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Petroleum Refinery

5rd Semester

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Lecture Two / Introduction to Crude Distillation Unit

By
Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah
Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
Salahaddin University

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
1
Salahaddin University
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Introduction to Crude Distillation Unit CDU

Hydrocarbon Storage

Tanks are usually described according to their function or their construction. Their
function may be receiving, settling, treating, dehydrating, washing, desalinating,
storing or exporting.

- Fixed Roof Tanks

fixed-roof tanks are tanks which have their cylindrical shell covered by a roof that is
an integral part of the tank construction.
The roof plates rest on a supporting framework and are attached to the tank only at
the top of the shell.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
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Salahaddin University
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There are three types of fixed-roof tanks:

- Non-pressure tanks which are in open connection with the atmosphere by vents
installed in the roof.
- Low-pressure tanks where instead of vents, pressure valves have been installed
which
- High- pressure tanks on which pressure valves open

Fixed-roof tanks are relatively easy to construct and therefore cheaper to build than
floating-roof tanks.
The main disadvantage of a fixed-roof tank is product losses due to the escape of
vapors from the free space between the oil and the roof through vent openings in the
roof.
These losses are either breathing losses, caused by the difference in day and night
temperature, or filling losses, when in flowing oil expels an equal volume of vapors
through the vents.

- Floating Roof Tanks

A floating roof-tank is open at the top. The roof itself is a steel disc which floats on
the surface of the oil and rises or falls with the oil level as the tank is filled or emptied.
For a floating-roof tank, construction tolerances are rather small due to the fact that
the roof must be free to move over most of the height of the tank.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
3
Salahaddin University
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For this reason, the permitted ovality is limited by the necessary clearance between
the roof and the shell and this narrow tolerance increases the construction costs
considerably.

The higher construction costs of a floating-roof tank are outweighed by the

advantages, which are:
- Reduced product loss due to minimized vapors loss
- Reduced air pollution for the same reason
- Reduce fire and explosion risk due to very small vapors space.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
4
Salahaddin University
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The evaporation losses inherent with fixed-roof tanks can be almost entirely
eliminated by the use of floating roofs.
Evaporation losses are a function of so many variables such as
1- Liquid or surface temperature
2- Variation in atmospheric temperature
3- True vapor pressure of liquids
4- Volume of vapor space (how full)
5- Color or reflectiveness of surface
6- Frequency of filling
7- Construction of tanks
8- Degree of saturation attained in gas space

They rise or fall with the oil level. In the design of a floating-roof two loading
possibilities have been considered:

- Oil leakage of the roof

- Rainwater accumulation on the roof

It should be noted that floating roofs are not designed for a combination of leakage
and rainwater accumulation.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
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Salahaddin University
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Roof Drain

Drainage of rainwater is important for the trouble-free operation of a floating-roof

tank. Any rain falling on the roof is collected in a sump at the lowest point of the
roof. It is discharged via an articulated steel drain pipe (sometimes through a flexible
hose drain) installed between the sum and a nozzle in the lowest course of the shell.
A check valve is installed near the roof end of the pipe to prevent back-flow of stored
product in case of leakage of the pipe drain or its swing Joints. A gate valve, outside
the tank shell, permits the drainage system to be closed off. However, considerable
care should be taken to ensure the roof drainage system is not inadvertently left
closed.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
6
Salahaddin University
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Floating Suction

Storage tanks in production areas often act as settling tanks, and as a result, crude
with a high-water content, free water and sludge are likely to be present in the bottom
layers. In general, floating-roof tanks are emptied via an outlet approximately 30 cm
above the bottom of the tank. Crude that is drawn through such an outlet from the
tank could therefore be severely contaminated. In a floating-roof tank this is
prevented, or at least significantly reduced, by the use of a floating suction.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
7
Salahaddin University
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Roof Access Ladders

For inspection and maintenance purposes an access ladder is provided from the top
of the shell to the roof, running over a rail track on the roof. Often these ladders are
provided with self-levelling stair treads, which are always in a horizontal position.
For such a ladder there must be sufficient space to move up and down inside the
tank.

Roof Supports

The floating roof is provided with roof supports, which can be adjusted to two
positions. The first position is approximately 0.9 m above the tank bottom to keep
the roof free from all accessories on the tank bottom. The second position is
approximately 1.8 m above the tank bottom for access under the roof during
maintenance.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
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Salahaddin University
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Crude Oil Preparation for Distillation Unit

Petroleum in the unrefined state is of limited value and of limited use. Refining is
required to produce products that are attractive to the marketplace.
Thus, petroleum refining is a series of integrated steps by which the crude oil is
converted into salable products with the desired qualities and in the amounts dictated
by the market
Crude oil must be converted into products according to the demand for each.
to accommodate the in-market demand, a refinery must include the following:
(1) all necessary non processing facilities.
(2) adequate tank capacity for storing crude oil, intermediate, and finished products.
(3) a dependable source of electrical power.
(4) material- handling equipment.
(5) workshops and supplies for maintaining a continuous 24 hours/day, 7 day/ week
operation.
(6) waste disposal and water-treating equipment.
(7) product-blending facilities.

Crude Oil Dewatering and Desalting

Crude oil that is contaminated by salt water either from the well or during
transportation to the refinery must be treated to remove the emulsion.

If salt water is not removed, the materials of construction of the heater tubes
and column intervals are exposed to chloride ion attack and the corrosive action of
hydrogen chloride, which may be formed at the temperature of the column feed.
The salt can decompose in the heater to form hydrochloric acid and cause corrosion
of the fractionator overhead equipment.

Desalting operations are necessary to remove salt from the brines that are present
with the crude oil after recovery
Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah
Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
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Salahaddin University
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In order to remove the salt

- Water is injected into the partially preheated crude, and the stream is
thoroughly mixed so that the water extracts practically all the salt from the oil.
- The mixture of oil and water is separated in a desalter, which is a large vessel
in which the water settles out of the oil, a process that may be accelerated by
the addition of chemicals or by electrical devices
- The salt laden water is automatically drained from the bottom of the desalter.

The salt content of the crude measured in pounds per thousand barrels (PTB) can
be as high as 2000.
Refineries have been success- fully desalting crude oil to less than 5 lb per thousand
bbl for many years.

Desalting of crude oil is an essential part of the refinery operation.

The salt content should be lowered to between 5.7 and 14.3 kg/1000 m3 (2 and 5
PTB).
Poor desalting has the following effects:
- Salts deposit inside the tubes of furnaces and on the tube bundles of heat
exchangers creating fouling, thus reducing the heat transfer efficiency
- Corrosion of overhead equipment
- The salts carried with the products act as catalyst poisons in catalytic cracking
units.

Types of Salts in Crude Oil

Salts in the crude oil are mostly in the form of dissolved salts in fine water droplets
emulsified in the crude. This is referred to as water-in-oil emulsion, where the
continuous phase is the oil, and the dispersed phase is the water.

The water droplets are relatively tiny such that they cannot settle by gravity. These
fine droplets have on their surfaces the big asphaltene molecules with the fine solid
particles coming from sediments, sand or corrosion products.

The presence of these molecules on the surface of the droplets acts as a protector
that prevents the droplets from uniting with each other in what is referred to
coalescence.

Furthermore, the salts can be in the form of crystals that are suspended in the crude.
Removing the salts requires that they must be ionized in the water.
Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah
Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
10
Salahaddin University
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Therefore, wash water is added to the crude to enhance the desalting process. The
salt types are mostly magnesium chloride (MgCl2) calcium chloride (CaCl2) and
sodium chloride (NaCl) with sodium chloride being the abundant type.
These chlorides except NaCl hydrolyze at high temperatures to hydrogen chloride
(HCl)

NaCl does not hydrolyze. Hydrogen chloride dissolves in the overhead system water,
producing hydrochloric acid, an extremely corrosive acid.

Desalting Process

To remove the salts from the crude oil, the water-in oil emulsion has to be broken,
thus producing a continuous water phase that can be readily separated as a simple
decanting process.
- Water washing: Water is mixed with the incoming crude oil through a mixing
valve. The water dissolves salt crystals and the mixing distribute the salts into
the water, uniformly producing very tiny droplets.
Demulsifying agents are added at this stage to aide in breaking the emulsion
by removing the asphaltenes from the surface of the droplets.

- Heating: The crude oil temperature should be in the range of 48.9–54.4 C

(120–130 F) since the water–oil separation is affected by the viscosity and
density of the oil.
- Coalescence: The water droplets are so fine in diameter in the range of 1–10
mm that they do not settle by gravity. Coalescence produces larger drops that
can be settled by gravity. This is accomplished through an electrostatic electric
field between two electrodes. The electric field ionizes the water droplets and
Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah
Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
11
Salahaddin University
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orients them so that they are attracted to each other. Agitation is also
produced and aides in coalescence. The force of attraction between the water
droplets is given by:

where E is the electric field, d is the drop diameter and S is the distance
between drops centers and K is a constant

- Settling: According to Stock’s law the settling rate of the water droplets
after coalescence is given by

where 𝜌 is the density m is the viscosity, d is the droplet diameter and k is a

constant.

The salts are dissolved in the wash water; oil and water phases are separated in a
settling vessel either by adding chemicals to aid in breaking up the emulsion or by
the application of an electrostatic field to coalesce the droplets of salt water. Either
an AC or DC field may be applied at potentials of 16,000–35,000 V. In the desalter,
the salts (e.g., magnesium chlorides) selectively migrate to the aqueous phase which
forms a brine solution at the bottom of the desalter while the crude oil that floats
above forms a separate stream.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
12
Salahaddin University
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Description of Desalter

A typical desalter contains metal electrodes as shown A high voltage is applied

between these electrodes. The ionization of the water droplets and coalescence takes
place

Desalter Operating Variables

For an efficient desalter operation, the following variables are controlled:

- Residence Time: The higher the residence time in a desalter, the better the
oil/water separation. this variable can be only controlled with the vessel size,
operating level in the size or the feed rate. Since the vessel size cannot be
increased in size or reduce the feed rate, a small increase in operating level
may significantly improve the quality of the brine.

- Desalting temperature: The settling rate depends on the density and

viscosity of the crude. Since increasing the temperature lowers the density and
Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah
Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
13
Salahaddin University
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viscosity, the settling rate is increased with temperature based on the crude
gravity, typical desalting temperature can vary between 50 and 150 C (122
and 302F).

- Washing water ratio: Adding water to the crude oil helps in salt removal.
Hence, increasing the wash water rate increases the coalescence rate.
Depending on the desalting temperature, a minimum value should be use. For
example, Kuwait crude (31.2 API) requires 7–8 vol% water addition relative
to the crude rate.

- Water level: Raising the water level reduces the settling time for the water
droplets in the crude oil, thus improving the desalting efficiency. However, if
the water level gets too high and reaches the lower electrode, it shorts out the
desalter. Since the primary electric field depends on the distance between the
lower electrode and the water–crude interface, it is always better to keep the
level constant for stable operation.

- Washing water injection point: Usually the washing water is injected at

the mixing valve. However, if it is feared that salt deposition may occur in the
preheat exchangers, part or all of the washing water is injected right after the
crude feed pump.

- Demulsifier injection rate: Demulsifiers are basic copolymers with one

end being hydrophilic (loves water and attaches to the surface of the water
droplet), and the other end being hydrophobic (loves the oil and is directed to
the oil side). When these compounds are adsorbed on the droplet surface, they
stabilize the droplet. The demulsifier is added to the crude after the feed pump
or before the mixing valve at levels between 3 and 10 ppm of the crude.

- Type of washing water: Process water in addition of fresh water is used for
desalting. The water should be relatively soft in order to prevent scaling. It
should be slightly acidic with a pH in the range of 6.
It should be free from hydrogen sulphide and ammonia so as to not create
more corrosion problems. Therefore, distillation overhead condensates and
process water from other units can be used after stripping.

- Pressure drops in the mixing valve: Mixing the washing water with
crude oil is necessary in order to distribute the water and dissolve any
Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah
Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
14
Salahaddin University
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suspended salts crystals. The pressure drops across the mixing valve
determines the mixing efficiency. On the other hand, the mixing process
produces finer (smaller diameter) droplets which tend to stabilize the emulsion
and make water separation more difficult. Therefore, there is a compromise
in selection of the appropriate pressure drop across the mixing valve. A
pressure drop between 0.5 and 1.5 bar (7.4 and 22 psi) is used. The optimal
pressure drop depends on the types of crudes; thus, it is important to perform
test runs at dedicated periods to ensure that correct operation is achieved.

One variable which is not mentioned above is the desalter pressure. The operation
of the desalter requires that the crude be in the liquid phase during desalting. A
typical pressure of 12 bar (176 psia) is necessary to achieve this purpose. When the
process control variables are properly adjusted, a 90% salt rejection (2–5 PTB of salts
in the desalted crude relative to the raw crude) can be achieved. With a two-stage
operation the salt rejection can reach 99%. Any remaining salts are neutralized by
the injection of sodium hydroxide which reacts with the calcium and magnesium
chloride to produce sodium chloride.

NaCl does not hydrolyze to the corrosive hydrogen chloride.

Ass. Lec. Ahmed Omar Abdullah

Chemical - Petrochemical Engineering Department
15
Salahaddin University