ATMOSPHERIC DISTILLATION Crude distillation unit (CDU) is at the front-end of the refinery, also known as topping unit, ‘or atmospheric distillation unit, It receives high flow rates hence its size and operating cost are some of the largest in the refinery, Many crude distillation units are designed to handle a variety of crude oil types. In fact, industrial nv columns do not provide perfectly sharp separations. There are several causal factors such as, initial calculations using erude oil assays assume that all materials at a certain boiling point goes to one product or another, imperfect separations result in light ends & heavy ends “tails” in adjacent products and presence of tails complicate the definition of “cut point” In most refineries, this process is carried out in two stages. The oil is first heated to the maximum temperature allowable for the crude being processed and for the operation being practiced and then fed to a fractionating tower which operates at slightly above atmospheric pressure. It yields several distillate products and a bottoms product. This tower is usually called the atmospheric tower. The import stics that distinguish main fractionators from the The tower has multiple heat other types of towers include all the heat available for the distillation enters the tower wi feed. Feed heat usually comes from a fired heater or a preheat tr removal zones using either pump arounds or pump downs, Multiple side draw products leave the towers. Main fractionators have int # : g : nately linked heat and material balances, pot Figure: Atmoypheric distillation unit with heat exchangers,‘on section consist of overhead section, heavy naphtha section, kerosene section, light gas oil section, heavy gas oil section and reduced crude section each section contains circulating reflux system. The partially vaporized crude is fed into the feed region {called flash zone) of the atmospheric column, where the vapor and liquid separate, The vapor includes all the components that comprise the products, while the liquid is the residue with a Small amount of components in the range of gas oil. These components are removed from the residue by steam stripping at the bottom of the column. Products are withdrawn from the side of the column and side strippers are used to help controlling the composition of light components, The side stream distillates that are arranged according to the highest boiling point, are: - Heavy gas oil ~ Light gas oil (Diese!) = Kerosene (Jet Fuel) a The lightest distillate fraction is not always completely condensible at the conditions of temperature and pressure in the reflux drum and, thus, may be yielded as two distillate fractions, ‘one vapor and one liquid. A small amount of extra vaporization, called overflash, will be employed to provide adequate reflux in the section between the flash zone and the first (lowest) side stream product draw tra Major product from atmospheric column are light gases and LPG, light naphtha, medium naphtha, heavy naphtha, kerosene, gas Oil(diesel),atmospheric residue. The temperature ranges of these products are as below: 1. Unstabilized Naphtha consists of LPG, naphtha and light gases (C-5 . 115° C) . Intermediate Naphtha (/35 °C) Solvent Naphtha |. Heavy Naphtha (130-150 °C) routed to diesel or naphtha. Kero/ATF (14 0°C) . Light Gas Oil (250/270-320 °C) . Heavy Gas Oil (320-380 °C) . Reduced Crude Oil The distillati NOuUswn ‘Components of Distillation Columns = Shell: A vertical shell where the separation of liquid components is carried out = Intervals: column internals such as trays/plates and/or packing which are used to enhance component separations = Re-boiler: To provide the necessary vaporization for the distillation process = Condenser: To cool and condense the vapor leaving the top of the column Reflux drum: To hold the condensed vapor from the top of the column so that liquid (reflux) can be recycled back to the column Importance of feed location in designing of ADU, ™ Selecting optimum feed location is critical to maximizing distillation Paes es: = Improper feed location of a distillation column can downgrad f ofa grade column perfo . ee degree of separation is decreased at the same reflux/boil up ratio m 1ux/boil up ratio is required to maintain the degree of separation, a eee, the problems associated with the feed, some column are tiple feed points when the feed is expected to containing varyiis then further cooled and sent to a storage tank as raw kerosene, also known as straight run kerosene, which boils in the range of 140°C-270°C. Lower the ADU, the diesel fraction (also known as atmospheric gas oil or straight run diesel or gas oil) is drawn at a temperature of 280°C-300°C. Afier cooling, part of this is returned to the column as circulating reflux and the rest is steam stripped through a side stripper, like kerosene, to adjust the flash point. This diesel fraction, with a boiling range of 270°C-340°C, from the stripper is then cooled and sent to storage. In some refineries, jute batching oil (JBO), which is an intermediate cut between diesel and the bottom residue, is also drawn at a draw temperature of 300°C-330°C followed by steam stripping. A typical atmospheric distillation column (containing 41 plates), where the hot feed crude oil is flashed in the fifth plate, producing top distillate (IBP-140°C cut), straight run kerosene (140°C-270°C cut), straight run diesel (270°C-340°C cut), JBO (340°C-365°C cut), and the bottom residue (RCO, 365°C + cut). The top product goes to the gas and naphtha separation plant directly from the column. Kerosene, diesel, and JBO from the strippers are sent to fixed roof storage tanks. By introducing the liquid from the seventh plate back to the fifth plate, 4%— 5% of the feed is over flashed. Over flash helps in further removal of heavier components carried over with the lighter stream. Part of the RCO from the bottom of the column goes to a Vacuum distillation unit and the rest goes to a steam-heated fixed roof storage tank. The pipeline carrying the RCO to a vacuum distillation unit is well insulated and steam traced to avoid congealing of the product in the line. A temperature between 180°C and 200°C in the transfer line is usually maintained. wo a ropce 4 TCR to HSD Kerocr HSDCR Steam RCO.would require shutting down the whole refinery that must run around the clock except for the scheduled maintenance period. Temp. 90°F lecomposition Zone ll TS 12 Watson K Factor Figure: variation in Watson factor w.r.t. temperature and Watson factor. PROCESS DESCRIPTION OF A VACUUM DISTILLATION UNIT. Hot RCO either from the steam-heated storage tank or from the bottom of the atmospheric distillation column is pumped through a series of pre-heaters (heat exchanger train) followed by heating in a pipe-still heater to raise the temperature to 360°C-370°C. This hot stream is then flashed in a multiplated distillation column where vacuum (below atmospheric pressure) is maintained by steam ejectors by medium Pressure superheated steam as the motive fluid that entrains the top hydrocarbon vapours, which are condensed by water coolers. Usually, three numbers of ejectors are used; the first stage sends the uncondensed vapour to the second stage followed by condensation, The uncondensed vapour then enters the third stage followed by condensation and the uncondensed vapour from the third stage is vented out through a flare or stack. A vacuum of 30-40 mm of mercury is maintained at the top of the column and 100-120 mm at the bottom. Condensates from these ejectors are collected in a drum, Known as a hot well. The oily layer is then sent to an oil-water separator vessel from which oil is drawn as vacuum gas oil (VGO)., part of which is sent to the column as the reflux and q Storage, Condensates from the hot well and the separator drum are drained to the collection system. A few plates below the top plate o| and sent to the diesel/gas oil pool. SO is the NeXt vac below the gas oil draw plate. Similarly, are light oil ep aaieieie oil (IO), and heavy oil (HO) in this sequence, Production of low viscous il : ae iscous fuel oils, whereas SO, |flash points, The bottom residue from the tower is called the short residue (SR), which is stripped by the bottom steam followed by cooling through a steam generator and sent for storage in the deasphalting unit. A portion of the hot vacuum distillate is drawn from the column and returned back afier cooling to control the heat load of the column. This stream is called the pump around. Unlike circulating refluxes in the atmospheric column, pump around is only one stream in the vacuum column, To aid washing of the HO fraction, 4%-5% of the feed RCO is over flashed. It is to be mentioned that SO, 10, and HO are the lube oil base stocks (LOBS), which are the main ingredients of lubricating oils in the market. Valuable lube oil stock, known as bright stock, is obtained from the SR by solvent deasphalting. However, the quality of vacuum distillates varies from crude to crude and, as a result: many crudes may not yield LOBS, but are converted to fuel products. It is commonly found that most of the Middle East or Gulf crudes are suitable for the manufacture of LOBS from vacuum distillates. Light vacuum gas Oil is sent to a hydrotreater and then to a ‘catalytic cracking’ unit to obtain smaller chain hydrocarbons. Heavy vacuum gas oil is also sent for cracking using hydrogen in a ‘hydrocracking unit’ to produce smaller chain hydrocarbons. MP seam RCO fron stg. from bi Pump around Furnace recycle \ Prebeaters co a nrg onal] pump, Figure: Vacuum distillation unit Spindle Oil (SO) 5 Soh ats F ; a spindle oil is applicable to high-speed spindles, particularly in tsolubility with the nonaromatic compounds present in the oil, or selectivity (The selectivity the 2 solutes A and B is defined as the ratio of the distribution coefficient of A to the distribution coefficient of B. For all useful extraction operation the selectivity must exceed unity. If the selectivity is unity, no separation is possible). Solvent and oil are contacted in @ plated column usually in a rotating disc contactor (RDC) type gentle agitator provided over the plates through a common rotating shaft. The down coming stream is gradually enriched with aromatics and finally drawn from the bottom of the column as the extract. The uprising stream is gradually lean with aromatics and rich with paraffins and other non- aromatics and finally emerges as the raffinate stream. In fact, complete Femoval of aromatics from oil is not desirable as aromatics are the main contributors to the viscosity of the oil and hence removal of aromatics is carefully selected based on the required adjustment of the Niscosity and viscosity index of the final product. Solvent from both the extract and raffinate Phases is recovered by steam strippers and is recycled back to the extraction column. A typical furfural extraction unit is shown in Figure. PROPANE DEASPHALTING Liquid propane is a good solvent for hydrocarbon oil and ma (asphaltenes) and non-hydrocarbons present as asphalt in the vaci used as a solvent for extracting oil from vacuum residue deasphalted oil, which is suitable LOBS (Lube oil b: lubricants, the viscosity index is then corrected by selecti discussed in the previous sectio inly rejects heavy hydrocarbons uum residue. Hence, propane is or SR. The extracted oil is known as ase stock) for making high viscous ive solvent extraction of aromatics, as IsSolvent dewaxing Solvent-treated vacuum distillates and deasphalted oil, as discussed in the previous sections, are further treated to adjust the pour point of the oil. Normal paraffinic hydrocarbons present in the oil have a high solidification temperature and form wax as the solid or semi-solid mass of hydrocarbons. There are paraffinic molecules that can solidify even at room temperature. Since lubricating oil is used at various temperatures, ranging from very low to very high temperatures, it is essential that lubricating oil does not solidify in this range of temperatures. Hence, the pour point (a few degrees above the solidification temperature) of lube oil must be low. Though paraffins (mainly normal varieties) are responsible for wax formation, wax is defined as the hydrocarbon matter that solidifies at a temperature below -2001C (or the lowest temperature of the environment determined by the usage). Wax-forming hydrocarbons are selectively removed by low temperature freezing and separation. This is usually carried out by mixing the feed oil with a solvent, such as methyl ethyl ketone, benzene, or toluene, mixed in various proportions to prevent crystallization of the wax- forming molecules in the precoolers and chillers, until they are separated from the solvents along with the desired oil components through a filter. A typical dewaxing plant, as shown in Figure, uses a vacuum drum filter where the solvent-oil mixture is sprayed over a filter cloth on a rotary drum enclosed in an inert atmosphere. The wax crystallizes over the filter cloth and is scraped out with a scraping blade {also known as doctor’s knife) in a continuous manner. The drum is divided into four chambers, for filtering, washing, purging, and scraping. Each section is connected separately with vacuum, inert gas or steam, solvent, and filtrate oil collection systems through ary V arrangement. The drum is partially submerged in a vessel containing the oil-soh 4s it rotates, the various chambers come in contact in succession. When the fil in contact with the oil-solvent mixture, separation of the wax from oil startsdeveloped on the surface ofthe filter cloth As ths section is about to leave Se if ‘wax cake is completely developed over the filter cloth and the majority of ellis dewaxed, the drum enters the washing section, an additional solvent is sprayed over the wax cake, Wish removes the entrapped oil, if any. and is removed by the vacuum ‘connection of that section. AS the cake reaches the purging section, inert gas purges the cake adhering to the cloth surive Mt ‘order to loosen the wax cake to aid easy removal of the wax in the next section. ‘This helps prevent the pores of the fi Iter cloth from being plugged by wax. As the scraping S000 & : ered, Wodss wax cake travels under a blade and is scraped from the cloth, Sometimes £2 22 also purged to free the pores of the cloth. The seraped wax is then passed over a steam-heat screw conveyor to a wax collection pit. Figure Figure: A solvent dewaxing unit, ‘Thermal Cracking Cracking is a process in which large hydrocarbon molecules are broken down into smaller and more useful ones. The cracking products, such as ethene, propene, buta-1,3-diene and C4 alkenes, are used to make many important chemicals. Branched and cyclic alkanes are added to the gasoline fraction obtained from the distillation of crude oil to enhance the octane rating. CHy-CH,~CH,-CH)-CH,~CHy~CH)~CH2-CH2-CH3