Abstract The global shift from fossil-based to renewable energy will reduce fuels demand while increasing petrochemical consumption. This shift, motivated by market demand and increased profit margins for petrochemicals, improves the overall profitability of the complex. Therefore, refiners are reconfiguring operations to maximize petrochemical feedstocks such as naphtha, propylene, and reformate. The main objective of this work is to integrate a naphtha reformer unit into a refining-petrochemical complex to enhance the production of high-value aromatics by redirecting naphtha feedstock from gasoline. A case of a naphtha reformer unit from Egyptian refinery plant is modified to maximize aromatics yield, employing Aspen HYSYS V.14 simulation software for building a validated model of the actual plant. The modification included five downstream conversion units: BTEX extraction unit, aromatics fractionation unit, paraxylene recovery by selective adsorption, xylene isomerization, and toluene & heavy aromatics conversion to boost high-value petrochemical feedstocks (para-xylene, benzene, and ortho-xylene). Additionally, utilizing HYSYS optimizer, optimal operating parameters are determined to maximize aromatics content. The integrated scheme enhances a conventional reformer into an aromatics complex, boosting high-purity benzene production from 0.40 wt.% to approximately 36 wt.% with over 99.5% purity, and producing nearly 30 wt.% para-xylene at over 99.7% purity. It also generates about 6% methane and ethane as side products, suitable for petrochemical feedstock, aiding in providing a practical framework for upgrading existing refineries toward low-carbon, high-value refining–petrochemical integration.
El-Hawary et al. (Thu,) studied this question.