Revamping a crude distillation unit

A revamp project aimed to increase process safety and reduce high energy consumption
in a CDU. It also delivered better product separation and higher diesel output

UMUT BARIŞ AYHAN, FUNDA İŞERI, GIZEM GÜNGÖR and SINAN MUTLU
Tüpraş İzmir refinery

T
üpraş İzmir refinery is one of modifying some heat exchangers After the removal of salt and water
the biggest refineries oper- and air coolers according to pinch in the desalters, the crude oil heats
ated by Turkish Petroleum analysis. Moreover, of the seven up to 230°C in the second preheat
Refinery Corporation. It started columns of the unit, the trays in heat exchanger and then goes to the
operation in 1972 with 3 million six were renewed with higher effi- preflash column as feed. In the pre-
t/y capacity. After the second ciency designs. By adding a new flash column, light hydrocarbons
crude distillation unit started up preflash drum, flashed hydrocar- (fuel gas, LPG, naphtha) move up
in 1987, the capacity of İzmir refin- bons could be sent directly to the the column as vapour and after cool-
ery increased to 11 million t/y. atmospheric distillation tower so ing are sent to the light hydrocar-
The refinery’s two crude distilla- that the duty of the furnace would bons collector drum as liquid.
tion units are U-100 and U-7000, decrease greatly. Preflash column bottom product,
both designed to process 29-36 API As a result of the revamp pro- crude oil without the light hydro-
crudes. The units have similar pro- ject, the inlet furnace temperature carbons, splits into two streams.
cess flows and they produce light increased from 240-282°C, which The first stream goes to the preflash
and heavy naphtha, kerosene, light significantly decreases energy con- column bottom reboiler to heat up
and heavy diesel, and atmospheric sumption. The overall energy sav- to 363°C then goes back to the bot-
residue that is processed in the vac- ing is about 298.9 Gcal/y and the tom of the column in order to con-
uum distillation units. decrease in CO2 emissions is about trol the bottom temperature. The
U-7000 has the highest crude 96.8 t/y, which means a 0.02% second stream goes to the preflash
oil processing capacity among the reduction in Turkey’s CO2 emissions drum. When the feed enters the pre-
Tüpraş refineries. Hence, initiat- according to 2016 values. flash drum, which operates at 1.8
ing a revamp project in the unit kg/cm2g, it flashes and most of the
would affect balances throughout Process description kerosene is taken from the top of the
the Tüpraş fleet. So the benefits and U-7000 was constructed in 1987. drum before the furnace. Flashed
drawbacks of the project would Following the revamp project, the hydrocarbons can be sent directly
need to be examined in detail. charge of the unit is 1000 m3/h. The to the kerosene section or flash zone
After long engineering studies, a main purposes of the unit are remov- of the main distillation column.
revamp project was implemented to ing salt and water in the crude and Preflash bottom feed goes to the fur-
increase process safety and reduce separating the crude into fuel gas, nace and heats up to 371°C in order
high energy consumption. In the LPG, naphtha, kerosene, light diesel, to become the charge of the main
revamp project, some critical points heavy diesel, and atmospheric resi- distillation column.
would need to be improved: due fractions according to their boil- In the main atmospheric distil-
• The thermal efficiency of the fur- ing point differences. The separated lation column, crude oil can be
naces was about 75% fractions are sent to their related separated into heavy naphtha, ker-
• The stack gas temperature was units as charge. osene, light diesel, heavy diesel,
about 450°C U-7000 consists of four main and atmospheric residue fractions.
• There was no air preheater system sections: Heavy naphtha is obtained at the
to warm the furnace air • 7100: crude oil desalting section top of the column; after it is cooled,
• Fuel consumption was nearly 112 • 7200: atmospheric distillation it reaches the reflux drum. Heavy
Gcal/h and needed to be reduced section naphtha splits into two streams and
• The burners had maintenance • 7300: naphtha stabilisation section the first stream is used as reflux to
problems due to severe leakages • 7400: chemical substances section the main distillation column to con-
By means of the revamp pro- Crude oil reaches the unit as trol the top temperature. The second
ject, the aim was to make further charge then enters the preheat heat stream is sent to the absorption col-
attempts to increase process safety exchanger section where it is heated umn to absorb the LPG that remains
and reduce energy consumption. to 110-120°C for desalting. The unit’s in the fuel gas. Heavy naphtha with
The project consisted of renewing desalters are two-stage designs and absorbed LPG goes back to the light
the fired heaters, and renewing and every stage consists of two desalters. hydrocarbons collecting drum.

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1002402 PTQ Q1 2020 75

 Naphtha
LPG

Unstable
naphtha

Kerosene

1st preheat 2nd preheat Atmospheric Debutaniser

Preflash distillation
Crude tower
Desalter tower tower
oil

L. diesel

Heater

Heater
H. diesel
Preflash
drum

Heater Residuum Naphtha

Figure 1 Process flow diagram of Izmir refinery’s U-7000 CDU

At the main distillation column, from the bottom of the column. LPG changing some heat exchanger ser-
kerosene, light diesel, and heavy die- is sent to the LPG Merox unit, fuel vices and new trays for columns
sel are sent to side strippers where gas is sent to the absorber column, which are more efficient than the
their flash point is adjusted with and naphtha is sent to the CCR and previous design. Three new fur-
stripping steam. After that, kero- isomerisation units (see Figure 1). naces take part in three different
sene is sent to the kerosene Merox services: one furnace for heating the
units, and light and heavy diesel are U-7000 revamp project main distillation column feed, one
sent to the hydroprocessing units. The U-7000 revamp project aimed for the reboiler of the preflash col-
Atmospheric residue, the bottom to increase process safety standards umn, and one for the reboiler of the
product of the column, is sent to the and change the existing process fur- debutaniser column. With the help
vacuum distillation units. All prod- naces which did not have air pre- of the new preflash drum, the duty
ucts can be sent to the tank farm. heaters, resulting in low efficiency. of the furnace has decreased signifi-
Light hydrocarbons from the Also, by means of the project, the cantly by sending flashed hydrocar-
light hydrocarbons collector drum unit charge rate increased from 950 bons directly to the main column.
are sent to the debutaniser column. m3/h to 1000 m3/h. In addition, new Compabloc heat
Within the debutaniser, LPG and The U-7000 revamp project was exchangers and air coolers were
fuel gas are obtained from the top of based on new furnaces, new heat added according to pinch analysis
the tower and naphtha is obtained exchangers and new air coolers, which helped to improve heat effi-
ciency in the preheat train.
Effect of change in preflash column top temperature on product distillations
Performance evaluation
Temperature, °C 150°C 154°C 160°C
A test run was performed between
Method SimDist (EN-ISO-3405) 30 July and 3 August 2018 with the
IBP 42.3 40.1 36.1 aim of analysing the overall per-
WSRN

T5 60.9 58.7 58.2 formance of the unit after revamp.

T95 144.8 150.5 154.3
FBP 161.1 172.6 168.6
The test run was performed with
Iran Heavy (IHV) crude oil, the feed
Method SimDist (EN-ISO-3405) basis of the revamp project.
IBP 48.9 51.1 50.9 During the test run, steam optimi-
HSRN

T5 78.5 79.7 80.2

T95 122.2 125.7 125.9
sation, heavy diesel maximisation,
FBP 138.2 135.5 142.5 naphtha maximisation-minimisa-
tion gap overlap in all products,
Method SimDist (EN-ISO-3405) percentage of C4 remaining in naph-
IBP 147.0 150.9 148.9
tha, and propane remaining in fuel
Kerosene

T5 159.6 164.2 162.1

T95 228.8 235.1 231.8 gas were observed and examined.
FBP 246.0 249.7 246.4 The preflash column top temper-
FlashPoint 40.5 42.5 42.0 ature was gradually increased by
keeping all other process param-
Table 1 eters constant. Table 1 shows the

76 PTQ Q1 2020 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1002402

 Effect of changes in amount of steam on product distillations energy consumed and a 1.70 points
decrease in standard energy.
Steam to preflash 20.5 t/h 13.5 t/h
column Percentage C4 remaining in naphtha
Method ASTM-D2887 EN-ISO3405 ASTM-D2887 EN-ISO3405 Stabiliser column pressure and top
Heavy diesel

IKN 173.5 251.7 179.2 259.2 and bottom temperature are opti-
T5 261.2 293.1 266.1 294.2
mised in order to eliminate C4 in the
T95 409.3 381.4 419.1 387.3
SKN 425.0 386.0 437.7 392.5 naphtha. During the test run, the
ratio of C4 remaining in the naphtha
Method ASTM-D7169 ASTM-D1160 ASTM-D7169 ASTM-D1160 was examined at different tempera-
Residue

IKN 326.1 374.0 334.0 369

tures and pressures. Eventually, the
T5 379.6 412 381.3 409
level of C4 remaining in the naphtha
was less than 1%.
Table 2
Propane content in fuel gas
effect of change in the top tempera- bottom and middle sections of the In order to examine the remaining
ture on products. column, the air coolers of the mid- propane content in the fuel gas, the
The T95 value of WSRN naphtha dle and bottom pumparounds were absorption column top pressure was
increased as expected due to the deactivated; therefore, the return increased from 7 kg/cm2 to 7.5 kg/
increase in the preflash column top temperatures of the pumparounds cm2. Moreover, the column reboiler
temperature. When the top temper- increased. temperature was increased. The
ature of the preflash column was It was noticed that the heavy die- amount of propane remaining in the
increased from 150°C to 154°C, the sel draw was facilitated by means fuel gas was optimised according to
kerosene T95 value and flash point of heating the region and reduc- the results of these changes.
increased. However, there was no ing the stripping steam. When the
significant change in kerosene flash results of the sample sets taken after Cutpoint (yield)
point and T95 value when the tem- the changes were examined, the There was a 40°C overlap between
perature was adjusted from 154°C heavy diesel T95 values increased as the atmospheric residue T5 and
to 160°C. The reason for this is that expected. Therefore, the amount of heavy diesel T95 values before
the kerosene draw was kept within steam used was optimised accord- the revamp (according to the
specification limits. ing to the separation quality. EN-ISO-3405 method for heavy die-
In addition, changing the strip- sel and the ASTM-D-1160 method
Heavy diesel maximisation ping steam rate and the bottom tem- for atmospheric residue). After the
The preflash column top tempera- perature of the column increased revamp, this overlap disappeared
ture and other process conditions the T95 value of heavy diesel by so that a gap of 17-35°C occurred
were kept constant and the amount 10°C using the ASTM-D-2887 between the atmospheric residue T5
of steam supplied to the main dis- method and by 6°C with the and heavy diesel T95 values. This
tillation column was gradually EN-ISO-3405 method. indicates that the heavy diesel layer
decreased from 20.5 t/h to 17 t/h, According to the results of the test remaining in the residual material
15 t/h, 13 t/h and 11 t/h. Sample run, the stripping steam rate of the is removed following the revamp.
sets were taken separately after main column was optimised. This Table 3 illustrates that when the
each change. Moreover, in order situation was reflected in a decrease crude oil API value and the amount
to increase the temperature at the of approximately 4 Gcal/h in actual of charge are chosen close to each
other, the overlap between heavy
diesel T95 and atmospheric resi-
Separation between heavy diesel and residue before and after revamp due T5 are eliminated and the 40°C
overlap has turned into a 21°C gap.
Before revamp After revamp The theoretical and actual sep-
API 28.9 29.7 aration between heavy diesel and
Charge, m3/h 914 1000
residue is given in Figure 2. The
Method D-86 (EN-ISO-3405) D-86 (EN-ISO-3405) left-hand figure shows theoretically
Heavy diesel

IKN 205.4 259.2 complete decomposition; in reality,

T5 263.3 294.2 it is impossible to achieve this level
T95 393.6 387.3
SKN 396.7 392.5 of decomposition. However, a level
as close as possible to theoretical
Gap -40 +21 decomposition is targeted for effi-
cient distillation. After the revamp,
Method D-1160 (ASTM-D-1160) D-1160 (ASTM-D-1160)
Residue

IKN 302.3 369 the separation between heavy diesel

T5 353.2 409.0 and atmospheric residue improved
and theoretical separation was fur-
Table 3 ther approached. In addition, the

78 PTQ Q1 2020 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1002402

separation between heavy naphtha
and kerosene improved significantly.
The gap between the kerosene T5
and heavy naphtha T95 values was
Heavy Heavy Heavy
around 10-20°C; after the revamp, diesel diesel diesel
the gap between the two products
increased to 20-40°C. The first boiling
Theoretical
points of heavy naphtha and kero- decomposition
sene have increased by about 5-10°C. point
High purity product efficiency
increased by a minimum of 2% by
mass (3% by volume = lift) after the Residue Residue Residue
revamp. Getting 2 wt% more yield
on the amount of diesel from atmos-
pheric residue provides $14.5 mil-
lion/y based on July 2018 prices. Theoretical decomposition Before revamp After revamp

The atmospheric residue is

charged to the vacuum distillation Figure 2 Heavy diesel/residue decomposition before and after revamp
unit. After the revamp, the residue of
this unit is sent to the vacuum distil- tion and minimisation of the naphtha ature of the furnace. More impor-
lation unit at a warmer temperature fraction, and examining and opti- tantly, as a result of the revamp
than before. The warmer charge ena- mising the amount of C4 in naphtha project, the energy efficiency of the
bles increasing the inlet temperature and the amount of propane in fuel unit increased considerably and CO2
of the vacuum furnace. The vac- gas. After the revamp project, sepa- emissions decreased by 96.8 t/y.
uum furnace inlet temperature has ration between heavy naphtha and
Umut Barış Ayhan is Process Units Manager
risen by 4°C. This increase led to a kerosene, kerosene and light diesel, at İzmir refinery.
decrease in furnace load which saves and heavy diesel and atmospheric Email: baris.ayhan@tupras.com.tr
676 Gcal/month in fuel consumption residue were better than before. Funda İşeri is Crude and Vacuum Distillation
(source: Aspen Hysys).   In particular, the diesel content in Process Superintendent at İzmir refinery.
Email: funda.iseri@tupras.com.tr
atmospheric residue decreased sig-
Gizem Güngör is Process Chief at İzmir
Conclusion nificantly, hence more diesel could refinery. Email: Gizem.gungor@tupras.com.tr
This article describes the steps taken be produced. Sinan Mutlu, Process Engineer at İzmir
during a revamp project and the Additionally, lift in the column refinery. Email: Sinan.mutlu@tupras.com.tr
results of a test run. The performance – products other than the bot-
test was made with Iran Heavy tom product of the column – was
crude, in line with the design charge. increased by a minimum 2 wt% (3
The main objects of the test run vol%) at the maximum capacity of LINKS
were: optimising the T95 value of the the unit. Sending atmospheric resi-
products, examining and increasing due to the vacuum distillation unit More articles from the following
separation quality, optimising the in a warmer condition than before categories:
Crude and Vacuum Units
amount of stripping steam for the benefited the vacuum distillation
Revamps and Turnarounds
main distillation column, maximisa- unit by increasing the inlet temper-

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