Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), C3 and C4 from the debutaniser

Activity Catalytic reforming of naphtha with continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR), RER: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedcatalytic-reforming-1:catalytic-reforming-ccr:product:lpgPreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset
Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Per 1 t of C5+ reformate, gate-to-gate. Hydrogen, LPG and fuel gas are co-products. Utilities from the ranges of the EU REF BREF, hydrogen from its CCR figure, fuel gas from a patent's standard-CCR case; the feed and the LPG close the mass and hydrogen balances over pseudo-components with PRELIM's hydrogen contents.

Reference product
1 kilogram of Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), C3 and C4 from the debutaniser
Chemical
liquefied-petroleum-gas
CAS
not available
Code
catalytic-reforming-1:catalytic-reforming-ccr:product:lpg
Dataset
catalytic-reforming-ccr version 0.1.0 · UUID 9548469c-970d-5de0-ab5c-e5b51619a267
Activity UUID
not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4 (version preview-a3c52e4)
Process
Catalytic reforming of naphtha with continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR)
Geography
RER · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period
1997 · valid until 2015
Technology
low-pressure (3.5 to 10 bar) moving-bed reforming over Pt-Sn/alumina with continuous catalyst regeneration; semi-regenerative and cyclic units are not modelled · level current
Boundary
gate-to-gate: charge heater and interheaters, three to four moving-bed reactors, continuous regenerator, separators, recontacting and debutaniser; naphtha hydrotreating upstream is not included; fuel and power from outside
Classification
ISIC Rev.4 1920 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model
attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation
energy, 7 % of the dataset to this product (rule physical-energy, from mappings)
Reformate, hydrogen, LPG and fuel gas are fuels and hydrogen, so energy content (LHV) is the physical relationship (hierarchy step 2). LHVs as the dataset gives them: IPCC 2006 defaults, the registry's for hydrogen.
Rights
CC-BY-4.0

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), C3 and C4 from the debutaniser

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 3 calculated, 5 given, 1 assumed. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary3 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.
InputAmountUnitProvenancePedigreeLinked to
Hydrotreated heavy naphtha
feed:naphtha
closes the hydrogen balance between the naphtha and the products over pseudo-formulas (ASSUMED): naphtha C9H20 (15.7 wt% H) and reformate C9H15 (12.3 wt% H) carry the hydrogen contents PRELIM assumes for hydrotreated naphtha and reformate (Abella, J.P., Motazedi, K., Bergerson, J.A. (2015) PRELIM v1.0 user guide and technical documentation, University of Calgary, Table 8, p. 53). The C5+ yield this gives, 0.866 kg/kg, is just above UOP's 82 to 86 wt% and below the patent's 87.4 wt% at RON 100 (benchmarks/refining.yaml). The LPG stays positive only while the reformate holds less than about 12.7 wt% H (README)
1.005kilogramcalculated4 4 4 4 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (chemical 'naphtha'); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Electricity
feed:electricity
EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, Table 3.42, p. 171
electricity
0.0377kilowatt hourgiven3 4 5 3 3market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Fired heat of the charge heater and interheaters (fuel fired, counted as heat)
feed:fuel
EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, Table 3.42, p. 171 (fuel fired, MJ/t); counted as heat delivered without a furnace efficiency (ASSUMED, an upper view)
heat, fired heater
0.6005kilowatt hourgiven3 4 5 3 3Atlas: heat from natural gas, industrial furnace, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from natural gas, by energy, GLO)
Heat rejected to cooling water
output:cooling-water
EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, Table 3.42, p. 171 (1 to 3 m3/t at a 10 K rise), times the water's heat capacity
cold
0.02335kilowatt hourcalculated3 4 5 3 3Atlas (plant): cooling water service, per kWh heat rejected (Atlas screening proxy) (heat rejected to cooling water, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names cooling-water only; cooling-water (Heat rejected to cooling water, 25/35 degC) is taken; unit kilowatt hour; carrier cold from cold, 25 degC; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)
Water to the regeneration vent scrubber
feed:water
ASSUMED equal to the waste water, so that the water balance closes
0.002011kilogramassumed4 4 4 4 4market for water, deionised (water, deionised, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Waste water of the scrubber to treatment
output:wastewater
EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.6, p. 172 (1 to 3 L/t feed, designs with a water or caustic scrubber)
0.002011kilogramgiven3 4 4 3 3Atlas (plant): wastewater to treatment, per kg (Atlas unit proxy) (wastewater, by mass, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names wastewater only; wastewater (Wastewater treated) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)
Pt-Sn on alumina reforming catalyst, make-up
input:catalyst
EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, Table 3.42, p. 171 (1.35 t per Mt/yr, read as the yearly make-up); mass outside the element balance
1.357e-6kilogramgiven3 4 5 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Spent reforming catalyst and fines, to platinum reclamation
output:spent-catalyst
equal to the make-up; the source says CCR fines go to platinum reclamation (EU JRC (2015) REF BREF, EUR 27140 EN, doi:10.2791/010758, 3.6, p. 172); mass outside the element balance
1.357e-6kilogramgiven3 4 5 3 3unlinked
unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges

Elementary flows

FlowDirectionCompartmentAmountUnitProvenancePedigree
Carbon dioxide, fossil
349b29d1-3e58-4c66-98b9-9d1a076efd2e
emissionair0.001013kilogramcalculated4 4 4 4 4

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/catalytic-reforming-1/lca/datasets/catalytic-reforming-ccr.yaml in library version a3c52e4.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review
Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality
not available
Mass and carbon closure
Not available: a hand-written dataset: no lca/manifest.json records its balance
Change report
Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

KPIValueReference rangePosition
C5+ reformate per mass of reformer feed– kg/kg0.82 to 0.86 kg/kg
ppPLUS (2025) UOP CCR Platforming, technology #T280, Technical specifications (citing Honeywell UOP datasheet UOP4523-2b, 2016) (manufacturer)
not evaluated
Net hydrogen per t of reformer feed– kg/t26.98 to 53.97 kg/t
ppPLUS (2025) UOP CCR Platforming, technology #T280, Technical specifications (citing Honeywell UOP datasheet UOP4523-2b, 2016, and Morgan, E.R., Fifty years of CCR platforming, Honeywell UOP, 2021) (manufacturer)
not evaluated
Electricity per t of reformer feed
No open per-tonne range independent of the dataset found (2026-11-05). The REF BREF range (Table 3.42, 25 to 50 kWh/t, all reformer types) is the dataset's own source. The US DOE bandwidth study (2015) gives onsite energy per barrel only.
– kWh/tnot availablenot evaluated
Fuel fired per t of reformer feed
No open per-tonne range independent of the dataset found (2026-11-05). The REF BREF range (Table 3.42, 1400 to 2900 MJ/t, all reformer types) is the dataset's own source. The US DOE bandwidth study (2015, Table 4-2) gives onsite energy per barrel only (file comment).
– MJ/tnot availablenot evaluated

How to use it

Downloads

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4", "catalytic-reforming-1:catalytic-reforming-ccr:product:lpg"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), C3 and C4 from the debutaniser, from Catalytic reforming of naphtha with continuous catalyst regeneration (CCR) (dataset catalytic-reforming-ccr 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-a3c52e4, activity catalytic-reforming-1:catalytic-reforming-ccr:product:lpg. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-a3c52e4.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering. arXiv:2611.07947. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947

BibTeX
@misc{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering}},
  year = {2026},
  eprint = {2611.07947},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07947}
}