Atmospheric Distillation Column

Figure 1: Atmospheric Distillation Column

The first and most important phase in the refining process is atmospheric
distillation. The atmospheric distillation tower's main function is to divide crude oil
into its constituent parts (also known as distillation cuts or distillation fractions) for
further processing by other processing units.

Typically, atmospheric distillation determines the refinery's maximum capacity.

The initial step in the processing of any crude oil is air distillation. Additionally,
most of the feed for the refinery's other process units is normally provided via
atmospheric distillation.

The bottoms from the atmospheric distillation tower are often transferred to the
vacuum tower for further separation in refineries.
The distillation column consists of a vertical shell in which liquid components are
separated, trays or plates inside the column that allow for contact between the
vapour phase and the liquid phase, and two distinct sections: the trays between the
feed tray and the bottom of the column, known as the stripping section, which aim
to concentrate the heavier component in the liquid phase, and the trays between the
top of the column and the feed tray, known as the rectifying section, which are
meant to bring the lighter component to the top of the column in the vapour phase.

Table 1: Atmospheric Distillation Column Feed and Output

Inputs/Feed Outputs/Products

Crude oil serves as the main feed to an
atmospheric distillation process. A single
crude oil or a combination of many distinct
crude oil grades may be used.
The distillation unit of a refinery may also be
used to reprocess a mixture of unfinished or
Distillation cuts are the products of
distillation.
The following distillation cuts are often seen
in a crude distillation unit:
1- Methane and ethane make up refinery

off-spec products known as slops by blending gas. This stream is utilised as fuel for

the mixture with fresh crude oil. the refinery and is still a gas.
2- Light ends - A propane and butane
dominated stream. For further
separation, it is sent to the sat gas
plant.
3- Light straight run naphtha is either
improved by isomerization, mixed
directly into gasoline, or marketed as a
feedstock for petrochemicals.
4- Heavy naphtha is typically improved
through a reformer; however it is
sometimes combined straight with
gasoline.
5- Kerosene is utilized to produce jet
fuel and is also mixed with diesel.
 6- Atmospheric gasoil is used to
manufacture diesel or is upgraded to
gasoline in the FCC.
7- Atmospheric bottoms include all of
the hydrocarbons that do not evaporate
in the atmospheric distillation column.
For further separation, it is often sent
to the vacuum distillation unit.

How does the Atmospheric Distillation Process take place?

The crude oil is first heated to around 700-750 degrees Fahrenheit (400 oC). The
heated crude is pumped into the distillation column's bottom section, where the
majority of it vaporises. The vapours travel through a succession of perforated
trays or structured packing as they climb through the tower. As the vapours cool,
their constituents condense back into liquid at various levels in the tower
depending on their boiling point. A fraction of the vapours reaches the top of the
column and are cooled by heat exchangers and air coolers before being partially
transformed back into liquid. A fraction of this is returned to the distillation
column as a reflux stream, where it comes into contact with the rising vapours and
helps to cool them. The impact of counter-current flows of ascending vapours
meeting lowering colder liquids allows for the establishment of equilibrium
conditions throughout the column. Lighter (less dense) hydrocarbons condense
higher up in the distillation tower, whereas heavier hydrocarbons condense closer
to the bottom. This causes the hydrocarbons to separate dependent on the
temperatures upon which they boil/condense. Hydrocarbons are dragged from the
tower at various heights to create a series of streams with varying boiling points.
These various streams are known as distillation cuts or fractions. These distinct
streams are then transferred to other units for additional processing or final product
mixing. The heaviest parts of the crude do not evaporate and are sucked out as
atmospheric bottoms at the bottom of the tower. These are transferred to vacuum
distillation for further separation under vacuum conditions.

Before distillation, crude with a high salt concentration is often treated through a
desalter to remove salts that might cause corrosion in the distillation tower.

Atmospheric distillation is carried out at a significantly high pressure above the

atmospheric pressure (1-3 atm), and a temperature below 380 degrees Celsius to
prevent thermal cracking that could happen at high temperatures. When the
pressure in the distillation column rises, the separation of two components
becomes more difficult because the volatility drops, which is why the pressure in
our instance is kept slightly higher than the atmospheric: To raise the boiling points
of the fractions and separate them, if the pressure is lower than atmospheric
(vaccum), the temperatures drop and the boiling points of the estimated fractions
are not attained.

Figure 2: Atmospheric Distillation