Optimize Naphtha Processing using Dividing Wall Technology : CEP

Published in AIChE’s Chemical Engineering Progress (August 2021), this DWC Innovations article shows how dividing-wall column (DWC) technology can optimize the refinery naphtha block — the isomerization and catalytic reforming units that upgrade full-range naphtha (a C5–C12 cut making up 15–30 wt% of crude) into high-octane, low-emission gasoline. Because feed preparation to these units is often the real bottleneck, it demonstrates how replacing conventional naphtha-splitter and reformate-splitter arrangements with DWCs raises capacity and meets tighter product specifications while cutting capital and operating costs by 20–50% and shrinking the plant footprint. Three real refinery case studies illustrate the point: a light-isomerization/CCR revamp that lifted throughput 40% and halved the undesirable side-cut stream at roughly 80% lower capital cost than a new column; a naphtha splitter feeding isomerization and a paraxylene unit; and a reformate-splitter conversion that debottlenecked an aromatic extraction unit — together showing how DWCs turn low-grade streams into higher-value gasoline blendstock with less energy and capital.