of raffinate phase yield, which indicates the efficiency of the RDC column and high
quality of the raffinate phase
 Minimization of refractive index (RI) showing the quality of lubricating oil
 Minimization of total auxiliary power consumption in the process

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The normalized form of the mentioned objective function is considered for optimization. Accordingly, the
scale of all objective functions should be identical (between 0 and 1). The raffinate phase yield is calculated
based on Eq. 13. Also, Eqs. 14 and 15 present the normalized form of refractive index and total energy
consumption, respectively.

𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑎𝑓𝑓

𝑌𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑𝑅𝑎𝑓𝑓 = 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑖𝑛 𝐹𝑒𝑒𝑑
(13)

𝑅𝐼𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓 −𝑅𝐼𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑅𝐼𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚 = (14)
𝑅𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑥 −𝑅𝐼𝑚𝑖𝑛

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𝑄𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 −𝑄𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑄𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑄𝑚𝑎𝑥 −𝑄𝑚𝑖𝑛
(15)

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In the Eq. 14, 𝑅𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑥 and 𝑅𝐼𝑚𝑖𝑛 refer to the maximum and minimum values of the refractive index

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according to the available data points from experiments. The total auxiliary power consumption includes
the duty of all pumps and heat exchangers in the system, considered as total energy consumption of the
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system, and it is calculated using the results of simulation in the Aspen Plus. It should be noted that based
on the information provided from the industrial plant, the rotation speed of the RDC column is fixed and,
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consequently, will not change the value of total energy consumption objective function.

Based on the industrial information and available literature (Espada and Rodríguez, 2017; Montahaie et al.,
2009), solvent to feed ratio and extraction temperature are the most important operating parameters,
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which can be changed during the operation of the aromatic extraction process. Accordingly, decision
variables of the process optimization include the solvent to feed ratio and extraction temperature.
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According to the product quality requirement and the unit capacity, the constraints of the optimization
problem are defined as follows.
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𝑅𝐼𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓 < 1.5 (16)

𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 ≤ 1500 𝑙𝑖𝑡/𝑚𝑖𝑛 (17)

Due to the simultaneous use of Aspen Plus and MATLAB for optimization, mass and energy balances are
not considered as a constraint because these constraints are automatically met in the simulator.

6. Results and discussion

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6.1. Comparing simulation results with experimental values

In order to validate the model accuracy and evaluate the model predictions, the predicted results obtained
from the model were compared with the experimental data. In this section, the process simulation results
for refractive index (RI) and yield (%) are compared with the experimental data in different operating
conditions to check the accuracy of the simulation and to verify the simulation results. The error is
calculated based on Eq. 18.

𝑥𝑐𝑎𝑙 −𝑋𝑒𝑥𝑝
%𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = | | × 100 (18)
𝑋𝑒𝑥𝑝

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The calculated errors and the yield of the raffinate stream (Eq. 13) are presented in Table 3. According to
this table, the value of errors in all cases is below 4 percent, indicating good agreement between the

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simulation results and the experimental data. Fig. 3(a) and (b) show the comparisons between
experimental data and simulation results of the refractive index and the raffinate phase yield, respectively.

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The resulted R-squared values mentioned in the figures validate the simulation results for the aromatic
extraction process. Furthermore, Fig. 3(c) illustrates a comparison between the simulation results and the
experimental data of the amount of furfural in raffinate and extract phases, which shows a good agreement
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between them and validates the simulation results.
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6.2 Effects of operating conditions on the system performance

In this section, the effects of solvent flow rate and extraction temperature on the extraction system
performance as well as the quality of lubricating oil are investigated. The influence of temperature on the
amount of furfural in the raffinate stream for the SAE-10 lube cut is presented in Fig. 4. Regarding the
amount of furfural in the raffinate and extract streams, it is obvious that the amount of furfural in the
extract stream is higher than its amount in the raffinate stream. Furthermore, at a constant solvent to feed
ratio, by increasing the extraction temperature, the amount of furfural in the raffinate stream is increased

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due to the fact that the solubility of furfural in lube oil is increased at higher temperatures.

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The influence of the solvent to feed ratio on the aromatic content of the raffinate phase at different
temperatures is shown in Fig. 5(a). The results demonstrate that at a constant temperature, increasing the
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solvent to feed ratio leads to a decrease in the amount of aromatic contents in the raffinate stream. This
effect is due to the high solubility of aromatic compounds in furfural. Fig. 5(b) illustrates the influence of
solvent to feed ratio on the refractive index of the raffinate phase at various temperatures. According to
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this figure, at a constant temperature, by increasing the solvent to feed ratio, the value of the refractive
index decreases. Generally, by increasing both the extraction temperature and the solvent to feed ratio,
the refractive index as well as the density of the raffinate phase decrease. This is mainly due to the
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extraction of aromatic contents which have a higher density among the other hydrocarbons existed in the
feed. Moreover, it can be concluded that the influence of the solvent to feed ratio on the refractive index is
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higher in comparison with the effect of temperature.

Fig. 5(c) shows the influences of solvent to feed ratio and temperature on the yield of raffinate phase. The
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results show that the yield percentage decreases by increasing both the solvent to feed ratio and the
extraction temperature. It can be concluded that by increasing the extraction temperature, both the
solvent power and the furfural selectivity toward aromatic contents increase, resulting in the lower yield of
raffinate. In addition, it can be conceived that the effect of solvent to feed ratio is more than the
temperature effect on the raffinate yield.

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Fig. 6(a) depicts the effects of solvent to feed ratio and extraction temperature on the viscosity Index of the
raffinate phase. By increasing the extraction temperature, the solubility of undesirable contents,
specifically poly condensed aromatics, in the extraction solvent increases, which leads to a higher viscosity
index of lube cuts. In other words, the increase in raffinate viscosity index corresponds to the increase in
saturate contents in the produced raffinate as well as the decrease of the naphthenic-aromatic and polar
aromatic components in it.

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The influence of solvent to feed ratio and extraction temperature on the energy consumption of the
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process is presented in Fig. 6(b). The heat duty of heaters and the power of pumps are directly proportional
to the extraction temperature and solvent to feed ratio. Accordingly, it is achieved that by increasing the
extraction temperature and solvent to feed ratio, the total energy consumption of the process increases
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significantly. Also, at a higher extraction temperature, the energy consumption of the system increases
more rapidly by raising the solvent to feed ratio.
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6.3. Multi-objective optimization results

Due to the different effects of solvent to feed ratio and extraction temperature on the yield of the raffinate
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phase, refractive index, and total energy consumption, a multi-objective optimization is implemented by
using MLMOPSO in MATLAB linked with Aspen Plus simulator. The tuning parameters considered for
optimization are maximum archive size = 200, number of leaders = 5, swarm size = 50, SIF = 2, maximum
iteration = 100, inertia weight = 0.7, global learning coefficient = 2.8, and personal learning coefficient =
1.2. After 3 hours, the stopping criteria are met at the iteration number of 63, and by using 50 particles in

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the swarm, 43 Pareto optimal solutions are found. Fig. 7 presents the obtained Pareto curves based on the
objective functions, including the refractive index, raffinate yield, and energy consumption of the process.

Fig. 7(a) demonstrates the Pareto optimum solutions for the raffinate yield and energy consumption of the
process. This figure indicates two Pareto points of A and B, which are corresponded to minimum energy
consumption and minimum raffinate yield, respectively. It is therefore obvious that in order for having a
minimum yield of raffinate phase, both the extraction temperature and solvent to feed ratio should be
increased, which leads to higher energy consumption in the process. The Pareto optimum solutions for the
energy consumption of the process and refractive index is depicted in Fig. 7(b). The point C indicates the

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minimum refractive index and maximum energy consumption in the Pareto solutions. It is conceived that
with increasing extraction temperature and solvent flowrate, the aromatic contents in the raffinate phase

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decreases, which leads to a lower refractive index and higher energy consumption in the process.

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Table 4 presents the specifications of the above-mentioned Pareto solutions as well as the result of single-
objective optimization obtained by a combination of the three objective functions (the raffinate phase
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yield, the refractive index, and the total energy consumption) using the same weighting factors for each
objective. The results showed that at the single optimum point obtained from optimizing the linear
combination of objective functions, the values of raffinate phase yield and refractive index are 30.77% and
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1.449, respectively. However, the energy consumption of the process increases by about 20% compared to
the base case.
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Decision makers can select a suitable solution from the obtained Pareto optimal solutions sets based on
their requirements. By comparing these optimal operating parameters for the aromatic extraction process
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from lube oil cuts, process designers and decision makers could understand the trade-off between the
three objective functions and the influence of the operating parameters on the objectives.

7. Conclusion

The purpose of this paper is the process evaluation and optimization of an aromatic extraction from lube oil
cut by using furfural as a solvent, which reveals the potential of this process for improvement and

15
optimization. In this study, the samples of input and output streams of a production scale rotating disc
contactor (RDC) column have been used for measuring density, refractive index, and viscosity. The pseudo-
components approach and the NRTL model are used for modeling the process. For precise modeling of the
system, the binary interaction parameters of the NRTL model are calculated by regression with the
experimental phase equilibrium data. The obtained results are compared with industrial data showing the
reliability of the model. The simulation results indicated that by increasing the solvent to feed ratio and the
extraction temperature, both the refractive index and the yield of raffinate phase are decreased; however,
the value of the viscosity index is increased. On the other hand, by increasing the extraction temperature
and solvent to feed ratio, the energy consumption of the process increases significantly. In order to
minimize energy consumption, the raffinate phase yield, and refractive index, the process simulator is

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linked with the MLMOPSO optimization algorithm to solve a multi-objective optimization problem. The
Pareto solutions sets, consisting of the best possible trade-offs between the product quality and energy

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consumption, are obtained, which can help decision makers to choose the optimum solution which fits the
requirements.

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The main contributions of this research include applying the pseudo-component approach and NTRL
thermodynamic model for simulating the aromatic extraction process by liquid-liquid extraction, using
phase equilibrium data for estimating the NRTL binary coefficient of pseudo-components and solvent,
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performing process evaluation to investigate the effect of solvent to feed ratio and operating temperature
on the product quality and process energy consumption, and optimizing the process to minimize the energy
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consumption and improve the product quality.

Declaration of Interest Statement

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The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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 Experimental section Process Simulation Process Optimization

Input and outputs samples Experimental data of

of an industrial RDC phase equilibrium

Trade-offs between
Experiments based on ASTM
Estimation of NRTL objective functions
D-7042 to measure density,
binary coefficients
refractive index, and viscosity

Simulation of aromatic Process optimization

Calculating the composition extraction process by by linking Aspen Plus
of pseudo-component and furfural in Aspen Plus and MATLAB
molecular weight using

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ASTM D-3238 and D-2502
Process evaluation MLMOPSO
results optimization algorithm

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Fig. 1 The Overall framework of this study

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Fig. 2. Simulation of aromatic extraction from lubricating oil in Aspen Plus

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(b)

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(c)
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Fig. 3. Comparison of experimental and calculated values: (a) Refractive index, (b) Raffinate phase yield, (c) the amount of furfural
in raffinate and extract phases

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Fig. 4. Effect of extraction temperature on the amount of furfural in the raffinate

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 (a)(
a)

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(c)
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Fig. 5. Effect of solvent to feed ratio and temperature on different process performance indicators, (a) the aromatic contents of
raffinate, (b) the refractive index of the raffinate phase, (c) the yield of raffinate phase

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 (a)

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(b)
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Fig. 6. Effect of solvent to feed ratio and temperatures on different process performance indicators (a) viscosity index, (b) total
energy consumption of process
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 (a)

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(b)

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Fig. 7. Pareto optimum solutions set resulted from triple-objective optimization

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 Table 1. Properties and composition of pseudo-component for SAE-10 lubricating oil.

SAE-10 Naphthenic Paraffinic Aromatic

Composition, wt.% 30.65 64.87 4.48
Normal boiling point (NBP), K 620 620 620
Specific gravity (SG) 1.8861 0.8541 1.02

Table 2. NRTL binary interaction parameters for furfural and pseudo-components

Component i Furfural Furfural Paraffin Paraffin Naphthenic Aromatic

Component
Paraffin Aromatic Aromatic Naphthenic Furfural Naphthenic
j
𝑎𝑖𝑗

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0.8 -1.724 13 63.681 8 12
𝑎𝑗𝑖 -3.767 120 -5.198 11 -15 -5
𝑏𝑖𝑗

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1320 700 -4400 -25900 1330 3000
𝑏𝑗𝑖 1400 -620 1800 -3900 -2310 3060
𝛼𝑖𝑗

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0.207 0.12 0.25 0.1 0.119 0.35

Table 3. Simulation and experimental results for Raffinate phase

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Furfural/feed % Error of %Yield %Yield % Error of
T (K) RI (Cal) RI (Exp)
(v/v) RI (Cal) (Exp) %Yield
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328 1 1.4885 1.5241 2.34 74 74.3 0.4

328 4 1.4582 1.4211 2.61 53.5 53.2 0.56
348 1 1.4827 1.5185 2.36 67 67.9 1.32
348 4 1.4561 1.4051 3.63 42.5 41.6 2.16
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368 1 1.4791 1.4679 0.76 54 53.8 0.37

368 4 1.4519 1.4197 2.27 24 24.5 2.04
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Table 4. The results of optimization for the aromatic extraction process

Optimization parameters Single optimum

Initial case Optimum point A Optimum point B Optimum point C
point
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Solvent/Feed ratio 4.67 0.25 6.97 6.97 4.73

Feed(l/min) 215 215 215 215 215
Solvent(l/min) 1004 54 1500 1500 1021
Temperature (K) 345 328 368 368 354
Raffinate yield (%) 39.92 77.51 5.69 5.69 30.77
Refractive index 1.451 1.499 1.439 1.439 1.449

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Energy Consumption (kW) 1480.25 173.88 3467.13 3467.13 1790.07

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