UOP ENGINEERING DESIGN SEMINAR SEPTEMBER 5, 1995 — NOVEMBER 10, 1995 CRUDE UNIT DESIGN UOP fINTRODUCTION The crude distillation column, together with its ancillaries, is the "keystone" process unit in all refineries. Its purpose is to distill crude oil into various fractions which become feeds for downstream processing units and products. As shown in Figure 1, the number of products and process units which originate from the crude column are many. This block flow was developed to demonstrate the diversity of refining technology and is not intended to represent a specific refining scheme. A similar block flow diagram (Figure 2) provides some indication of the petrochemicals which can be produced based on feeds originating from a refinery. The crude distillation column represents a configuration characteristic of the type of hydrocarbon separation used in a number of refinery process units. Examples include the main column in a Fluid Catalytic Cracking unit and the product fractionator in a hydrocracking unit. The same calculation techniques developed in this section are being used within the industry to design other “crude-type" fractionating columns. The term “crude-type" distillation generally refers to a distillation system in which all of the heat required to vaporize the distillate products is put into the feed. Usually, we think of a fractionation system in which part of the heat required to make the separation is put into the feed to the column and the remainder by means of a reboiler at the column bottom. Most “crude type” fractionators make multiple products with one or more side-cut products (generally liquid) between the overhead and bottom products. The side-cut products are offen sent to side—cut strippers (either steam strippers or reboiled strippers) for light ends removal and the stripped vapors are returned to the crude column. Side-cut strippers are an integral part of the crude fractionation unit. A schematic of a two side-cut product “crude type" distillation column is shown in Figure 3. Leone ee ee ee eee EEE me October 27, 1994 op Page 1