The discovery of the catalytic reforming method was to increase the yield of high octane number gasoline yields form refineries. Because of the large demand of gasoline form automobiles, many refineries today still utilize the method of catalytic reforming to increase the amount of higher quality gasoline from their crude oil feedstock.  Some of the by-products worth mentioning from this process are hydrogen and LPG because of their increasing use in the refining industry. The hydrogen is used for hydrocracking and hydrotreating and LPG has been used increasingly for fuel for vehicles.

The process of catalytic reforming involves taking heavy naphtha straight run fractions that typically have a low-octane number and converting them into high-octane number products. As stated in the lesson, many catalytic reforming processes utilize platinum which means that in many cases the naphtha feedstock needs to be hydrotreated in order to protect the sulfur or nitrogen species from platinum poisoning. Interestingly enough, the most desired product of catalytic reforming is not high octane gasoline, but rather hydrogen. Hydrogen is used in many applications in the refining industry but is most desired in hydrocracking, a cracking process covered in previous lessons.

One limitation of catalytic reforming is the side reaction of hydrocracking. Mainly because this process consumes hydrogen (a greatly desired by product of catalytic reforming) and produces gaseous hydrocarbons which decrease the reformate yield. Although these reactions are exothermic they can still occur when there is a high concentration of hydrogen gas as well as being in a high temperature environment.

Catalytic reforming is a very important part of the refining industry and has become an even more important part when coupled with hydrocracking as the by-products can be very beneficial between processes. The united states and many other countries around the world utilizes the chemical reactions of catalytic reforming to produce higher yield gasoline which can be used for fuels in automobiles s well as the formation of LPG and hydrogen gas.