Exergy Investigation of Single- and Two-Stage Crude Oil Distillation Units

Abatract

In a refinery distillation plant, there are many components of interest to be

analyzed thermodynamically, e.g., the crude oil heating furnace, the distillation
column and a network of heat exchangers. Previous studies showed that the highest
energy losses occur when there is a heat transfer process especially in the crude oil
heating furnace where high quality fuel is used to heat the crude oil, which is a low
quality duty, beside the high temperature difference. Therefore, it is proposed in this
work to perform distillation in two stages rather than one to reduce heat duty of the
heating furnace and thus reducing irreversible losses. In this paper, energy and exergy
analyses of a traditional onestage crude oil distillation unit and a newly proposed
twostage crude oil distillation unit are conducted to study energy and exergy
efficiencies of these units and determine the exergy losses. The results are compared
for both one and twostage distillation units.
!ey "ords# distillation, exergy loss, exergy efficiency
1 Introduction
Siulation !odel" $im$ci%P&'II software is used to simulate both single and two
stage distillation units to find the exact side cuts, temperature, pressure, enthalpy and
entropy. Its modeling capabilities address a wide range of applications from crude oil
characterization and preheating to complex reaction and separation units.
Energy and Exergy !odeling" There are three governing equations that are
commonly used in thermodynamic analysis of open systems. These are conservation
of mass equation, conservation of energy equation, and entropy generation equation.


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# Analysis
)"1 Single-Stage Distillation Unit,Case I+"
The model consists of a crude heating furnace and an atmospheric distillation
column. In our model, we have considered a crude oil flow of .)* kg%s, which is
heated in this furnace by burning the fuel. The crude oil starts vaporizing as heat input
increases. Typical outlet temperature values, as explained earlier, are -/*01. The
crude oil is directly supplied from storage tanks at atmospheric temperature at )/01.
In the present study, we will approximate the heating furnace by a heat exchanger
whose cold side fluid is crude oil and hot side fluid is air that enters at ((**01, a
typical value of exhaust gases. 2ir is used because its properties are close to the
properties of the exhaust gases. This assumption3 however, excludes the exergy losses
associated with the combustion process itself which could reach up to -*4/*5 of the
fuel exergy input. The mass flow rate of air will be determined by heat balance of the
heat exchanger noting that rate of heat transfer to the crude oil is known and assuming
that the air outlet temperature is )*4/*01 higher than the outlet temperature of the
crude oil. This last assumption is made to keep exergy losses associated with hot air
leaving the heat exchanger at a minimum.
The )6tray atmospheric distillation column considered in this study

referring
to 7ig. (

operates at atmospheric pressure. The crude oil is introduced in tray

number )-. The sides cut trays are number )6 for residue, number (6 for heavy gas
oil, number (- for light gas oil, number 8 for kerosene, number . for heavy naphtha
and number ( for overhead vapors. It should be emphasized that in the model, (* state
points are assumed for the heat exchanger and the distillation column. Important
parameters for our study are composition of crude oil and temperature, pressure and
flow rates as inputs. 9y defining those parameters, we can find enthalpy and entropy
to carry out both energy and exergy calculations. Table ( gives the composition and
properties of the crude oil, while Table ) summarizes the parameters used to simulate
different cases.
$ig" 1 Sc%eatic of a Single-Stage Distillation Unit
Table 1 Co&osition and &ro&erties of crude oil
:o. $ubstance "eight 5 9oiling Temp. ,01+ ;olecular "eight ,kg%kmol+ <ensity ,kg%m
-
+
( =P> ,9utane(+ ) .* /) /**
) ?eavy :aphtha )* (@* ((. 6/*
- !erosene )* ))* (6* 8**
. =ight >as 'il (/ )6* )/. 8/*
/ ?eavy >as 'il )- -)* -(* @**
A &esidue )* -A* .)A @/*
Table # 'araeters 'resentation of Case I and Case II
$tat
e
$ubstance Phase 1ase I 1ase II
Temp.,01+ Press.,kPa+ 7low,kg%s+ Temp.,01+ Press.,kPa+ 7low,kg%s+
( 1rude 'il =iquid )/ (*( .)* )/ (*( .)*
) 1rude 'il B -/* (*( .)* )/* (*( .)*
- 9utane( Capor%>as (-*BB (*)BB 8.. (-*BB (*)BB 8..
. ?eavy :aphtha =iquid (@*BB (*-BB 8. (@*BB (*-BB 8.
/ !erosene =iquid ))*BB (*.BB 8. ))*BB (*.BB 8.
A =ight 'il =iquid )6*BB (*ABB A- )6*BB (*)BB A-
6 ?eavy 'il =iquid -)*BB (*8BB @A.A -)*BB (*.BB @A.A
8 &esidue =iquid -/*BB ((*BB 8. -/*BB (*ABB 8.
@ 2ir >as .**BB (*( B -**BB (*( B
(* 2ir >as ((** (*( B ((** (*( B
(( &esidue T( =iquid )/* (*.BB B
() &esidue T( B -/* (*.BB B
(- 2ir >as .**BB (*( B
(. 2ir >as ((** (*( B
B To be calculated by the program.
BBInitial guess. Dxact values to be calculated by the program.
#"# Two-Stage Distillation Unit ,Case II+"
The model consists of a crude heating furnace, a first stage distillation column ,
another crude heating furnace and a second stage trays are needed here and assumed
to be having (- trays ,as shown in 7ig. )+. The crude is introduced in tray number ().
The sides cut trays are number (- for residue, number 8 for kerosene, number . for
heavy naphtha and number ( for overhead vapors. The residue from T( will be
charged into D) at )/*01. The outlet temperature will be assumed to be -/*01. =ight
gas oil and heavy gas oil will be distilled in the second stage column T) leaving a
residue at the bottom. 2gain, less number of trays are needed here and assumed to be
equal to (. trays. The reheated residue is introduced in tray number (). The sides cut
trays are number (. for residue, number 8 for heavy gas oil and number . for light gas
oil. In this case, (. state points are assumed for the two heat exchangers and the two
distillation columns. These parameters are also shown in Table ).
$ig" # Sc%eatic of a Two-Stage Distillation Unit ,Case II+
( )esults and Discussion
("1Case I
The results of performance analysis of singlestage distillation unit ,1ase I+are
presented in Table -. 7or this case, .(@./ ;" of crude furnace heat duty is needed to
accomplish the distillation process. Cery high exergy losses occur at the heat
exchanger with a value of )@(.8 ;" in addition to a low exergy efficiency of /*./5.
This high loss, A85 of the total unit exergy losses, is due to the high temperature
difference across the furnace. 2s for the distillation column, the total exergy losses is
(-6.) ;", )(5 of which are contributed to chemical exergy losses associated with
separation process. The exergy efficiency of the distillation column is .A.(5. The
overall exergy losses are .)@.* ;" and the overall exergy efficiency is (..*5. It is
worth noting that the overall exergy efficiency is not simply the multiplication of the
individual components efficiencies, which is equal to )-.(5 in this case.
Table 3 Performance Results of Single-Stage Distillation Unit (Case I+
Item ?eat Dxchanger,D(+ <istillation Enit,T(+ 'verall,'+
F,;"+ * (@..- (@..-
?eat <uty,;"+ .(@./ :%2 .(@./
Dxergy =osses ,;"+ )@(.8 (-6.) .)@.*
G,5+ /*.- .A.( (..*
("# Case II
The results of 1ase II, twostage distillation unit are presented in Table .. 7or
this case, -8*.- ;" of crude furnaces heat duty is needed to accomplish the
distillation process. 2gain, high exergy losses occur at the heat exchangers D( and D)
with a value of 6(./ ;" and .8.* ;", respectively3 summing up to ((@./ ;", i.e.
/*5 of the total exergy losses. The exergy efficiencies of these heat exchangers are
6..A and 68.A5, respectively. The distillation columns T( and T) exergy losses are
88.) ;" and --.. ;", respectively3 summing up to ()(.A ;", of which the
chemical exergy losses are ./5 in the first stage and --5 in the second stage. The
exergy efficiencies of the distillation units are /-.- and A@.85, respectively. 7inally,
we see that the overall exergy losses are ).(.( ;" and the overall exergy efficiency
is -(./5.
Table 4 Performance Results of Two-Stage Distillation Unit (Case II)
Item ?eat
Dxchanger,D(+
<istillation
Enit,T(+
?eat
Dxchanger,D)+
<istillation
Enit,T)+
'verall,'+
F,;"+ * 8).) * /*.8 (--.*
?eat <uty,;"+ )6A.A :%2 (*-.6 :%2 -8*.-
Dxergy =osses
,;"+
6(./ 88.) .8.* --.. ).(.(
G,5+ 6..A /-.- 68.A A@.8 -(./