PETROLEUM REFINERY

PROCESS ECONOMICS
2nd Edition
nd
          
           
                
                  


   
 
   
   






   
    
  
   

   

 
  
        
 
    
 
 
   

  
 
 PREFACE

This book is an outgrowth of data collected and compiled over

many years and correlated as the need arose. It presents, in an orga-
nized way, yield data (plus other useful information) on the important
petroleum refinery processes practiced commercially today.
The use of the data in evaluating technology from an economic
standpoint is illustrated. The reader is referred to other works for
detailed descriptions of the technologies considered. The emphasis in
in
this book is on what products a process yields and their properties,
and not on how this is accomplished.
The techniques used to correlate the data are described, and the
use of the correlations is illustrated with examples. This will enable
the readers to make and to use their own correlations if they wish.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
List of Tables
Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
List of Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi
Acknowledg
Acknowledgemen
ements
ts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv
Preface
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . xxvii

Sectio
Section
n A: Int
Introd
roduct
uction
ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1. Introduction 3
2. Co
Corr
rrel
elat
atio
ion
n Met
Metho
hodo
dolo
logy
gy 9
3. Cru
Crude
de Oils
Oils,, Hydro
Hydrocar
carbon
bons,
s, and
and Refi
Refiner
neryy Prod
Product
uctss 19
4. Re
Refi
fine
nery
ry Pr
Proc
oces
essi
sing
ng—A
—An
n Ove
Overv
rvie
iew
w 33
5. Ene
Energ
rgyy Reso
Resourc
urces
es and
and Tran
ranspo
sporta
rtatio
tion
n Fuel
Fuelss 45
6. Th
Thee Env
Envir
iron
onme
ment
nt an
and
d the
the Re
Refi
fine
nerr 77
7. Cru
rude
de Oi
Oill Pr
Proce
cess
ssin
ingg 89

Sectio
Section
n B: Res
Residu
idual
al Oil
Oil Proce
Processi
ssing
ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
PETROLEUM REFINERY  P ROCESS ECONOMICS

Section
Section C:
C: Heav
Heavyy Distillat
Distillatee Processin
Processingg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
12.. Fl
12 Flui
uid
d Cat
Catal
alyt
ytic
ic Cr
Crac
acki
king
ng 169
13. Hea
eavvy Oil Crac
ackkin
ingg 197
14. Hydrocracking 211
15. Hydrotreating 235

Sectio
Section
n D: Lig
Light
ht Dist
Distill
illate
ate Pro
Proces
cessin
singg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
16.. Na
16 Naph
phth
thaa Des
Desul
ulfu
furi
riza
zati
tion
on 253
17. Ca
Cata
taly
lyti
ticc Re
Refo
form
rmin
ingg 263

Sectio
Section
n E: Lig
Light
ht Hydr
Hydroca
ocarbo
rbon
n Proce
Processi
ssing
ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
18. Isomerization 285
19. Alkylation 293
20.. Ca
20 Cata
taly
lyti
ticc Poly
Polyme
meri
riza
zati
tion
on 299
21.. Ca
21 Cata
taly
lyti
ticc De
Dehy
hydr
drog
ogen
enat
atio
ion
n 307

Sectio
Section
n F: Oxy
Oxygen
genate
atess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
22. Oxygenates 315

Sectio
Section
n G: Trea
reatin
tingg and
and Other
Other Auxil
Auxiliar
iaryy Proces
Processes
ses . . . . . . . 333
23.. Ar
23 Arom
omat
atic
icss Ex
Extr
trac
acti
tion
on 335
24.. Hy
24 Hydr
drog
ogen
en Ma
Manu
nufa
fact
ctur
uree 339
25.. So
25 Sour
ur Wat
ater
er St
Stri
ripp
ppin
ingg 341
26 Sweetening 343
 TABLE OF C ONTENTS

Section
Section H: Blen
Blending
ding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
31. Blending 359

Section
Section I: Proce
Process
ss Econom
Economics
ics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
32. Economics 385

Appendix
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461
 SECTION A:

INTRODUCTION
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Just as it is said, “Necessity is the mother of invention,” it may be

said that necessity was the mother of this book. During more than
55 years in the engineering profession, the author has often realized
a need for the “tools” contained in this “toolbox.”
In the Preface to the first edition of Petroleum Refinery
Engineering , W. L. Nelson stated, “The current literature contains
much that is useful, but the literature is so voluminous that it may
be useless to a busy engineer unless it is presented in an organized
manner.”1 The primary purpose of this book is to present yield data
for refinery processes in an organized manner so that they are use-
ful to the reader in the performance of process comparisons or
process economic studies of various types, and to show how to use
this information in performing such studies.
Very early in the author’s career as a process engineer he found
himself faced with a large amount of plant data from the operation
of a particular process. To determine the optimum mode of operation,
it was necessary to correlate the yields of the products from the
process to some property of the feedstock or of one of the products
PETROLEUM REFINERY  P ROCESS ECONOMICS

The result is a collection of yield correlations for all of the important,

commercially established petroleum refinery processes. Some readers may
balk at the empirical methods employed in this work, preferring a purely
analytical approach. Again quoting Nelson, “The history of industrial devel-
opment shows that commercial plants are usually built before the theory
of the process is fully understood.”1 Many of the processes are far too
complex to lend themselves to the simple type of description that is needed
for many of the engineer’s purposes, such as a preliminary comparison of 
proposed processes or process schemes.
Each correlation in the book is accompanied by operating requirements
(utilities, catalyst, chemicals, etc.) plus the capital cost of a unit of typical
size. Some engineers think in terms of dollar-per-barrel costs for process
plants. At best such numbers can be correct for only one size of each type
of plant. What was a good number last year, five years ago, or longer, could
be greatly in error today. The cost-curve type of estimate employed here is
far more suitable for preliminary studies and offers the advantage of con-
sistency over a wide range of sizes for a given process.
This technique is best described by the following equation2 for plants
A and B:

[ ]
CA QA X
—–— = ——
CB QB

where C represents cost, Q represents capacity, and X is the “Lang” expo-

nent.3 This equation would describe a straight line on a log-log plot with
the slope of the line equal to X. In plotting actual cost data on log-log paper,
a curved “best” line is sometimes indicated. This may mean that the cost
exponent for the particular process varies with capacity. It could also signify
that the plants differ in more ways than just capacity.