PROCEDURE CRUDE OIL BREAK UP

This crude oil break-up technique is designed to provide a standard method of evaluation.
Consistent application of this method by Marketing, Engineering and ER&D will provide
yields, crude fraction properties and fractionation requirements which are in agreement with
good crude unit design and commercial experience.
Need for the outlined procedure was precipitated by customer requests which demanded
higher performance in the crude unit than earlier UOP procedures allowed, and by frequent
misinterpretation of customer and interdepartmental memos. In this regard, particular
attention should be paid to the flash temperature determination procedure and the ASTM
determination of individual fractions.
The fractionation in the atmospheric tower is usually specified in the design basis. A typical
specification might be: Provide for a gap of 20°F between the 95% distilled point of the 350°F
IBP naphtha cut and the 5% point of the kerosene; of 20°F between the 95% point of the
kerosene and the 5% point of the light gas oil; and of 10°F between the 95% point of the
light gas oil and the 5% point of the heavy gas oil.
The procedure is based on a new, well designed single column crude unit having strippers
on each side draw, overflash, and steam stripping of the column bottoms. Typical design
values for the unit are:
6-10 trays between side-draws
3% overflash (%vaporization at flash zone=100-vol%bottoms+3%)
1/1 Reflux ratio (Reflux/overhead product, where the overhead is a 350-400°F EP
material)
Bottoms stripping steam=10#/bbl-hr of bottoms.
Deviation