Scale-up of experimental data from an isothermal bench-scale hydrotreatment plant to adiabatic reactors

A methodology for scaling-up experimental data obtained at bench-scale to a proposed process scheme, both with significant differences in configuration, is reported in this work. Four cases were developed which differentiate in operating reaction conditions and type of feedstock. The proposed approach includes validation of the bench-scale experimental results, operating conditions of equipments, and plant configuration using Hysys simulator; extrapolation of bench-scale data to the capacity of the process scheme; reactor simulation to evaluate adiabatic reactor delta-T and the number of the catalytic beds; determination of hydrogen recycle stream and composition; and hydrogen and sulfur balances. Three catalytic beds were determined for each reactor and reactors delta-T was found to be between 18 and 22 °C. The scale-up ratio was 2.7 × 10⁵. The results are compared with experimental ones and average deviations less than 2% were obtained.