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Catalytic reforming is a chemical process used to convert petroleum refinery naphthas distilled from crude oil (typically having low octane ratings) into high-octane liquid products called reformates, which are premium blending stocks for high-octane gasoline. The process converts low-octane linear hydrocarbons (paraffins) into branched alkanes (isoparaffins) and cyclic naphthenes, which are then partially dehydrogenated to produce high-octane aromatic hydrocarbons. The dehydrogenation also produces significant amounts of byproduct hydrogen gas, which is fed into other refinery processes such as hydrocracking. A side reaction is hydrogenolysis, which produces light hydrocarbons of lower value, such as methane, ethane, propane and butanes. In addition to a gasoline blending stock, reformate is the main source of aromatic bulk chemicals such as benzene, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene which have diverse uses, most importantly as raw materials for conversion into plastics. However, the benzene content of reformate makes it carcinogenic, which has led to governmental regulations effectively requiring further processing to reduce its benzene content. This process is quite different from and not to be confused with the catalytic steam reforming process used industrially to produce products such as hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol from natural gas, naphtha or other petroleum-derived feedstocks. Nor is this process to be confused with various other catalytic reforming processes that use methanol or biomass-derived feedstocks to produce hydrogen for fuel cells or other uses. ==History== In the 1940s, Vladimir Haensel,〔(A Biographical Memoir of Vladimir Haensel ) written by Stanley Gembiki, published by the National Academy of Sciences in 2006.〕 a research chemist working for Universal Oil Products (UOP), developed a catalytic reforming process using a catalyst containing platinum. Haensel's process was subsequently commercialized by UOP in 1949 for producing a high octane gasoline from low octane naphthas and the UOP process become known as the Platforming process.〔(Platforming described on UOP's website )〕 The first Platforming unit was built in 1949 at the refinery of the Old Dutch Refining Company in Muskegon, Michigan. In the years since then, many other versions of the process have been developed by some of the major oil companies and other organizations. Today, the large majority of gasoline produced worldwide is derived from the catalytic reforming process. To name a few of the other catalytic reforming versions that were developed, all of which utilized a platinum and/or a rhenium catalyst: *Rheniforming: Developed by Chevron Oil Company. *Powerforming: Developed by Esso Oil Company, currently known as ExxonMobil. *Magnaforming: Developed by Engelhard and Atlantic Richfield Oil Company. *Ultraforming: Developed by Standard Oil of Indiana, now a part of the British Petroleum Company. *Houdriforming: Developed by the Houdry Process Corporation. *CCR Platforming: A Platforming version, designed for continuous catalyst regeneration, developed by UOP. *Octanizing: A catalytic reforming version developed by Axens, a subsidiary of Institut francais du petrole (IFP), designed for continuous catalyst regeneration. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Catalytic reforming」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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