Main-Product

Reformate is a Gasoline blending stock that is produced by the Catalytic Reforming, a Refining process in which Mixed-Catalysts and Hydrogen promote the rearrangement of lower Octane Naphthenes into higher Octane Compounds without a significant reduction in Carbon number. Because of the Mixed Catalysts used, some Compounds tend to lose Hydrogen (e.g., forming Aromatics from Naphthenes) while others tend to gain Hydrogen (e.g., Saturated Alkanes from Olefins). The specific Catalysts and operating conditions used during Catalytic Reforming impart specific kinetic conditions leading to the production of Reformates with slightly different compositions.

Figure 1 - Catalytic Reforming Reactions^[2]

 (a) Naphtenes dehydrogenation to aromatics, (b) alkyl cyclopentanes dehydroisomerization to aromatics, (c) alkanes dehydrocyclization to aromatics, (d) n-alkanes isomerization to branched alkanes, and (e) cracking reactions to lower carbon products.

References

1. Standard Handbook Oil Spill Environmental Forensics, Second Edition, 2016

2. Martínez, Jeremías, María Antonieta Zúñiga-Hinojosa, and Richard Steve Ruiz-Martínez. 2022. A Thermodynamic Analysis of Naphtha Catalytic Reforming Reactions to Produce High-Octane Gasoline, Processes 10, no. 2: 313.

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