Temperature,pressure

measurementssolve column
operatingproblems Scott W. Golden ProcessConsulting ServicesInc. Grapevine, Tex.

R
efinery process engi- high-technology tools, offer surements. But these simple tions will show how these
neers use computer the engineer opportunities to tools that identify system basic chemical engineering
modeling to design, identify and fix process unit design and operating prob- tools can be used to identify
monitor, operate, and trou- problems. lems are often lost among and solve operating prob-
bleshoot refinery units. Basic Pressure, temperature, the more sophisticated high- lems in refinery distillation
chemical engineering princi- and composition profiles are tech tools. columns.
ples, coupled with these fundamental process mea- The details of three opera-

Flq 1 Fig. 2

Jet fuel OG

Reprinted from the December 25, 1995 edition of OIL & GAS JOURNAL
Copyright 1995 by PennWell
 TECHNOLOGY
I Fig 3 Fig 4

0 Temperature, “F.

ight cycle oil PA ight cycle oil PA

+=Debutani*er bottoms Debutanizer bottoms

Normally no flow
1 Debutanizer feed ed. Debutanizer feed
(Balance line)

Case 1: Crude overhead l To produce jet fuel with sons, including: crude around the
a maximum 10 ~01% point of l Minimizing column crude/overhead-vapor heat
Many atmospheric-pres- 400” F. pressure reduces atmospher- exchanger.
sure crude units have two- It was not possible to meet ic residue yield. For a given composition
drum overhead systems.’ all the control objectives l Operating experience of overhead from the col-
These systems are designed using the design shown in on this column showed that umn, the quantity of material
to improve unit energy effi- Fig. 1. The refiner could meet temperatures less than 280” condensed at 280” F. and 15
ciency by recovering some of either the reflux-drum tem- F. in the reflux drum caused psig is fixed. The column
the enthalpy from the col- perature or the product dis- severe operating problems. reflux rate is set by returning
umn overhead vapor. tillation specifications, but Salt deposition resulted in all the reflux-drum liquid to
Although these systems not all the objectives. corrosion in the heat the column.
improve energy efficiency, The system was operated exchanger and fouling of the The quantity of reflux to
they can cause corrosion and to maintain the hot reflux column’s top trays. the column determines the
operating problems.* drum at a minimum temper- composition of the column
Fig. 1 shows a schematic of ature of 280” F. to avoid cor- Original design overhead vapor. If, when
an overhead system that uses rosion in the crude-oil/over- The system did not work operating this column, the
a hot reflux drum and a cold head-vapor exchanger. Oper- as intended. As they always overhead did not meet speci-
product drum. The product ators had determined that, by do, the operators had found a fication (naphtha end point),
drum makes full-range naph- varying the reflux drum way around the problem. the operators would change
tha, which the refiner uses as pressure from 11 to 18 psig, They used pressure, temper- the pressure in the reflux
reformer feed. The first col- the control objectives could ature, and composition to drum. They were able to
umn side draw is jet fuel with be met. meet the control objectives. meet the control objectives,
a maximum 10% distillation Although column pres- Following their example, although this was achieved at
specification of 400” F. sure is a novel independent pressure, temperature, and the expense of varying
The unit was designed to variable for adjusting prod- composition will be used to atmospheric residue produc-
maximize naphtha yield uct composition in an atmos- analyze the problem. tion.
while meeting the jet fuel pheric crude column and Over time, crude oil com- Problems in refinery mul-
front-end specification. His- may not be optimum, it can position changes. For each tidraw distillation columns
torically, however, the unit be made to work. The opera- crude blend, there are differ- are best analyzed using mate-
had been difficult to operate. tors should be given consid- ing amounts of naphtha, light rial balance envelopes. A
It experienced corrosion, and erable credit for making an straight run, and light ends in simplification of the material
product quality was difficult inherently unworkable sys- the feed. For a given crude oil balance on the overhead sys-
to control. tem meet the product quality composition, the operating tem is: Column overhead
objectives and the reflux conditions in the overhead vapor = Reflux + Reflux-
Control problems drum target temperature. are essentially fixed by the drum vapor.
The operating objectives Despite this success, the crude composition and col- Assuming a given crude
of this system are: operating pressure of an umn heat balance. and a fixed jet fuel/diesel
l To control reflux-drum atmospheric crude unit For this unit, avoiding separation: Reflux-drum
temperature at 280” F. mini- should not be used as an corrosion and salt deposition vapor = Naphtha product +
mum independent variable. was the primary control Light ends. In addition,
l To produce naphtha Although it is theoretically objective. The reflux drum Naphtha + Jet fuel = Con-
with a maximum D86 distil- possible to meet the control was operated at 280” F. This stant.
lation 98 vol % point of 395” objectives in this manner, it is temperature was maintained If the reflux-drum temper-
F. undesirable for several rea- by bypassing a portion of the ature is maintained, varia-
 TECH IOLOGY
Fig 5

28 pumparound
Flash drum vapors 4 Flash drum vapors -b -..2LL
30 553 AGO draw

tions in reflux-drum pressure flow scheme that has been reflux drum to the product Case 2: De-C2reboiler
change the quantity of mater- used effectively on two-drum drum is always maintained.
ial condensed in the reflux overhead systems. Crude composition changes The de-ethanizer, or strip-
drum. This, in turn, changes These units process a will be reflected in the quan- per, in a fluid catalytic crack-
the quantities of naphtha and wide variety of crude oils tity of this stream; neverthe- ing (FCC) unit removes C2
jet fuel produced. with naphtha yields ranging less, it will always be main- and H,S from the debutaniz-
A decrease in the quantity from 4 to 20% of crude. The tained, irrespective of other er feed. The C, bottom-prod-
of naphtha and an increase in system shown in Fig. 2 sepa- operating conditions. uct specification is a function
the quantity of jet fuel cause a rates control of the naphtha l Refluxed liquid from of the downstream unit’s
reduction in, respectively, the and jet fuel yields from oper- the product drum will be var- processing tolerance for C2s.
naphtha end point and the jet ation of the reflux drum. ied from zero to some posi- De-ethanizer column reboiler
fuel 10 vol % point. The control objectives are tive value. When there is net systems often use some type
The operators were intu- the same as for the flow liquid in the reflux drum as a of series or parallel scheme to
itively applying basic chemi- scheme in Fig. 1. The method result of a particular crude oil recover low-temperature
cal engineering theory to of meeting these objectives, composition, the flow rate heat.“’
operate this column. Unfor- however, differs. from the product drum will These columns are inher-
tunately, however, sophisti- In Fig. 2, pressure changes be zero. The position indica- ently difficult to control
cated process models have are not needed to meet the tor on the product-drum because the C, content can-
gained such widespread control objectives. The col- valve is used to indicate flow not be inferred accurately
acceptance that basic theory umn operating pressure thus qualitutively. When the net from column temperature.
often is considered mundane can be maintained at mini- liquid from the reflux drum Small changes in column-
and boring. mum levels set by column has no flow, the flow of the tray or reboiler-outlet tem-
Basic distillation theory hydraulic loading. product-drum reflux stream perature result in large
defines the problem as a mul- The changes in the process will be positive. changes in C, content. Thus,
ticomponent flash.’ Pressure, flow scheme shown in Fig. 2 This system separates the de-ethanizer columns nor-
temperature, and composi- affect the overhead system inherent link between the mally are operated using
tion, in conjunction with the material balance. The new pressure and temperature of higher “boil-up” than neces-
aforementioned material-bal- material balance equations the reflux drum and the sary, because of the difficulty
ance equations, simplify the are: naphtha and jet fuel compo- of controlling CZs.“’
problem. l Column overhead sitions. The naphtha and jet Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of
It must be remembered vapor = Reflux + Reflux- fuel material balance can be a typical series-reboiler sys-
that pressure and tempera- drum vapor + Net liquid to varied while avoiding reflux- tem for a de-ethanizer. The
ture determine composition. product drum drum temperatures that system comprises a ther-
Once two variables are fixed, l Reflux-drum vapor = cause product specification mosyphon in series with a
the third is also fixed, assum- Naphtha product + Light problems. kettle reboiler.
ing the fluid is at equilibri- ends + Refluxed liquid from The size of the two lines The thermosyphon uses a
um. product drum added to the system is a func- low-temperature heat source
l Naphtha + Jet fuel = tion of variations in crude oil from either the debutanizer
Modified flow scheme Constant (assuming a given blends. Advanced control or the FCC main fractionator.
The principles of pressure, crude and fixed jet schemes can be applied easi- The kettle generally uses
temperature, and composi- fuel/diesel separation). ly to the process flow scheme light cycle oil pumparound
tion can be used to solve the The system now operates shown in Fig. 2. heat from the main fractiona-
problem in this unit. Fig. 2 in the following manner: tor. (Typical heat duty is two
shows a modified process l Net liquid from the thirds low-temperature heat
 TECHNOLOGY
and one third high-tempera- Because the high-pressure by problems in the reboiler removal from the diesel
ture heat.) receiver liquid is stripper system’s hydraulics. pumparound. The column
In principle, all the liquid feed, a giant recycle loop is The unit had been could not be operated as
leaving the bottom tray (total created. Some operators call designed for less than 40,000 designed.
draw) flows to the ther- this recycling “snowballing.” b/d capacity. Unit through- The diesel draw on Tray
mosyphon reboiler. The Large build-up of C2s can put and conversion were 24 had been used to draw
vapor and liquid from the occur in this type of system higher than intended. both the product and the col-
thermosyphon flow to the because of low temperatures. When the unit charge and umn internal reflux. But the
kettle. the quantity of debutanizer operators found a way to
The thermosyphon and Columnprofiles feed were increased, the convert the operation from a
kettle reboiler represent more Composition and temper- reboiler system was unable pumparound to a pump-
than one theoretical stage of ature data were gathered to handle all the flow from down. This was an innova-
separation. An alternate around the reboiler system to the bottom tray. Some of the tive solution to a problem
scheme separating the ther- determine the cause of the C, bottom-tray liquid, therefore, that could have caused a
mosyphon and kettle reboiler composition problem. Fig. 4 was bypassing the reboiler, shutdown.
will yield closer to two theo- shows the temperature data causing high C2 content Fig. 6 is a diagram of the
retical stages. taken from the unit. material to be mixed with modified flow scheme (the
The liquid level in the ket- There was flow in the bal- reboiler outlet liquid. diesel pumpdown pumps are
tle and the column bottoms is ance line, and its temperature There were two causes of not shown). Computer mod-
maintained near the mid- was slightly more than that the hydraulic limitations: eling of the modified flow
point of the tube bundle of the liquid on the bottom l Improper line sizes on scheme was conducted in
overflow baffle on the reboil- tray. On a more basic level, the kettle vapor-return line parallel with the gamma
er. The kettle reboiler has a the line was hot to the touch, l Too high a system pres- scan. Because neither the
balance line back to the col- which indicates flow from sure-drop from the bottom- gamma scans nor the com-
umn. The balance line often the column through the bal- tray liquid draw to the kettle. puter models identified the
is cold to the touch because ance line. These limitations result in problem, some basic plant
there is little or no flow in it. Temperature measure- liquid bypassing the reboiler data were gathered and eval-
The liquid level indicator ments were taken at various system. uated.
should always be placed on points in the system. These In this case, temperature
the reboiler because the liq- values were: and composition profiles in Columnprofiles
uid level in the column is l Bottom tray, 190” F. the reboiler system identified Atmospheric crude distil-
higher as a result of the pres- l Balance line, 200” F. these two culprits. The oper- lation columns fractionate
sure drop in the outlet line l Reboiler liquid outlet, ating problem was solved by the feed components into
from the kettle reboiler. 263” F. eliminating the hydraulic products, based on down-
This pressure drop is nor- l Debutanizer feed, 255” bottlenecks. stream unit feed specifica-
mally low. On one FCC de- F. tions and refinery product
ethanizer, however, a high Computer simulation Case 3: Crude column specifications. Temperature,
pressure drop in the vapor models allow the engineer to pressure, and composition
line, coupled with use of a generate changes in composi- An atmospheric crude col- changes are inherent to the
liquid-level indicator on the tion profile, as do McCabe- umn was modified to distillation process.
column rather than the Thiele and Hengstebeck dia- increase the capacity of its Proficiency with comput-
reboiler, resulted in a flooded grams.” The difference diesel pumparound section er models and overreliance
kettle reboiler. between these types of dia- because crude charge capaci- on gamma scanning have
Depending on the grams and computer models ty had been increased and displaced the idea of looking
exchanger bundle design, is that the models are much the diesel pumparound sec- to plant data for solutions to
baffles typically are only 3 or faster. tion was causing a bottle- processing problems. Pres-
4 ft tall. A large tube-bundle In this de-eth%nizer, there neck. During start-up, the sure, temperature, and com-
diameter coupled with a is a very large change in tem- column had experienced position profiles (variations
short tube length is preferred perature and composition operating problems, and a within a given system) are
for this service because it across the bottom stages. If pressure surge was recorded. often overlooked as powerful
increases baffle height. the reboiler system is operat- Fig. 5 is a flow diagram of troubleshooting tools.
ing properly, the liquid flow- the diesel/atmospheric gas Although the tools avail-
Bottom composition ing from the bottom tray will oil (AGO) section of the col- able to today’s process engi-
A 55,000 b/d FCC unit have 3.5-4.5 times more C2s umn, as designed. neer are wonderful, basic dis-
was having difficulty con- than the bottom product. tillation principles should not
trolling the C, content in the Various streams were Pumparound problem be overlooked:
bottoms product. Increasing measured for C, content. The After the modification, the l Liquid is heaviest at the
heat input did not improve results were: diesel pumparound pumps bottom of a column and
the C, content enough to l Bottom tray liquid, 0.20 were cavitating and no liquid becomes lighter as it moves
meet the LPG specification. mole Y0 could be withdrawn from up the column. In an atmos-
The stripper heat input l Balance line liquid, 0.17 Tray 28. The column was pheric crude column, the 50%
had been increased suffi- mole % gamma-scanned, but no con- point can be used to measure
ciently to flood the column. l Reboiler outlet, 0.05 clusions were drawn. where a product is with-
The liquid inventory in the mole % The gamma scan was drawn from the column.
column “dumped” intermit- l Column bottoms prod- interpreted to indicate that l Column temperature
tently into the high-pressure uct, 0.08 mole %. the trays were in place. The decreases from bottom to
receiver via the column over- The high C2 content in the column draw had to be mod- top. The change per tray is a
head vapor line. column bottoms was caused ified, however, to allow heat function of the individual
r
TECHNOLOGY
1
Table 1
higher than the AGO draw.
(The AGO product
should be hotter than the
draw BOOKS
diesel because AGO is high- Natural Gas In The
er-boiling-range material.) World-1995 Survey, pub-
Vol % Temperatures, “F lished by Cedigaz, 1 li 4
distilled Diesel AGO Composition avenue de Bois-Preau, BP
I I During the temperature 311, 92506 Rueil Malmaison
5: 579
542 648
598 and pressure profile measure- Cedex, France. 140 pp.,
ments, distillation analyses $1,160.
z: 627
649 749
711
100 688 817 were performed on the diesel This annual statistical
and AGO products (Table 1). survey from Cedigaz con-
As expected, the distilla- tains the latest data on the
ments at low cost. tion showed that the AGO reserves, production, inter-
On this column, pressure, had a 50% boiling point that national trade, consump-
temperature, and composi- was 56” F. higher than diesel’s, tion, and natural gas prices
tion data were collected in The profiles also indicated in 1993 and 1994. The 1995-
the diesel/AGO section of three unexpected results: 96 outlook is also devel-
the column. (When evaluat- l The AGO draw is cold- oped.
ing trayed atmospheric distil- er than the diesel draw. The study includes gas
lation column operations, l The column tempera- statistics for 96 countries
profiles of pressure, tempera- ture profile does not change with detailed commen-
ture, and composition should materially from Tray 24 to taries for the major coun-
always be gathered.) Tray 27. tries.
l The pressure drop on
Pressure the diesel pumparound trays Reformulated Gasoline:
One symptom of the oper- is very low. Lessons from America, by
ating problem in this tower The only reasonable inter- Adam Seymour. Published by
was the inability to draw pretation of these results is that Oxford Institute for Energy
diesel pumparound liquid. the diesel pumparound trays Studies, 57 Woodstock Rd.,
The diesel product draw have been damaged. Although Oxford OX2 6FA, England.
was at Tray 24 and the diesel the subcooled pumpdown 90 pp., El4 in U.K., El6 over-
pumparound draw, at Tray reflux is having some contact seas.
28. The inability to draw liq- with the vapor, the AGO prod- The book examines in
process. Proper changes ir uid from an active tray means uct equilibrium temperature is detail the U.S. reformulat-
tray temperature can bc the tray is either “weeping“ or not being reached. ed gasoline program which
determined using a comput mechanically damaged such came into effect Jan. 1,
er model. that liquid is not allowed to References 1995.
l In a trayed column, the reach the draw sump. I. Bannon, R.P., and Marple, S., Jr., The study analyses the
pressure drop per tray varie: “Heat Recovery in liydrocarbon
Pressure drop was mea- problems the program has
Systems,” Chem. Eng. Prog.,
between 0.075 psi and 0.1: sured between the available July 1978, pp. 41-45. encountered in its first cru-
psi when the trays are func pressure taps in the column. !. Lieberman, N.P., “Four steps solve cial months. In contrast to
tioning properly. The following values were crude-tower overhead corrosion experience in previous fuel
problems,” OCJ, July 5, 1993,
Although these are simple measured simultaneously quality programs, says the
pp. 47-50.
aspects that may be easil) using two calibrated gauges: 3. Kern, D.Q., Process Heat Transfer, author, widely expected
understood, the importance l Trays 28-29, 0.1 psi McGraw Hill, 1950, p. 335. problems, of implementa-
2f their application in trou- l Trays 24-29, 0.2 psi. t. Martin, G.R., and Sloley, A.W., tion have not yet emerged.
2leshooting and monitoring “Effectively Design and Simu-
These low pressure drops late Thermosyphon Reboiler
distillation columns cannol indicate tray damage. Systems, Part 1,” Hydrocarbon A Year on the (H)Edge:
3e overstated. Processing, June 1995, pp. lO- Integrating Physical and
Gamma scanning is i Temperature 10. Paper Fundamentals for
sophisticated too1 thai i. Martin, G.R., and Sloley, A.W.,
Following the pressure “Effectively Design and Simu-
Insight on the Oil Markets in
requires proper execution. I’ measurements, the column late Thermosyphon Reboiler 1994and 1995, by Edward N.
often is performed incorrect temperature profile was eval- Systems, Part 2,” Hydrocarbon Krnpels and Sarah A. Emer-
ly, resulting in many incor uated. Processing, July 1995, pp. 67.78. son. Publisked by Hobijn
rect interpretations. (Thl 6. Fleming, B., Sloley, A.W., and
Trays 24-27 had thermo- French Publishing Co., P.O.
Golden, S.W., “Heat Integratmg
author has been told severa wells. The draw-tray temper- Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit Box 34736, Washington, D.C.
times that a column is flood atures were measured, and Fractmnation Systems,” Paper 20043. 160 pp. no price avail-
ed, when the gamma seal the resulting temperature lY5b, AlChE fall meeting, Nov. able.
was mistakenly detectin! 11, 1994, St. Louis.
profile is shown in Fig. 6. 7. Sk&y, A.W., and Martin, G.R., This book outlines the
downcomers.) Temperatures at the diesel “Process Modelq for Control authors’ new approach to
These sophisticated tool and AGO draw trays were, System Design and Analysts,” oil price forecasting, which
require highly trained per respectively, 562” F. and 553” Proceedings from the Confer- integrates fundamental
ence on Modeling, Simulation,
sonnel to use them correctly F. It is important to note that analysis of the physical
and Control in the Process
By contrast, temperature the diesel draw temperature Industry, I’apf2r 208-007, markets with a full
pressure, and compositior was higher than that of the Ottawa, Ont., May 25-27, pp. accounting for the role of
data can be gathered quickl! AGO draw, even though the 107-l 5. volatile financial markets.
8. Kister, H.Z., Distillation Design,
using simple, reliable instru diesel draw tray was six trays McGraw Hill, 1992, pp. 67-71.