REFINING
Improving hydrotreater
operations
Improvements made during naphtha hydrotreater operations at a Middle East
refinery focused on the diameter of crude unit overhead line, better corrosion
control, an upgraded catalyst grading system and higher furnace temperatures
Gene J Yeh Daniel Longstaff Abdullah Al-Mahrous Olavo C Dias
Saudi Aramco
A
detailed evaluation of the naph-
tha hydrotreater (NHT) unit at a
Saudi Aramco refinery was con-
ducted to allow successful project imple-
mentation in the near future for
increased capacity of the refinery’s cat-
alytic reformer. The catalytic reformer
project will incorporate UOP’s propri-
etary CCR Platformer technology and
will be based on 40Mbpd versus the cur-
rent 35Mbpd design with a desired five-
year cycle life. High pressure-drop in the
reactor and high heater tube skin tem-
peratures in the NHT unit currently
require reactor skimming every 18
months and the charge heater cleaning
every four years.
Analyses showed that high-pressure
drop in the NHT reactor was primarily
caused by iron sulphide (FeS) corrosion
products that were deposited in the first
foot of the main catalyst bed. It was estab-
lished that these corrosion products came
from the crude unit overhead and, to
some extent, from the NHT charge heater.
The top catalyst layer in the NHT reactor
was disturbed due to the high feed vapour
velocity combined with a short distance
between distributor and the top bed.
Uneven distribution to the heater
passes, heater overload and scale build-up
were most likely the causes of high tube
skin temperatures in the heater. The feed
and recycle gas mixture was not com-
pletely vaporised at the heater inlet caus-
ing uneven distribution to the four heater
passes. This became worse as the
upstream F/E heat exchangers fouled
near the end-of-run (EOR). Furthermore,
the charge heater needed to fire harder to
compensate for the loss of heat transfer in
these heat exchangers.
Findings and recommendations to
improve operating performance are dis-
cussed. These include changing crude
unit overhead line from 30in to 36in,
improved corrosion control of the crude
unit overheads, optimising the catalyst
grading system, upgrading the heater
metallurgy to 9Cr and increasing the
heater inlet temperature to 275ºF to allow
100% vaporisation.
Process modifications
A request was made to conduct a
detailed evaluation of the NHT unit to
allow implementation of the CCR Plat-
former project in the future that will be
based on the previously mentioned
40Mbpd capacity versus the 35Mbpd
design with a desired five-year cycle life.
Currently, high-pressure drops in the
reactor requires skimming every 18
months while high tube skin tempera-
tures in the heater requires cleaning
every four years. Two heater tubes in
Pass A were replaced in 1996. All heater
tubes were cleaned mechanically in
May 1997 and June 2001 as a result of
scale buildup.
The maximum allowable pressure
2
drop in the reactor was set at 3.5kg/cm
in order to protect equipment down-
stream of the recycle compressor. The
high tube skin temperatures in the
heater presented a potentially haz-
ardous condition and caused accelerat-
ed degradation of the heater tubes.
Operational extension is essential if
the NHT is to perform adequately once
the CCR project is complete in the
future, without causing premature
plant outage.
A task force team, consisting of repre-
sentatives from various engineering
departments in Dhahran and the facili-
Accelerated corrosion
due to loss of FeS film
(black water)
Rate of corrosion, mpy
2 4 6 6.8
pH
Figure 1 Crude overhead accumulator water analysis: overhead.
effect of pH sulphide corrosion
69
P T Q WINTER 2005
w w w. e p t q . c o m
ty, was formed to tackle these two prob-
lems to allow successful implementa-
tion of the planned 40Mbpd CCR
Platformer project. The task force team
performed the following tasks to evalu-
ate the cause of the high- pressure drops
in the NHT:
— Checked the history of pH, chloride
and iron data of crude unit overhead
water
— Reviewed the crude unit inspection
reports
— Reviewed the NHT inspection reports
— Reviewed the NHT reactor pressure
drop experience from Saudi Aramco’s
refineries A and B
— Evaluated the suitability of convert-
ing the existing reformer reactor one
(Reactor 1) as a swing NHT reactor
— Evaluated the suitability of using a
filter to remove particulates from naph-
tha feed
— Analysed compositions of reactor
fines and pump suction deposits col-
lected in June 2001
— Inspected the top of the NHT reactor
and collected reactor fine samples for
analysis in October 2002
Corrosion source
A key contributor to high corrosion
rates of the crude unit overhead was
high velocities in the atmospheric dis-
tillation column over-
head line. The velocity in
this 30in line was
141ft/sec while the gen-
erally acceptable rate is
less than 100ft/sec. This
was verified by UT sur-
veys that showed flow-
enhanced corrosion rates
as high as 40mpy. In
addition, inspection
reports suggest that the
significant fouling of
shell side (feed side) of
the NHT F/E heat
8 exchangers most likely
came from the crude unit
Review of the crude

unit overhead accumulator water analy-
sis showed that while on the average
the pH control was good there were
occasions when the pH fluctuated from
its target range of 5.5 to 6.5. It is well
known that the FeS protective film
tends to be sloughed off when the pH is
between 6.8 and 7.3. (Figure 1), result-
ing in accelerated corrosion. However,
this had a minor effect, compared with
flow-enhanced corrosion caused by
high velocities in the crude unit over-
head line.
The refinery did not process tank
farm naphtha from 1999 to 2001 but
had still suffered high-pressure drops
in the reactor. This indicated that
imported naphtha and/or tank corro-
sion were not main sources for corro-
sion products.
The inspection report showed that
NHT charge heater tubes suffered a high
corrosion rate from 1995 to 2001. The
corrosion rates for some heater tubes
were found to be 13mpy, which is much
higher than the acceptable rate of
5mpy. This high corrosion rate in tubes
contributed to some extent to pressure
drop problem in the reactor.
Analytical results
X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed
that deposits from the charge pump
suction filter consisted of mainly iron
oxide and some FeS. Reactor fine sam-
ples contained mainly FeS. The details
are summarised in Table 1.
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) did not
detect Cr (from stainless steel corrosion)
in the reactor fines down to levels of
500ppm, and scanning electron
microscopy (SEM) did not show Cr in
the reactor fines (<1000ppm), indicat-
ing that corrosion products might not
originate from the furnace tubes, which
contains 1.5% Cr. This suggests that the
fines originated from an upstream
source, probably the crude unit. SEM
also indicated that reactor fines were
well dispersed and were very fine-
grained.
Two naphtha grab samples contained
0.4 and 0.5mg/l of particulates. Particu-
XRD results of charge pump inlet scale,
furnace scale and reactor fine
Sample Charge pump Furnace Reactor
inlet scale scale fines
Iron oxide 88% ND ND
Hydrated iron oxides 5% 1% ND
Iron sulphide 7% 96% 95%
Poorly crystallised
Alumina catalyst
particles ND ND 1%
Total 100% 97% 96%
ND: not detectable
Table 1
REFINING
Figure 2 Naphtha filter residue
lates in naphtha feed consisted mainly
of iron oxides and FeS, which were,
most likely, corrosion products from the
crude column overhead. Iron oxide was
formed from iron corrosion in the pres-
ence of water. Between the crude unit
overhead and the NHT, there were no
opportunities for water or steam to con-
tact the naphtha. It was concluded
therefore that the source of these iron
oxide particles was from the crude unit
overhead. SEM indicated that particu-
late sizes were in the range of one to
two microns (Figure 2). As seen in the
figure, there are two types of particu-
lates – needle type and round crystal
type. The needle type of particulate is
mainly Fe2O3 and the other is FeS.
During catalyst skimming in Octo-
ber 2002, a few catalyst and fine sam-
ples were collected from varying
depths in the reactor. It was found that
the sample of the first foot of the main
catalyst bed was full of fines and most
of the fines consisted of FeS. The par-
ticle size of the corrosion products was
very small, which enabled some of the
particles to pass the catalyst grading
system so that they deposited in the
main catalyst bed.
NHT inspection
When the reactor was inspected
during catalyst skimming in
October 2002, it was found that
the top layer had been disturbed.
At that time a catalyst grading
system was implemented to
replace conventional ceramic
ball layers and trash baskets at
the top of the reactor.
The centre portion of the top
layer was flat, but the outer rim
was sloped. The refinery had not
experienced this phenomenon
before when ceramic balls and
70
P T Q WINTER 2005
trash baskets were used. The distance
between the top of the grading system
and the bottom plate of the distributor
was only 45cm. Such a short distance
combined with a high feed vapour veloc-
ity created the slope at the outer rim of
the top bed. To smooth flow distribution,
a recommendation was submitted to
lower the top level in the reactor by 10
cm and add a layer of 1in ceramic ball to
hold the catalyst.
Actual refinery experience
Naphtha feed at Saudi Aramco’s Refin-
ery A was a mixture of straight-run (SR)
naphtha, hydrocracker naphtha, and
imported naphtha. The imported naph-
tha contained corrosion products and
scales. The typical particulate content
was 1.2mg/l.
Refinery A had a high-pressure drop
problem in the NHT of a reformer
before 1992. Using a catalyst grading
system and putting the heavy naphtha
splitter in service solved the problem.
Cycle life increased from one to three
years after the installation of the bed
grading.
Naphtha feed at Saudi Aramco’s
Refinery B was from the crude unit, a
hydrocracker, or a tank farm. No
imported naphtha was used as in Refin-
ery A. Start-of-run (SOR) pressure drop
2
was 0.6kg/cm . Catalyst grading was
implemented in September 2000. Prior
to using a catalyst grading, the pressure
2
drop would increase to 2kg/cm after
about 18 months on service. After the
catalyst grading system was installed,
the pressure drop only increased to
2
1kg/cm after 18 months in service,
indicating that the catalyst grading sys-
tem was effective.
Based on the performance of the cat-
alyst grading systems installed at
refineries A and B, engineers at this

refinery installed a catalyst grading sys-
tem at the top of the NHT reactor in
June 2001. The SOR pressure drop was
typical at 1.6 and the pressure drop
2
increased to only 2.2kg/cm in August
2002. Subsequently, the NHT suffered
two upsets and the reactor pressure
2
drop increased to 4.6kg/cm . Such a
high-pressure drop forced the NHT to
shutdown for reactor skimming in
October 2002. During the shutdown,
catalyst and fine samples of each cata-
lyst layer were collected for further
analyses.
It was found that the catalyst sample
from the first foot of the main catalyst
bed contained a large amount of fines.
Since most of the fines were concentrat-
ed in the first foot of the main catalyst,
this was the source of the pressure drop.
The fines consisted of dispersed corro-
sion products from the upstream units
(FeS). The corrosion products were fine-
ly dispersed, which enabled them to
partially pass the grading system and
deposit in the main catalyst bed.
Based on these analytical results, the
grading system is optimised to accom-
modate small fines to further alleviate
pressure drop.
The standard metallurgy for the NHT
reactors is 1-1/4 Cr base metal with type
405 or 410 stainless steel lining. In
order to use the existing reformer Reac-
tor 1 as a swing reactor, it is necessary to
install a lining and then perform post-
weld heat treatment. Additional modifi-
cations would need to be made to
convert the reactor internals from radi-
al flow to down-flow service. The reac-
tor size was not ideal for the current
REFINING
NHT operating conditions. The calcu-
lated SOR pressure drop for the first
2
CCR Platformer reactor was 2.2kg/cm
at 38.2Mbpd if used for NHT service.
The piping and an extra batch of cata-
lyst are also required. This idea was
abandoned due to unfavourable eco-
nomics.
According to the analytical results,
the size of the particulates in naphtha
was mainly 1–2 microns. The mesh size
of a typical filter is 10 or 25 microns. It
is not practical to use filters to remove
particulates with 1–2 microns particle
size due to high-pressure drop require-
ment and frequent plugging. Corrosion
products, which caused high pressure
drops in the NHT reactor, came from
crude unit overhead and to some extent
the NHT charge heater.
Heater tube skin temperature
The investigation team performed the
following tasks associated with high
heater tube skin temperatures:
— Checked heater inspection report
— Analysed compositions of heater
scale samples collected in June 2001
— Simulated F/E heat exchanger perfor-
mance, the state of feed mixture at the
heater inlet, the required naphtha feed
temperature to achieve 100% vaporisa-
tion at the heater inlet, and the required
heater duty
— Checked the heater integrity
— Reviewed the NHT heater experience
from refineries A and B of Saudi Aramco
The simulation model was developed
using HYSYS software. The simulation
results indicated that the feed mixture
at the heater inlet was only 84% vapor-
71
P T Q WINTER 2005
ised at middle-of-run (MOR) of F/E heat
exchanger cleaning cycle in September
1999 and 78% vaporised at end-of-run
(EOR) in May 2001. The heater inlet
temperatures were 260°C and 255°C at
MOR and EOR of that cycle, respective-
ly (Table 2). At SOR in July 2001, after
F/E exchangers had been cleaned, the
heater inlet temperature was 266°C and
94% of the feed mixture was vaporised.
Table 2 also indicates that heat
absorption rates for F/E heat exchangers
at MOR and EOR were 100.5MMBtu/hr
and 95MMBtu/hr, respectively. The
design heat absorption rate was
116MMBut/hr. This indicated that F/E
heat exchangers were fouled and lost
heat transfer efficiency at MOR and
EOR of the cycle. Also shown in Table 2,
the design heat duty of the charge
heater was 36.6MMBtu/hr.
However, the charge heater heat
duties at MOR and EOR were
45.5MMBtu/hr and 51.1MMBtu/hr,
respectively, much higher than the
design rate. When the F/E heat
exchangers fouled, the charge heater
needs to compensate for loss of heat
transfer in the F/E heat exchangers.
The naphtha feed mixture at the
heater inlet was designed to be 100%
vapour for even flow distribution to
heater passes. If it was not totally vapor-
ised, there was uneven distribution in
the four heater passes. Furthermore, the
charge heater needed to fire harder to
compensate for the loss of heat transfer
in the F/E heat exchangers.
This uneven distribution and over-
firing in the heater results in scale build-
up and increases in the high tube skin
 REFINING

Heat requirement for current operation

Required heat F/E heat Charge heater % Vaporisation at

absorption, Btu/hr exchanger heater inlet

Design heat absorption, Btu/hr – 1.16x108 3.66X107 –

Sept, 99 at MOR, dirty F/E 120-260°C in F/E exchanger 1.005x108 – 84

260-330 in heater – 4.547x 107 –

May, 01 at EOR, dirty F/E 120-255°C in F/E exchanger 0.95x108 – 78

255-330 in heater – 5.112x 107 –

July, 01 at SOR, clean F/E 122-266°C in F/E exchanger 1.066x108 94

266-328 in heater – 3.74x 107 –

Table 2

temperatures in the heater. The mini-
mum temperature to have 100% vapour
at heater inlet was 270°C based on a
2
29.9kg/cm g pressure and a 38.2Mbpd
feed rate. For a 40Mbpd feed rate, the
minimum temperature to achieve 100%
vapour at heater inlet was 271°C. To
provide a safe margin, a minimum
heater inlet temperature of 275°C was
selected to ensure 100% vaporisation.
To reach 100% vaporisation at the
heater inlet, Table 3 shows that the
required naphtha feed temperature was
221°C at MOR (September 1999), 243°C
at EOR (May 2001), and 183°C at SOR
with the clean F/E exchangers (July
2001). The typical naphtha feed tem-
perature was 136°C. The idea of increas-
ing feed temperature to reach 100%
vaporisation at the heater inlet was
abandoned due to limitation of the
design temperature of some equipment.
Charge heater load
The charge heater was designed for a
35Mbpd feed rate with 100% vapour at
the heater inlet. The design heat absorp-
tion duty for the heater was 36.6
MMBtu/hr. If the feed mixture at the
heater inlet was not fully vaporised, the
heater needed to compensate for the
loss of heat transfer in the F/E heat
exchanger. The calculated heat absorp-
tion duties at a 38.2Mbpd charge rate
were 45.5MMBtu/hr at MOR (Septem-
ber 1999), 51.1MMBbtu/hr at EOR (May
2001), and 37.4MMBtu/hr at SOR with
clean F/E heat exchangers (July 2001).
To ensure 100% vaporisation at the
heater inlet, the feed mixture tempera-
ture at the heater inlet needs to be
275°C. For a heater inlet temperature of
275°C, the heat absorption rates
required to raise the reactor inlet tem-
peratures to 330°C at 38.2 and 40Mbpd
feed rates are 31.0 and 32.4MMBtu/hr,
respectively (Table 4). These heat
absorption rates are lower than the
design rate, indicating that the charge
heater is capable of providing the
required heat for the future operations.
Table 4 also summarises that the heat
absorption rates required to raise feed
mixture temperature from 120°C to
275°C at 38.2 and 40Mbpd feed rates
are 115 and 120MMBtu/hr, respectively.
The design heat absorption rate for the
F/E heat exchangers was 116MMBtu/hr,
which was not achieved even with
clean heat exchangers.
This indicates that to raise feed mix-
ture temperature from 120°C to 275°C,
the current F/E heat exchangers need to
be evaluated and modified to accom-
modate the future operating conditions
and fouling allowance to achieve a
heater inlet temperature of 275°C for a
five-year cycle.
Options include the conversion to
the helically baffled heat exchanger,
using twisted tubes, and/or installation
of tube inserts. A detailed analysis of the
entire heat exchanger preheat train was
recommended.
Analytical results show that the fur-
nace scale sample (collected in June
2001 T/I) was composed of mainly FeS.
It also contained some coke. The details
were previously presented in Table 1.
Inspection indicated that the heater
tube thickness decreased significantly
from 1995 to 2001. The existing heater
tube is 1–1/4 Cr. Normally, 9 Cr tube is
used in this type of heater service. The
sulphidic corrosion rate is a function of
tube temperature, H2S content and
material (Gutzeit, 1986). The corrosion
rate for some heater tubes was found to
be 13mpy, which is much higher than
the acceptable rate of 5mpy. If upgraded
to 9 Cr, the tube corrosion rate was esti-
mated to be 2.8mpy. In addition, the
upgrade to 9 Cr would increase the
allowable skin temperature of the tubes
and extend tube life.
The NHT charge heater in Refinery A
did not have a high tube skin tempera-
ture problem. The heater inlet tempera-
ture was 266°C and pressure was
2
28.7kg/cm g. Refinery A naphtha feed
was lighter and recycle gas rate was
higher. Simulation results indicated that
feed mixture was fully vaporised at
these conditions. The heater tube has
been upgraded to austenitic SS-221.

Required naphtha feed temperature for full vaporisation at heater inlet

Condition Date Flow rate, UA, Btu/F hr % of U0 Heat transfer in F/E Naphtha temp required
mbpd exchanger, Btu/hr for 100% vaporisation

MOR, dirty F/E Sep, 99 38.2 5.05x105 65 1.005x108 221°C

EOR, dirty F/E May, 01 38.2 4.4x105 57 0.95x108 243°C

SOR, clean F/E Jul, 01 38.2 6.57x105 85 1.066x108 183°C

Table 3

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P T Q WINTER 2005

Heat requirement for future operation
Required heat
absorption, Btu/hr
Design heat absorption,
Btu/hr – 1.16x108
40 MBPD 120-275°C in F/E exchanger
275-330°C in heater
38.2 MBPD 120-275°C in F/E exchanger
275-330°C in heater
Table 4
Refinery B experienced high heater
tube skin temperatures. The radiation
heater tube has been updated to 9 Cr- 1
Mo. In 2001, Refinery B had a tube rup-
ture in the convection section of the
charge heater. The tube scale consisted
of coke and iron. The heater inlet tem-
perature was 255°C and outlet tempera-
ture was 305°C.
Simulation results indicated that the
feed mixture was not fully vaporised
under these conditions. Uneven distri-
bution to the heater passes, heater over-
load, and scale build-up were most
likely the causes for the high tube skin
temperatures in the heater.
Recommendations
To allow successful implementation of
the CCR Platformer project in the
future, the following recommenda-
tions were made:
— Change crude overhead line from
30" to 36in to minimise flow-enhanced
corrosion and subsequent FeS deposits
in the system. Also, ensure consistent
pH control in the crude unit overhead
— Maintain a distance of 55cm mini-
mum between the bottom of the dis-
tributor and the top level in the
reactor. Install 10cm of 1in ceramic
balls to the top layer to secure the grad-
ing system and prevent disturbances of
the top bed
— Optimise the grading system to
accommodate small fines to alleviate
pressure drop and sock-load 1/8in and
1
/16in shape catalysts; replace all the
catalyst after 10-year service to ensure
good strength of the catalyst
— Feed sweet naphtha to keep the CCR
Platformer unit running, if necessary,
during skimming of the NHT reactor
— Upgrade heater tubes to 9 Cr for bet-
ter corrosion resistance; the existing
1–1/4 Cr tube metallurgy is not opti-
mal for this service
— Maintain the heater inlet tempera-
ture above 275°C to ensure 100%
vaporisation by modifying the F/E heat
exchangers to increase heat transfer
(using helical baffles, twisted tubes or
tube inserts); if practical, consider
adding heat exchanger capacity to
REFINING
F/E heat exchanger Charger heater
3.66x107
8
1.199x10 –
– 3.24x107
1.15x108 –
– 3.097x107
improve heat transfer
— No design changes or modifications
are needed to the charge heater; it is
capable of providing the required duty
for the future operations.
Improvements
Guidelines have been provided to
improve NHT operations to allow
implementation of the CCR Platformer
project in the future that will be based
on 40Mbpd versus the 35Mbpd design
with a desired five-year cycle life. The
primary focus of the study was to
address the reactor pressure drop caused
by FeS corrosion products and high tube
temperatures in the charge heater due
to uneven distribution in the heater
passes.
The FeS products were traced to high
corrosion in the crude unit overhead
and possible corrosion in the 11/4 Cr –
Mo heater tubes at the high tempera-
ture locations. The uneven distribution
to the heater passes, heater overload
and scale build-up were identified as
likely causes of high tube skin tempera-
tures.
Gene Yeh is a senior engineer in the pro-
cess and control systems department of
Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
He holds a BS in chemical engineering and
a ME and a PhD in chemical and fuels
engineering.
E-mail: gene.yeh@aramco.com.
Daniel Longstaff is a senior scientist at
Saudi Aramco in Dhahran. He holds a BS
in fuels engineering, an MS in chemical
engineering and a PhD in fuels engineer-
ing.
Abdullah Al-Mahrous is an industrial
cleaning engineer at Saudi Aramco in
Dhahran, and holds a BS degree in chem-
ical engineering.
Olavo C Dias is a downstream engineer-
ing specialist with the corrosion technolo-
gy unit in Saudi Aramco. He obtained an
MS in metallurgy from Penn State Univer-
sity and has previously held key plant/cor-
porate positions in major oil and gas
companies.
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P T Q WINTER 2005