Design by: Muhammad Aftab Ahmed (Tech.

IOSH) |Process Engineer-Technical Audit & Design |Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited

Process Design of Jet Blending System for Petroleum Products

(Isomerate & Platformate ) as per by ExxonMobil design practices
This Jet blending system is design for homogenize mixing of two petroleum products Isomerate and
reformate along with chemical injection of MMT (methyl-cyclopentadienyl manganese tri-carbonyl) and
NMA (N-Methyl Amine) as an octane boosters for the preparation of PMG (Prime Motor Gasoline) having
well stabilized RON (Research Octane Number) & Specific gravity along with other desire properties, This
system is capable to homogenize 25,000 bbl of product in just one and a half hour under worst conditions
and is currently running in one of the largest refinery of Pakistan with 95% efficiency, Isomerate having
0.25 poise viscosity, 0.72 specific gravity & 85 RON is an product of Isomerization unit and Platformate
having 0.004 poise viscosity, 0.77 specific gravity & 89 RON is an product of Platformer unit moreover MMT
is an organometallic compound which was first developed by Afton Chemicals used in minute quantity (30
mg/L) to enhance RON whereas NMA is an aniline derivative anti-knocking agent usually added to gasoline
in concentration of not more than 1.5% to avoid high gum levels.

The Design of Jet blending system explain in this article as an form of case study is not just limited for
homogenize mixing of petroleum products and with some design modification as approve by chief design
engineer can be used for blending of any miscible fluids as long as pumps can provide sufficient head
moreover followed design practice of ExxonMobil Standard is further modified as per by requirement to
debottleneck particular field specific constrains by applying buckingham pi theorem along with other
dimensionless analysis tools, to ensure that the level of risk is being reduced up to acceptable limit by
applying HAZOP (hazard and operability study), LOPA (Layer of Protection Analysis) and specifically SIS
(Safety instrumented system) including SIL (Safety integrity level) Analysis along with PFDAvg (Probability of
Failure on Demand) calculations and to optimize design by applying degree of freedom analysis thus this
article only covers basic process design of jet blending system along with other recommendations for safe
execution of system.
Design by: Muhammad Aftab Ahmed (Tech.IOSH) |Process Engineer-Technical Audit & Design |Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited

CASE STUDY

Install blending system for homogenization of petroleum products isomerate and reformate
in tank having diameter of 27 meters and height of 14.4 meters.
Process Design:
Selection of Blending System:

The very first step in process design is always the selection of most appropriate method thus now here we
quickly review available blending systems along with process design,

 Top entering agitators can be used when diameter of tank is up to 9 meters thus in tank of 27 meters
dia, top entering agitator blending system cannot be used.

 Side entering agitator blending system can be used for tanks having diameter in between 9 to 90
meters but now question arises here is that how many side entering agitators are require for
homogenization so from engineering judgement we knows that for tanks having dia up to 30 meters
require one side entering agitator and tanks having 30 to 45 meters dia require two Side entering
agitators and so on, now we do some quick process design by mean of engineering judgment

 Tank dia = 14.4 meters thus only one side entering agitator is require

 For fluids having SG in between 0.7-0.8 require 0.2 HP/K.bbl motor, as volume of tank would be
PI*((27/2)^2)*(0.85*14.4) = 4652.82 m3 = 30,000 bbl thus 0.2*30 = 9.2 HP motor is require.

 As we knows that PropellerDIAMETER / TankDIAMETER = 0.2-0.6 so minimum propeller dia of side

entering agitator would be 0.2*27 = 5.4 meters
Now the question arises here is
Is this most optimize method of blending?
Is this most economical method of blending?

 If whenever your pumps have adequate head so using jet blending system is most economical method
for blending thus now we design jet blending system by considering that we have two parallel
centrifugal pumps available one is operating and another one at standby with 400 m3/hr flow at 60
meters head now we will design jet blending system in detail to see that with available pumps if even
we operate both pumps as it would be intermittent operation so can we operate jet blending system?
Design by: Muhammad Aftab Ahmed (Tech.IOSH) |Process Engineer-Technical Audit & Design |Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited

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Design by: Muhammad Aftab Ahmed (Tech.IOSH) |Process Engineer-Technical Audit & Design |Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited

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Design by: Muhammad Aftab Ahmed (Tech.IOSH) |Process Engineer-Technical Audit & Design |Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited

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Design by: Muhammad Aftab Ahmed (Tech.IOSH) |Process Engineer-Technical Audit & Design |Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited

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Abbreviations

Note:
* This article only covers basic process design that represent steps and method of actual complex design consist of
different cases and iteration to converge calculations as per by requirement.
* This article is for education purpose only, no performance guarantee on copying of this design
* All numerical values mention in this article is slightly deviate to protect original confidential design.
* You are not supposed to copy or distribute this design, all copyrights are reserved.
* feel free to ask any queries regarding this design at engraftabahmed@yahoo.com