Annexure A

PROJECT TITLE

Project Name : Petro Resid Fluidized Catalytic Cracking.

Owner : Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

Location : Mahul Refinery, Chembur, Mumbai, 400074 India

BPCL’s Mumbai Refinery Bottoms Upgrader Project involves setting up of a 3.0 MMTPA PRFCC
complex.

Process Description of Petro Resid Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (PRFCC)

i. Petro Residue Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (PRFCC)

Petro Residue Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (PRFCC) process is one more step in the refinery process to
extract light ends and increase the overall profitability by generating valuable products before the crude
can be discarded as either fuel oil or coke.

PRFCC process produces valuable light ends in refineries directly from heavy residues and also provides
integration of refinery and petrochemical complex. Heavy fractions like Vacuum Gas Oil (VGO) and
Vacuum Residue (VR) from crude & vacuum distillation unit and Hydrocracker Unit (HCU) bottoms are
converted into valuable products like C3/C4 cuts (LPG), Gasoline, Light Cycle Oil and Slurry Oil. The LPG
stream has high propylene content which can be used to produce polypropylene. The gasoline stream
produced is rich in BTX (Benzene, Toluene & Xylene) which can be separated and gives valuable aromatics
in a downstream aromatics recovery unit. Light Cycle Oil is hydro treated to produce diesel product while
slurry oil forms part of fuel oil pool.

PRFCC has basically 4 main sections:

1. Reactor/ Regeneration Section
2. Main Fractionation Section
3. Gas Concentration Section
4. Catalyst Handling section

Reactor/ Regeneration Section:

The preheated high-boiling petroleum feedstock consisting of long-chain hydrocarbon molecules is
combined with recycle slurry oil from the bottom of the Main Fractionator column and injected into the
catalyst riser where it is vaporized and cracked into smaller molecules of vapor by contact and mixing with
the very hot powdered catalyst from the regenerator. The hydrocarbon vapors "fluidize" the powdered
catalyst and the mixture of hydrocarbon vapors and catalyst flows upward to enter the reactor at a
temperature of about 535 °C and a pressure of about 1.75 kg/cm2g. The reactor is a vessel in which the
cracked product vapors are separated from the so-called spent catalyst by flowing through a set of two-
stage cyclones within the reactor. The spent catalyst flows downward through a steam stripping section
to remove any hydrocarbon vapors before the spent catalyst returns to the catalyst regenerator. Catalyst
is regenerated by burning off the deposited coke with air blown into the regenerator. The Main Air Blower
(MAB) takes atmospheric air and delivers compressed air to the regenerator for combustion process. The
regenerator operates at a temperature of about 715 °C and a pressure of about 2.5 kg/cm2g. The
combustion of the coke is exothermic and it produces a large amount of heat that is partially absorbed by
the regenerated catalyst and provides the heat required for the vaporization of the feedstock and the
endothermic cracking reactions that take place in the catalyst riser. The hot catalyst (at about 715 °C)
leaving the regenerator flows into a catalyst withdrawal well. The hot flue gas exits the regenerator after
passing through multiple sets of two stage cyclones that remove entrained catalyst from the flue gas.

The combustion flue gas is routed through a secondary catalyst separator to remove 70 to 90 percent of
the particulates in the flue gas leaving the regenerator. The expansion of flue gas through a pressure
reducing turbo-expander provides sufficient power to drive the main air blower. Flue gas wet scrubbing
is carried out to control SOx and NOx emissions. The flue gas is finally processed through an electrostatic
precipitator (ESP) to remove residual particulate matter to comply with any applicable environmental
regulations regarding particulate emissions. The steam generated in the waste heat boiler is further
utilized for internal steam demand and to generate power through a steam turbine. The expanded steam
is routed to MP Steam header.

Main Fractionator Section:

The reaction product vapors (at 535 °C and a pressure of 1.75 kg/cm2g) flow from the top of the reactor
to the bottom section of the distillation column, in general called as Main Fractionator. The main
fractionator off gas is compressed by the Wet Gas Compressor (WGC), condensed and sent to Gas
Concentration unit (GCU) while the light cycle oil is recovered from the side-stripper and sent to Diesel
Hydrotreater Unit for further sulfur reduction. A part of slurry oil is recycled back into the main
fractionator to recover catalyst from it while remainder of the slurry oil is pumped to a slurry settler. The
bottom oil from the slurry settler contains most of the slurry oil catalyst particles and is recycled back into
the catalyst riser by combining it with the FCC feedstock oil. The clarified slurry oil or decant oil is
withdrawn from the top of slurry settler for use elsewhere in the refinery, as a heavy fuel oil blending
component.

Gas Concentration Unit (GCU):

GCU provides recovery of the C3, C4 LPG produced in the reaction section and separation of light liquid
products. Compressed gas from fractionation section is sent to High Pressure Receiver and then remaining
vapor to Primary Absorber Column. Overhead liquid from main fractionator is used as lean oil in the
primary absorber column. C3 and C4 LPG recovered in the primary absorber flow with the absorber
bottoms while the absorber overhead gas flows to Sponge Absorber. The sponge absorber captures
gasoline range material lost to gas in primary absorber as a bottom product and sent it back to main
fractionator. The sponge absorber overheads are sent to fuel gas system after scrubbing and amine
treating.

Liquid from High Pressure Receiver is pumped to stripper (de-ethanizer), basically to strip off any C1-C2
light ends. Stripper bottoms are sent to debutanizer while overheads sent back to absorbers. Debutanizer
separates naphtha from lighters. Debutanizer bottoms as Naphtha is sent to Gasoline Treatment Unit
(GTU) while lighter fraction undergoes amine treatment and LPG treatment followed by C3/C4 splitter. C3’s
are sent to Propylene Recovery Unit (PRU) while C4’s are sent to LPG pool or further refinement in Methyl
Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) unit.

Catalyst Handling Section:

Fresh catalyst loading and catalyst withdrawal is carried out with the help of catalyst loaders, eductors
etc. in Catalyst Handling Section.

ii. Propylene Recovery Unit

Propylene Recovery Unit (PRU) processes C3 components, basically a mixture of propane and propylene
from PRFCC unit to produce a stream of high purity propylene suitable for petrochemical applications.

Treated LPG from PRFCC is separated into C3 and C4’s in a C3-C4 Splitter located in PRFCC unit. C3 stream
from C3-C4 Splitter overhead is fed to the De-ethanizer which operates on total reflux and separates C2’s
as overheads. Recovered light ends are sent to PRFCC gas concentration section for further processing.
The bottoms product from the De-ethanizer Stripper is fed into the C3 Splitter. The bottoms product is to
have minimum C2 content in order to meet PGP Propylene spec in the C3 Splitter. De-ethanizer overheads
are controlled to minimize the losses of C3 material into the Fuel Gas. De-ethanizer Rectifier requires a
refrigeration system for the condenser operating conditions.
Propylene product is recovered in C3 Splitter Column. The C3 Splitter is a heat pumped column system to
minimize the energy consumption where tower overhead vapors are compressed to a pressure with a
corresponding condensing temperature suitable for re-boiling the tower. A part of compressed overhead
stream is used as re-boiling fluid and returned as reflux after condensation in the reboiler. The balance
overheads are condensed in water cooled exchanger. A part of the condensed overhead stream is used
as reflux as required for the desired column performance and the balance is sent out as propylene product
stream after passing through COS Guard Bed. C3 splitter bottoms are recovered as propane stream and
routed to the LPG pool.

iii. Flue Gas Treatment unit

The main purpose of the Flue Gas treatment facilities as part of PRFCC is to scrub the regenerator flue
gas and reduce SOx, NOx and particulate emissions.
iv. Unsaturated LPG Treatment unit
The purpose of the Unsaturated LPG Treating Unit (ULTU) is to remove sulfur compounds (mercaptans,
H2S and COS) from amine treated LPG received from PRFCC.

The Unsaturated LPG Treating Unit (ULTU) consist of the following sections:

 Caustic wash section

 Water wash section
 Caustic regeneration section
 Spent Caustic Degassing

v. Sour Water Stripper Unit (SWS)

Sour Water Stripper unit is to strip off the acid gases like H2S, NH3 etc. from the sour water generated in
the PRFCC unit. The PRFCC unit sour water is high in impurities like phenol, cyanides etc. Due to high
content of phenols in the stripped sour water it cannot be and reused in the process units. The stripped
water transferred to Effluent Treatment Plant for further water treatment. The stripped off acid gas from
SWS is send to Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU) for sulfur recovery.

From The PRFCC unit the sour water stream is routed to the Sour Water Storage Tank which will act as
buffer for sour water processing. Sour water from the tank is pumped to Sour Water Flash Drum (3-phase
separator) where entrained vapor and liquid hydrocarbons are separated from the sour water. The vapors
are routed to the Acid Flare.
Liquid hydrocarbons are collected in a separate compartment and pumped to the slops system. The sour
water from the feed drum is pumped to the Sour Water Stripper column after preheating in Feed/Bottom
Exchanger.

Sour Water Stripper column is reboiled with low pressure steam. The column has a top pump around
system to remove heat from the system. The pump around system maintains the column overhead
temperature to ensure there is minimum water vapor fed to the SRU while also preventing deposition of
solid NH4HS. Ammonia and hydrogen sulphide will be removed from the sour water as overhead stream
and sent to SRU.

The phenol rich stripped water from the Sour Water Stripper bottoms is cooled in Feed/Bottom Exchanger
and rundown air cooler and send to Waste Water Treatment Plant for further treatment.
vi. Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU)

Acid gases which comes from Amine Regenerations unit (ARU) are further processed in Sulphur Recovery
Units to convert to molten or Solid Sulphur. As per PFR, it is expected that new SRU of capacity 165 MT/D
of has to be installed as part of PFRFCC. SRU will be integrated with Tail Gas Treatment unit (TGTU) to
achieve recovery of 99.9% and ensure that all emission are within limits. Also there can be steam high
pressure generation from incinerator as part of heat integration and gases going to stack are relatively
low temperature.

vii. Amine Regeneration Unit (ARU)

Amine Regeneration Unit is basically to regenerate the PRFCC Unit rich amine to lean amine. This lean
amine is utilized in the PRFCC to absorb sour gases like H2S, NH3 etc from the off gases produced.
Generally 40-45% wt aqueous solution of Methyl Di Ethanol Amine (MDEA) is circulated in the Off Gas
Absorber located in PRFCC unit. The treated off gas leaves the top of the Absorber and rich amine is sent
to ARU for regeneration.

Rich amine received from PRFCC unit is received in a Rich Amine Flash Drum from where it is pumped and
fed to the Amine Regenerator Column before getting preheated in Lean/Rich Exchanger. The Amine
Regenerator Column is a conventional distillation column utilizing LP steam in the reboiler to strip off sour
gases from the amine. Low pressure steam is used to avoid overheating of the amine in the reboiler. The
column operates on total reflux with overheads cooled to a controlled temperature. Sour gases recovered
from the Overhead Drum are sent to Sulfur Recovery Unit (SRU) for sulfur recovery. The Lean amine
recovered from the column bottoms pumped to PRFCC lean amine header after cooling in Lean/Rich
Exchangers and rundown air cooler. A bleed stream of sour water to Sour Water Unit is generally provided
to avoid buildup of ammonium salts in the column overheads.

To prevent the amine solution from foaming and to avoid the equipment corrosion, provision exists to
add the antifoaming agent and the corrosion inhibitor to the column overhead. For conditioning of the
lean amine a slip stream (15 - 20% vol) is taken out for filtration to remove mechanical impurities.
Filtration system consists of a Pre-filter, Activated carbon filter and an after filter.