Methods for producing liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC)

A method for producing liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs), the method comprising:

• passing a hydrocarbon feed stream to a thermal treatment unit to generate a dimerized feed stream, wherein:
• the hydrocarbon feed stream comprises at least 30% by weight of aromatics;
• and
• the thermal treatment unit is configured to convert olefinic compounds to heavier compounds through dimerization reactions and is operated at a reaction temperature of 50° C. to 250° C.;
• passing the dimerized feed stream to a fractionation unit to form a light fraction stream and a heavy fraction stream, wherein:
• the fractionation unit separates the light fraction stream and the heavy fraction stream at a cut point in the range of 115° C. to 150° C. to retain toluene in the light fraction stream and pass dimerized olefinic compounds in the heavy fraction stream;
• passing the light fraction stream to an aromatics extraction unit to form an aromatic compounds stream and a non-aromatic compounds stream;
• passing the aromatic compounds stream and an input hydrogen stream to a hydrogenation unit to form a hydrotreated effluent stream, wherein:
• the hydrotreated effluent stream comprises saturated compounds and unsaturated compounds;
• and
• passing the hydrotreated effluent stream to a separator to remove the unsaturated compounds to isolate the saturated compounds as a LOHC stream.