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nderstanding the interaction sor and its control system play a vital role Reactor Pressure
between fundamental principles in maintaining steady reactor operating Reactor operating pressure is set by main
of centrifugal compression, oper- pressure. Even though optimum FCC column overhead receiver pressure and
ating changes that influence compressor operations require balancing regenerator system pressure drop. System pressure
performance and basic control is impor- and reactor pressures against wet gas and drop depends on equipment design and
tant. Since the wet gas compressor plays a air blower constraints, throughout this operation, while compressor and control
central role in FCC operations, it will be paper reactor pressure is presumed con- system performance set receiver pressure.
used to review compressor performance stant to simplify discussions. Wet gas compressors operate at fixed or
fundamentals, common operating condi- Reactor operating pressure is regulated variable speed. Fixed speed compressors
tions that influence operations and basic by main column overhead receiver pres- throttle compressor suction while variable
control philosophy. sure and system pressure drop from the speed machines use steam turbines or
reactor to the overhead receiver. The wet variable speed motors to control receiver
Wet Gas Compressor gas machine needs to have sufficient pressure. If necessary, compressor surge
The FCC wet gas compressor’s major func- capacity to compress receiver wet gas to control systems recycle gas to ensure inlet
tion is reactor pressure control. The the gas plant operating pressure. Reactor gas flow rate is maintained above the min-
machine must compress gas from main effluent composition, overhead receiver imum flow (surge point or line). Even when
column overhead receiver to gas plant pressure and temperature, and gasoline receiver pressure is controlled, rapid sys-
operating pressure while maintaining sta- endpoint all influence the amount of wet tem pressure drop changes from tray flood-
ble regenerator-reactor differential pres- gas and its molecular weight. Variability in ing and dumping will cause rapid changes
sure (Figure 1). Typically reactor-regenera- main column overhead receiver pressure in reactor pressure.
tor differential pressure must be controlled or unstable system pressure drop produce Most motor driven compressors operate
within a relatively narrow +2 to -2 psi reactor pressure swings. These can cause at fixed speed using suction throttle valves
(+0.14 to -0.14 bar) range to permit stable catalyst circulation problems and other to vary pressure drop from the main col-
catalyst circulation. The wet gas compres- operability concerns. umn overhead receiver to the compressor
Wet gas
Differential Main column
compressor
pressure
Spillback
PC Gas plant
PC
PI PI
FI
Atmosphere Motor Spillback
Compressor
C.W. C.W.
FI
PC
Regenerator Reactor Main
column Inter-stage
Overhead
receiver receiver
Oil feed
Air
Figure 1. Regenerator-reactor differential pressure Figure 2. Fixed speed compressor and inter-condenser system
nlet (Figure 2). The pressure controller receiver pressure is reduced, thus machine curve represent overall performance. The
manipulates the throttle valve position and speed must be increased to compress the machines have lower efficiency and the
pressure drop to maintain constant receiv- higher gas flow rate and to meet higher gas temperature leaving is generally near
er pressure. Normal system pressure drop head requirements. Once the turbine gov- 300°F rather than 200°F with an inter-
variation is slow and predictable, there- ernor is wide-open or variable speed motor cooled design. These machines must com-
ore, receiver pressure can be adjusted to is operating at maximum speed or amps, press all wet gas from inlet conditions to
maintain constant reactor pressure. As feed rate or reactor temperature must be the gas plant operating pressure hence
ong as the throttle valve is not fully open, reduced to lower wet gas rate to the com- power consumption is higher.
hen the compressor has excess capacity. pressor capacity.
Once the throttle valve is fully open and Fixed or variable speed motors and tur- Wet Gas Compressor:
spillback valve closed, the machine can no bines must have sufficient power to com- Stable Operating Range
onger compress wet gas flow to the gas press the mass flow rate of gas while meet- Each compressor section must be operated
plant operating pressure. Generally, reac- ing the differential head between the over- within its stable flow range. At fixed speed
or temperature or feed rate is reduced to head receiver and the gas plant. the compressor curve begins at the surge
permit the compressor throttle valve to Otherwise, reactor temperature or feed rate point and ends at stonewall, or choke flow.
egain pressure control so that flaring can must be reduced to decrease the amount of Surge point is an unstable operating point
be avoided. receiver wet gas flow to the driver limit. where flow is at minimum. At surge, the
Variable speed compressors use steam compressor suffers from flow reversals that
urbines or variable speed motors to con- Compressor Design cause vibration and damage. At the other
rol receiver pressure. Speed is adjusted to Wet gas machines use 6-8 impellers end of the curve is the choke (or stonewall)
change the operating point on the com- (stages) to compress gas from the main col- point. At the choke point, the inlet flow is
pressor map to meet the system flow-head umn overhead receiver to the gas plant very high and the head developed very
equirements for stable reactor pressure operating pressure. Most have inter-stage low. Flow through the machine approach-
control. As system pressure drop increases condensing systems after the first 3 or 4 es sonic condition or a Mach number of 1.
stages (low-stage) that cool the Polytropic efficiency also drops rapidly
compressed gas, condense a near stonewall.
Low-stage High-stage small portion and separate the For variable speed compressors, there is
gas and liquid phases (Figure a region between the surge and stonewall
3). Inter-stage receiver gas is lines where there is stable machine perfor-
then compressed in the last 3 or mance (Figure 4). The compressor flow-
3-stages 3-stages
4 stages (high-stage). Inter- polytropic head can be varied anywhere
stage condensers reduce gas within this region. Because there is no
Suction Intercondenser Discharge
temperature and raise compres- throttling, all power goes into compression
system sor efficiency by 5-7%, but they which minimizes power consumption.
also generate pressure drop. Stable compressor performance is
Figure 3. Compressor schematic with inter-condenser Separate flow-polytropic head defined between these two flow-head limi-
and flow-polytropic efficiency tations. Some machine designs can vary
curves are needed to evaluate flow by 25% or more between surge and
overall compressor system per- stonewall points, while others have only 6-
formance. 8% flow variation between these limits.
11 These curves have inlet gas Compressors with small stable flow regions
0%
rat flow rate on the X-axis and need to have robust surge control systems.
Sp ed
ee polytropic head developed and The head-flow curve basic slope is rela-
d
Surge line polytropic efficiency on the Y- tively flat near the surge point and
100
% axis. Consequently overall becomes steeper as inlet flow is increased.
Polytropic head
55
8,200 rpm be used to predict compres- polytropic head at a given inlet flow rate
sor performance at different and not a fixed discharge pressure, with
50
process conditions. suction pressure, gas molecular weight and
45
The suction throttle valve gas temperature all influencing both inlet
plays an important role for a flow rate and polytropic head. The poly-
40 Stonewall fixed speed motor driven tropic head equation is shown in Equation
compressor. Throttle valve 1.
35 pressure drop controls over-
10,200 10,400 10,600 10,800 11,000 11,200 11,400 Equation 1
head receiver pressure
Inlet volume flow, icfm
(Figure 6) so that reactor
n
pressure is stable. Throttle n - 1
1,545 ZavgT1 P2
Figure 5. Flow-head curve for a 6-stage compressor Head = -1
valve position and pressure
MW n-1 P1
drop compensate for changes n
in receiver gas flow rate or Where: MW = Molecular weight
Main column Gas plant receiver pressure set point Zavg = Average compressibility
Spillback T1 = Suction temperature, °R
changes. Because compres- n = Compression coefficient
Motor sor discharge pressure is held P1 = Suction pressure, psia
Compressor constant by the gas plant P2 = Discharge pressure, psia
ine flow rate, there will be no spillback. 30 column condensers and from the high-
However, if receiver gas flow is below the Low-stage stage discharge to the inlet of the inter-con-
surge line, then the spillback will open to 20 denser maintain flow above surge for both
meet the minimum flow. In Figure 4, max- compressor sections. Thus, suction and
mum compressor capacity occurs when 10 discharge pressure from the first 3-stages
he compressor is operated at maximum and suction and discharge pressure of the
speed. As long as the compressor driver 0 last 3-stages are dependent on each other,
22 28 32 36 40 44
has sufficient energy then minimum over- Inlet volume flow, 1,000 icfm inter-condenser system pressure drop, and
head receiver operating pressure will be the amount of material condensed.
based on the flow-head developed at 110% Figure 7. Low-stage curve While principles of compression are the
same, overall performance is more difficult by about 10%. Although temperature has
Table 1
to evaluate. Fortunately, process flow mod- little effect on gas volume, main column
els, such as Simsci ProII® or Provision®, Reactor system pressure drop overhead receiver temperature has a large
allow the low- and high-stage flow-poly- impact on condensation. Cost-effective
Components P, psi
tropic head curves and flow-polytropic effi- changes that reduce receiver temperature
ciency curves and the inter-condenser sys- Reactor cyclones 2 should always be considered to maximize
tem to be rigorously modeled. Thus inter- Reactor vapor line 1 existing compressor capacity or to mini-
stage operating pressures can be deter- mize the need for modifications.
Reactor line coke 4
mined through an iterative process without In this instance, raising receiver pressure
Main column 3
excessive calculations. from 5 to 12 psig and lowering temperature
Condenser 3 to 100°F decreased the amount of wet gas
Case Study: Piping 2 produced so that the gas inlet flow rate was
Minimizing Wet Gas Flow control/metering 1 within the existing compressor capacity
Compressor Modifications (Figure 9). While raising compressor inlet
An FCC unit was revamped to increase Total 16 pressure (and lowering temperature)
unit capacity by 40%. In addition, gas decreased inlet flow rate, it also raised
plant limitations required undercutting system pressure drop was 16 psi, resulting compressor discharge pressure. Since cen-
gasoline to produce heavy naphtha from in a 4 psig compressor suction pressure. trifugal compressors develop fixed poly-
the main fractionator to reduce liquid load- High pressure drop components includ- tropic head, discharge pressure (P2 in
ing through the gas plant. The existing ed reactor line coke formation, main col- equation 1) from the existing 7-stages of
compressor was a 7-stage machine with no umn overhead system and column inter- compression would have been 350 psig,
inter-condenser and a 4400 horsepower nals pressure drop. Table 1
motor. A suction throttle valve controlled shows each major component
main fractionator overhead receiver pres- and its measured pressure Main column Gas plant
sure. Prior to the revamp reactor pressure drop. Substantial reduction in Spillback
was 20 psig with a compressor inlet pres- system pressure drop was Motor
sure of approximately 4-5 psig. The 40% required to lower compressor Compressor
higher feed rate and higher gas from under- inlet flow rate to within
cutting together would have increased inlet 10,400 to 11,200 inlet cubic Remove
stage
flow rate by more than 50% if the 4 psig feet per minute stable operat-
suction pressure was maintained. Thus, a ing range.
new parallel compressor or one new larger Increasing compressor suc- FC
compressor would have been required. tion pressure raises condensa- C.W.
Because this solution was high cost, alter- tion in the overhead receiver, PC 12 +40% feed rate
nates were considered. decreases inlet flow rate and 5 Base feed rate
When evaluating compressor perfor- increases compressor capaci- Overhead
mance, the complete system from the reac- ty. In this instance, main col- receiver
tor thorough the compressor outlet needs umn overhead receiver pres- Pressure, psig
to be evaluated as a single system. sure and temperature needed
Undercutting gasoline increases wet gas to be 12 Psig and 100°F to
flow rate if no other changes are made maintain inlet flow rate within
Figure 9. Receiver operating pressure- before and
after revamp
because it decreases the amount of liquid stable operating range.
product from the main column overhead Coking in the reactor line,
receiver. Gasoline “sponges” C3+ hydro- main column pressure drop,
carbons leaving the condenser, thus under- piping, flow metering, and 70
compressor without large changes in the wet gas flow rate. Each 1°F 40
inlet flow rate requires higher suction pres- reduction in receiver tempera- 10,200 10,400 10,600 10,800 11,000 11,200 11,400
Inlet volume flow, icfm
sure. System pressure drop from the reac- ture lowers wet gas rate by
tor to the compressor inlet must be approximately 1%; thus,
reduced. In this case, the reactor pressure decreasing temperature by Figure 10. Flow-head curve for 7- and 6- stage
operated at approximately 20 psig and the 10°F lowers the wet gas rate compressor
In this instance, the 7- ables are different. Understanding cen-
stage compressor devel- trifugal compressor flow-head and flow-
5,200
oped about 9,500 feet of efficiency curves is essential when evaluat-
7-stages head rise per stage of com- ing process changes or when revamping.
5,000
pression. Thus eliminating
a stage would reduce devel- THE AUTHORS
4,800
Total power, hp