Improving thermal efficiency and increasing production rate in the double moving beds thermally coupled reactors by using differential evolution (DE) technique

•Double moving bed thermally coupled reactor is modeled in two dimensions.•The required heat of naphtha process is attained with nitrobenzene hydrogenation.•DE optimization method is applied to optimize operating conditions.•Hydrogen, aromatic and aniline productions increase in the proposed configuration.

According to the global requirements for energy saving and the control of global warming, multifunctional auto-thermal reactors as a novel concept in the process integration (PI) have risen up in the recent years. In the novel modification presented in this study, the required heat of endothermic naphtha reforming process has been supplied by nitrobenzene hydrogenation reaction. In addition, the enhancement of reactor performance, such as the increase of production rate, has become a key issue in the diverse industries. Thus, Differential Evolution (DE) technique is applied to optimize the operating conditions (temperature and pressure) and designing parameters of a thermally coupled reactor with double moving beds. Ultimately, the obtained results of the proposed model are compared with non-optimized and conventional model. This model results in noticeable reduction in the operational costs as well as enhancement of the net profit of the plant. The increase in the hydrogen and aromatic production shows the superiority of the proposed model.