FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for production of Speciality Gasoline Fuels such as Reference, Test and First Fill Gasoline Fuels with fuel quality parameters. The present disclosure also relates to a cost-effective process for the producing the same thereof. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to an apparatus and a process for production of these Speciality Gasoline Fuels from existing Bharat Stage emission standard BS-VI gasoline blend components of refinery using a novel apparatus comprising a multi component distillation column with side draw(s) and a blending system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
India has implemented high quality BS-VI gasoline fuel in order to cut vehicular emissions as part of the Auto Fuel Policy 2025.The Speciality Fuels such as Reference, Test and First Fill Gasoline Fuels are premium, high valued products and are introduced to base line or standardize the BS-VI /Euro VI automotive gasoline fuels.
These fuels are consumed by testing agencies and automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEMs) for the testing as well as the first filling of tanks of gasoline operated vehicles to ensure smooth start up and stop between production line and delivery at customer end. The quality parameters for these fuels are more stringent than the commercial BS-VI gasoline fuel itself. These quality parameters define requirements for physical properties and chemical composition of the fuels, and are meant to ensure that commercial fuels are of quality and compatible with engine and emission control technologies that will be required to meet BS-VI emission standards.
These speciality fuels are formulated in a way to meet technical, logistic, and environmental requirement related to testing of gasoline fuels as well as the first filling of gasoline operated vehicles. Also, the use of first fill fuel in gasoline operated vehicles is to avoid technical problems and to meet environmental requirements even during extreme climatic conditions.
Therefore, specialised gasoline fuels with stringent specification is made for testing /calibration of commercially produced gasoline as well as to ensure smooth operation of new vehicle up to delivery point. A process has been developed for the production of these speciality gasoline fuels. The specifications of specialized fuels vary slightly for reference, test and first fill gasoline fuels depending upon the testing agency and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) requirements in various countries, depending on the climatic

conditions. For example, the Reid vapour pressure (used to characterize the volatility of gasoline and crude products), is one of the specifications for these speciality fuels is different during summer and winter times. Vapor pressure is less during summer season and high during winter season.
Ethanol specification of 4.7 - 5.3 vol% is an additional criterion for these fuels in comparison to BS-VI gasoline. A comparison of some of major specifications between speciality gasoline fuel and commercial BS-VI gasoline are tabulated below for general purpose.
Table 1: Comparison of specification between Speciality Gasoline and commercial BS-VI Gasoline Fuels

Specification Unit Commercial BS-VI Gasoline Speciality Gasoline Fuel
Research Octane Number, RON 91 (Min.) 95 (Min.)
Density at 15 °C kg/m3 720-775 743-756
Vapour Pressure kPa 60 (Max. Reid Vapour Pressure) 56-60 (DVPE)*
Final boiling point
°C °C 210 (Max) 190-210
Olefins % v/v 21 (Max) 3-13
Aromatics % v/v 35 (Max.) 29-35
Benzene % v/v 1 (Max.) 1 (Max.)
Sulphur Content mg/kg 10 (Max) 10 (Max)
Ethanol % v/v 4.7-5.3
* As per technical specifications of Speciality Gasoline fuel, vapour pressure is reported as Dry Vapor Pressure Equivalent (DVPE). The specification of DVPE of 56 - 60 kPa is equivalent to Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) of 62 - 66 kPa.
As evident from the table, these specifications of the speciality gasoline fuels are more stringent.
A typical refinery may have as many as 5 to 9 different gasoline blending streams depending upon the configuration of refinery which are blended to make commercial gasoline. These

may range from light naphtha, the most volatile cut, to a heavy naphtha from crude distillation, catalytic cracking, and hydro- processing units in addition to alkylate, isomerate and reformate. In general, refinery is configured to make commercial fuel not to produce speciality fuel with stringent specification. Due to stringent specification of speciality gasoline fuel, major challenges are to meet the specification of Research Octane Number (RON), Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP), olefin content and density of the speciality gasoline fuel. One way to produce these fuels is to vary the process conditions of the process units. The process conditions of existing process units cannot be varied to make speciality gasoline since existing units are designed and optimised to make commercial gasoline.
Therefore, there is a need to develop an apparatus and a cost-effective process for production of these high valued speciality gasoline fuels. Keeping in mind, the present inventors have provided an apparatus and improved process for preparing speciality gasoline fuels with fuel quality parameters.
OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION
The main objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for production of Speciality Gasoline Fuels such as Reference, Test and First Fill Gasoline Fuels.
Another objective of this invention is to provide a cost effective and indigenous process for the for production of Speciality Gasoline Fuels such as Reference, Test and First Fill Gasoline Fuels.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present disclosure provides an apparatus for production of Speciality Gasoline fuels such as Reference, Test and First Fill Gasoline Fuels from gasoline blend components of refinery.
The apparatus comprises of a RVP escalation section comprising of a multicomponent distillation column (CI) with at least one side draw and a blending section (B).
The present invention is based on the concept of identification of gasoline blending components from refineries. These include mainly isomerate, reformate, and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline blending components which are available in most of the refineries.

For a particular stream, some of the properties are favourable for the speciality fuels, but at the same time it will negatively impact the other properties and vice versa.
The RVP escalation section comprises of a multicomponent distillation column with at least one side draw. It regulates contribution of lighter component and heavier components, to achieve the required value of RVP and other specifications such as density.
The blending section allows the blending of other gasoline components to produce speciality gasoline fuel. Other gasoline components are reformate, FCC gasoline or RON booster.
The present disclosure further provides a cost-effective process for production of speciality gasoline fuels.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The present invention will be further understood with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a schematic layout of an apparatus for production of Speciality Gasoline Fuels such as Reference, Test and First Fill Gasoline Fuels.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific aspects thereof have been shown by way of examples and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the spirit and the scope of the invention.
The applicant would like to mention that the examples and comparative studies are mentioned to show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the aspects of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having benefit of the description herein.
The primary embodiment of the present invention discloses an apparatus for production of speciality gasoline fuels from gasoline blending components of refinery. The apparatus of present invention for production of Speciality Gasoline fuel comprises:

a feeding section wherein a feed stream (IS) is injected on flow control through a
control valve (CV-1);
a Reid vapour pressure (RVP) escalation section comprising a multicomponent
distillation column (CI) with at least one side draw, wherein said feed stream
separates into a distillate (DS), a side draw stream (SS) and a bottom product stream
(BS);
a mixing section wherein the distillate (DS), the side draw stream (SS) and the bottom
product stream (BS) are mixed to obtain a combined stream (CS);
a blending section (B) wherein said combined stream is blended with other gasoline
streams obtaining speciality gasoline fuel.
In one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the contribution of a distillate (DS), a side draw stream (SS) and a bottom product stream (BS) are regulated on flow control through dedicated control valves CV-2, CV-3 and CV-4 respectively or through flow ratio controller. Here, the side draws can be referred to as side draw streams.
In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the remaining heavier fraction bottom stream (BS) is sent to existing gasoline pool.
In one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the feed stream is a lighter gasoline blending component.
In yet another embodiment, the lighter gasoline blending component is mainly rich in isomers of C5 - C6 hydrocarbon and balance aliphatic compounds.
In another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the lighter gasoline blending component is an isomerate.
In still another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the other gasoline streams are selected from reformate, light cut fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline or research octane number (RON) booster.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the contribution of a distillate (DS), a side straw stream (SS) and a bottom product stream (BS) are regulated through flow ratio controller.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention, a multi component distillation column comprises of at least one side draw. However, depending upon the type of feed stream as well as its specifications, multi component distillation column can be designed to have multiple side draws.
The process of the present invention for production of Speciality Gasoline fuel, the process comprising steps of:
a) feeding a feed stream to a RVP escalation section comprising a multicomponent distillation column (CI) with at least one side draw wherein the feed stream separates into a distillate (DS), a side draw stream (SS) and a bottom product stream (BS),
b) mixing the distillate (DS), the side draw stream (SS) and the bottom product stream (BS) and obtaining a combined stream (CS),
c) blending the combined stream (CS) with other gasoline streams and ethanol blends in a blending section (B) and obtaining a speciality gasoline fuel having desired RVP and other specifications for the reference fuel;
d) withdrawing and sending the remaining product rich in heavier hydrocarbon bottom product to gasoline pool.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the feed stream is a lighter gasoline blending component. The lighter gasoline blending component is mainly rich in isomers of C5 - C6 hydrocarbon and balance aliphatic compounds.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the lighter gasoline blending component is an isomerate.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the other gasoline streams are selected from reformate, light cut fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline or research octane number (RON) booster.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the operating pressure of distillation column is 1-3 kg/cm2g.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention, wherein the operating temperature of distillation column is 100-160°C.
The RVP escalation section consists of a multi component distillation column with side draw(s) and associated equipment. Simple distillation also escalates RVP through separation but at the same time it is difficult to manage the operation of distillation column for escalation of RVP as well as to maintain the required specification of density if feed specification changes. This apparatus also serves the purpose of simple distillation by regulation the flow of a distillate (DS), a side draw stream (SS) and a bottom product stream (BS).
The process of the present invention for production of speciality gasoline fuel, the process comprising of supplying a feed stream to a multi component distillation column (CI) with side draws. The feed separates in the column to give a lighter top product, a heavier bottom product, and a side draw product. The lighter top product is mixed with the side draw product/products and heavier bottom product to obtain a combined stream (CS) with improved process parameters and the combined stream (CS) is routed to the blending section. The combined stream along with other gasoline streams and ethanol are blended in blending section to meet the specifications of speciality gasoline fuel. The remaining product rich in heavier hydrocarbon is sent to gasoline pool.
Hydrocarbon streams are generally characterised by boiling range. The boiling range is determined by ASTM method. A typical boiling range for a feed stream (IS) is having cut range of C4 - C5 hydrocarbon to final boiling point (FBP) of 90-150°C and that of side draw stream (SS) is having initial boiling point (IBP) of 50-70°C to final boiling point (FBP) of 70-120°C based on ASTM D-86 method.
The figure 1 shows how the vapour pressure (Reid Vapour Pressure RVP), one of the important parameter for the reference fuel which cannot be increased during normal refinery operation, can be increased by the apparatus and the process of the present invention using existing gasoline blending components of refinery. A complete process scheme and apparatus are discussed below and illustrated in the figure.
Figure 1 shows a schematic flow diagram of the process of the present invention and all the apparatus components. The process comprises steps of feeding a stream whose vapour pressure is to be increased. A lighter gasoline blending component, Isomerate (IS) is fed into

a RVP escalation section comprising a multicomponent distillation column with side draw(s). The isomerate (IS) is fed on flow control through Control valve (CV-1) into the multicomponent distillation column (CI) and separates into multiple fractions from lighter fraction distillate (DS) and middle fraction side draw stream (SS) to heavier fraction bottom product stream (BS).
The distillate (DS), side draw stream (SS) and bottom product stream (BS) are mixed forming a combined stream (CS) in such ratio so that the required value of RVP and other properties like density of combined stream have been achieved.
As the feed stream (IS) is different in every refinery, the mixing ratio of the distillate (DS), side draw stream (SS) and bottom stream (BS) also varies with specification of the feed stream (IS). A skilled artisan can easily arrive at the above specification without undue experimentation.
The combined stream (CS) is then sent to gasoline fuel storage through blending section (B) on flow control. The remaining product rich in heavier hydrocarbon is sent to gasoline pool. The apparatus of present invention regulates the contribution of lighter component and heavier components in combined stream (CS) to achieve the required value of RVP. Hence the RVP of combined stream (CS) is escalated. Combined stream (CS) is sent to a blending section (B) and blended with other stream selected from reformate, light cut fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline. In addition, research octane number (RON) booster can also be added, to produce speciality gasoline fuels.
The present invention can also take care of any variation in feed composition, RON, olefin content etc. of other gasoline stream.
The disclosed invention provides the ease of operation in following ways.
a) The required value of RVP and other properties like density of combined stream (CS) has been achieved by varying the ratio of distillate (DS), side draw stream (SS) and bottom product stream (BS) for production speciality gasoline fuel.
b) Any variation of specification of feed stream can be taken care by varying the ratio of distillate (DS), side draw stream (SS) and bottom product stream (BS) without changing the operating parameter. In present invention, multi component distillation column is designed with multiple side draws depending upon the type of feed stream as well as its specifications.

A typical range of the operating pressure of distillation column is 1-3 kg/cm2g and that of temperature is 100-160°C.
The mixing ratio varies depending upon the variations of specifications of the isomerate streams from different refineries.
EXAMPLES
The following example is given to illustrate the present invention and should not be construed to limit the scope of the present invention.
To establish the process for production of speciality gasoline fuels, typical blend components specification of gasoline pool of Indian refinery are considered and tabulated in Table: 2. Blend components specification is estimated based on the method as mentioned in Table: 1. A blending study has been carried out to find out the specification(s) which is/are not meeting the same of speciality gasoline fuels. Result of blend study is tabulated in Table-3.
Table 2: Typical blend components specification of gasoline pool of Indian refinery:

PROPERTIES UNIT ISOMERATE REFORMATE FCC GASOLINE
Research Octane Number, RON 83 104 90
Density at 15 °C kg/m3 657 832 721
Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) kPa 105 13 56
Final Boiling Point °C °C 91 186 206
Olefins % v/v 0 1.9 31.5
Aromatics % v/v 0.00 74 11
Benzene % v/v 0 1.7 0.4
Sulphur Content mg/kg 2 1.0 7
Table3: Result of blending study:

PROPERTI UNI COMPONENTS TO BLEND BLEND

ES T ISOMERAT E REFORMA TE FCC
GASOLIN
E ETHANO L PROPERTI ES
Volume % %
v/v 38.2 44.2 12.4 5.2
Research
Octane
Number,
RON 83 104 90 109 95.2
Density at 15 °C kg/m
3 657 832 721 796 750
Reid Vapour
Pressure
(RVP) kPa 105 13 56 16 57.9
Olefins %
v/v 0 1.9 31.5 0 4.7
Aromatics %
v/v 0 74 11 0 34
Benzene %
v/v 0 1.7 0.4 0 0.78
Sulphur Content mg/k g 2.6 1.0 7 0 2.0
As evident from Table 3 above in this specific case, specification is not met as RVP is lower than the required value of Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) being in the range of 62 - 66 kPa.
Therefore, a process and an apparatus have been developed for production of speciality gasoline fuels and illustrated in Figure-1.This apparatus regulates the contribution of lighter component and heavier components in combined stream (CS) to achieve the desired value of RVP and other properties like density. Distillate (DS), side draw stream (SS) and bottom product stream (BS) are mixed in the ratio 8:2:1 on weight basis. The ratio provided is for specific example case, and this ratio will vary depending upon the variations of specifications of the isomerate streams from different refineries. Specification of combined stream from RVP escalation section is tabulated in Table:4. Blending study is again carried out considering the combined stream (CS) from RVP escalation section instead of isomerate. Results of blending study with combined stream are tabulated in Table 5.

Table 4 Specification of Combined stream from RVP escalation section:

PROPERTIES UNIT COMBINED STREAM
Research Octane Number, RON 83
Density at 15 °C kg/m3 647
Reid Vapour Pressure (RVP) kPa 117
Final Boiling Point °C °C 86
Olefins % v/v 0
Aromatics % v/v 0.00
Benzene % v/v 0
Sulphur Content mg/kg 2.6
Table 5 Results of blending study with combined stream:

PROPERTIE
S UNI T COMPONENTS TO BLEND BLEND
PROPERTI
ES

COMBINE
D
STREAM REFORMA TE FCC
GASOLIN
E ETHANO L

Volume % %
v/v 38.2 44.2 12.4 5.2
Research
Octane
Number,
RON 83 104 90 109 95.14
Density at 15
°C kg/m
3 647 832 721 796 744
Reid Vapour
Pressure
(RVP) kPa 117 13 56 16 63.6
Olefins %
v/v 0 1.9 31.5 0 4.8
Aromatics %
v/v 0.00 74 11 0 34
Benzene %
v/v 0 1.7 0.4 0 0.78

Sulphur Content mg/k g 2.6 1.0 7 0 3.0
As evident from Table 5 above the disclosed invention produces speciality gasoline fuels without changing the operating parameters of the existing refinery units.
The advantages of the disclosed invention are thus attained in an economical, practical, and facile manner. While example have been shown and described, it is to be understood that various further modifications and additional configurations will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

We Claim
1. An apparatus for production of speciality gasoline fuel comprising:
i) a feeding section wherein a feed stream (IS) is injected on flow control through
control valve (CV-1);
ii) a Reid vapour pressure (RVP) escalation section comprising a multicomponent distillation column(CT) with at least one side draw, wherein said feed stream separates into multiple fractions from a lighter fraction distillate (DS) and a middle fraction side draw stream (SS) to a heavier fraction bottom stream (BS);
iii) a mixing section wherein distillate (DS), side draw stream (SS) and bottom product stream (BS) are mixed to obtain combined stream (CS);
iv) a blending section (B) wherein said combined stream is blended with other gasoline streams obtaining speciality gasoline fuel.
2. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the contribution of the distillate (DS), the side draw stream (SS) and the bottom product stream (BS) are regulated on flow control through dedicated control valves CV-2, CV-3 and CV-4 respectively or through flow ratio controller.
3. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the remaining heavier fraction bottom stream (BS)is sent to gasoline pool.
4. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feed stream is a lighter gasoline blending component.
5. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lighter gasoline blending component is mainly rich in isomers of C5 - C6 hydrocarbon and balance aliphatic compounds.
6. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the lighter gasoline blending component is an isomerate.

7. The apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the other gasoline streams are selected from reformate, light cut fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline or research octane number (RON) booster.
8. A process for production of speciality gasoline fuel as claimed 1, the process comprises steps of:

a) feeding a feed stream to a RVP escalation section comprising a multicomponent distillation column (CI) with at least one side draw wherein the feed stream separates into a distillate (DS), a side draw stream (SS) and a bottom product stream (BS);
b) mixing the distillate (DS), the side draw stream (SS) and bottom product stream (BS) and obtaining a combined stream (CS);
c) blending the combined stream (CS) with other gasoline streams and ethanol blends in a blending section (B) and obtaining a speciality gasoline fuel having desired RVP and other specifications for the reference fuel;
d) withdrawing and sending the remaining product rich in heavier hydrocarbon bottom product to gasoline pool.

9. The process as claimed in claim 8, wherein the feed stream is a lighter gasoline blending component.
10. The process as claimed in claim 9, wherein the lighter gasoline blending component is mainly rich in isomers of C5 - C6 hydrocarbon and balance aliphatic compounds.
11. The process as claimed in claim 9, wherein the lighter gasoline blending component is an isomerate.
12. The process as claimed in claim 8, wherein the other gasoline streams are selected from reformate, light cut fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) gasoline or research octane number (RON) booster.

13. The process as claimed in claim 8, wherein the operating pressure of distillation column is 1-3 kg/cm2g.
14. The process as claimed in claim 8, wherein the operating temperature of distillation column is 100-160°C.