Platformer debutaniser revamp and

optimisation
Recommendations following a study of high reformate RVP delivered a range of
benefits including a significant increase in gasoline production

RAKAN BILAUS, SAJEESH PADMANABHAN and NEELAY BHATTACHARYA

Saudi Aramco

S
audi Aramco carried out a a RON giveaway. In order to vapour pressure adjustment),
study at Yanbu refinery to increase gasoline production whereas a hydrogen-rich gas is
troubleshoot and resolve and eliminate RON giveaway, produced as a by-product and
the high Reid vapour pressure the reformate RVP needed to sent to the naphtha hydrotreat-
(RVP) of reformate that was be reduced from 4.5 psia to 3.8 ing unit and the light
imposing blending constraints, psia. Accordingly, a study was straight-run naphtha hydrot-
resulting in reduced i-C5 and initiated to look into the availa- reating unit. The unit consists
isomerate blending and RON ble options to upgrade Yanbu of the following sections:
giveaway. The study concluded refinery’s platforming debutan- • Reaction section, composed
with a debutaniser revamp that iser column to achieve the mainly of three heaters and
was implemented early in 2011. targeted RVP at full column three reactors, in which the
As a result, the reformate RVP capacity. reforming reaction takes place
saw a drop from 4.5 to 3.8 psia. • Compressor section,
However, during the summer Process background composed of three centrifugal
season, several performance Yanbu refinery is located on compressors for the recycle gas
issues were raised. Optimisation the west coast of Saudi Arabia service and two alternative
and overcoming cooling limita- with a capacity of 250 000 b/d. compressors for the hydrogen
tions have resulted in The refinery is responsible for make-up gas sent to the hydrot-
improvements in performance processing Arabian Light reating units
and a further drop in RVP from Crude oil, which is received • Product separation section, in
3.9 to 3.7 psia. The reduction in from the Crude Oil Terminal which reformate is recovered
platformate RVP allows for an and pumped through the East from the hydrogen-rich gas by
additional one thousand barrels & West pipeline to meet means of a chilling unit.
of i-C5 to the gasoline pool, demand from the western The saturated gas concentra-
which has increased Yanbu region market for high-quality tion unit processes the
Refinery’s revenue significantly. refined products. unsterilised platformate
The refinery’s platforming produced in the platforming
Background unit has the purpose of upgrad- unit and the treated LPG
The high reformate RVP causes ing low-octane heavy naphtha coming from the LPG Merox
problems with gasoline blend- from the naphtha hydrotreating unit. Products are stabilised
ing, leading to high RVP in the unit to a high-octane material platformate, propane, butane
summer months, resulting in for motor fuel blending. The and/or mixed LPG.
reduced iC5 and isomerate principal product is the high- Components lighter than
blending. Consequently, gaso- octane reformate (sent to propane are sent to the refin-
line production is reduced with saturated gas concentration for ery’s fuel gas network.

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1000717 Revamps 2012 1

 Off gas
to AET
FRC-116

PRC-89
V14-V7
V14-V8
V14-V1

V14-V4
From platform V14-V2 P-107
separator

P-14
P-8 LPG
from A-1
Reformate G-102 LPG to
to storage LPG to depropaniser storage
bypassing DEC2

Figure 1 Saturated gas concentration unit process flow diagram (DeC4 & DeC2)

The unit consists of the that removes components provided by Koch-Glitsch.

following sections (see Figure lighter than C3 from LPG When the platformer unit was
1): • Depropaniser tower reboiled converted to CCR in 2006, the
• Debutaniser tower reboiled with medium-pressure steam column was deemed suitable
by means of the fired heater that splits LPG in propane as for the new process flows. The
that separates the unstabilised overhead product and butane only modifications imple-
platformate in LPG as over- as bottom product. mented were new feed bottoms
head product and stabilised exchangers and new overhead
platformate as bottoms Unit operation trim coolers. The main function
product The debutaniser column was of the column is to stabilise the
• Deethaniser tower reboiled designed by Chiyoda in 1977 reformate and produce LPG as
with medium-pressure steam and the column internals were the overhead product. The
main specifications were <1.0
mol% C4 in reformate and <1.0
Off gas mol% C5 in LPG. The reformate
to AET was estimated to have an RVP
of 3.8 psia. However, the FRC-116
refor-
mate RVP has been consistently
at 4.5 psia at full unit capacity
PRC-89 (see Figure 2). It is possible to
V14-V7
reduce the reformate RVP by
V14-V8
increasing the LPG draw to
V14-V1 decrease the C4 components in
the reformate. However, this
V14-V4will result in a higher C5
content in the LPG, causing it
From platform V14-V2 P-107
separator to be off-specification.
Furthermore, the reflux temper-
P-14 was having a considerable
ature
P-8 impact on column operations. LPG
from
Figure 2 Platformate RVP prior to revamp The design temperature was
Reformate G-102 LPG
to storage LPG to depropaniser stora
bypassing DEC2
2 Revamps 2012 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1000717
38°C but, over time, the reflux check for any limitations. A at reduced capacity, the reflux
temperature has gradually detailed tray-by-tray analysis temperature has a negligible
shifted higher. During summer showed a high level (80-89%) effect on reformate and LPG
peaks, the temperature had of flooding in the rectification quality. However, the quality of
been reported as high as 50°C. section. To verify the results, reformate and LPG is very
Koch- Glitsch was contacted to sensitive to reflux temperature
Study basis and scope perform a detailed hydraulic at full capacity.
PFDs, PI data system and check of the column. Their
Chiyoda mechanical drawings comments were as follows: Study recommendations
of the saturated gas concentra- • Trays 1-15 are working close Based on the outcome of the
tion unit were used as a basis to their limits (jet flooding 83%, study, recommendations to
of the study. The study would limit is 85%) improve reformate RVP to 3.8
provide the following outcome: • High exit velocity on tray 5 psia were as follows:
• Provide detailed simulation (1.58 m/s) • Replace the existing trays
of the unit with tray-by-tray • Velocities and head losses with Minivalve trays at trays
rating calculations under downcomers of trays 16- 1-15
• Identify the hydraulics limita- 30 are above maximum • Replace the existing distribu-
tions contributing to low tray • Vapour tunnel on off-centre tor with a new flashing feed
efficiency downcomer of tray 30 was not pipe
• Provide sensitivity analysis provided • Replace existing lower down-
for reflux temperature • Inlet momentum through the comer panels to increase
• Provide changes to internals existing feed distributor is too clearance
proposed by Koch-Glitsch to high. • Replace 2/3 of existing off-
overcome limitations. centre downcomer panels of
Estimation of operating tray tray 30 with a vapour tunnel.
Outcome of study efficiency The study was completed,
Design check through Although the debutaniser with recommendations, during
simulation column has sufficient trays to August 2010. Yanbu refinery
The debutaniser column was provide a reformate quality of managed to implement all of
evaluated for the new process 3.8 psia, the poor performance the recommendations during a
conditions when the fixed-bed can be attributed to the smaller total refinery shutdown in
Platformer was converted to a diameter of the rectification February 2011.
CCR. As per their calculations, section for sieve tray applica-
the column internals were tion, improper vapour and Results
adequate to produce a refor- liquid disengagement at the Implementation of the study’s
mate RVP of 3.8 psia. In order feed tray, higher than recom- recommendations resulted in a
to validate the process design, mended downcomer exit reduction in reformate RVP
the debutaniser column was velocity and improper distribu- from 4.5 psia to 4.1 psia after
simulated with full capacity tion of the reboiler return shutdown. The debutaniser’s
with the design conditions. The vapour. The rectification effi- operating parameters after
results clearly indicated that for ciency was found to be about start-up were not optimised to
the design process conditions a 60% and the stripping section meet the targeted RVP (see
30-tray debutaniser column is efficiency was about 40%. Figure 3).
adequate for producing refor-
mate with a RVP of 3.8 psia. Reflux temperature sensitivity Optimising operating
analysis parameters
Hydraulics limitation Since the reflux temperature The debutaniser column
assessment had been gradually increasing started operating with a
Once the process calculations above the design temperature of reboiler outlet temperature of
were verified, the next step was 38˚C, it was important to under- 236°C, a tray 8 temperature of
to perform a hydraulic check stand its effect on the column’s 100°C and a reflux ratio of 4.2.
for the rated dimensions to performance. It was found that, However, these operating

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1000717 Revamps 2012 3

 Overcoming cooling limitations
4.6 To overcome the cooling limita-
tions, backwash practice was
4.4 conducted for the debutaniser
4.2 overhead trim coolers V14-E-
103A-D, whereby the flow of
psia

4.0 sea water is reversed. As a

result, the reversed flow of sea
3.8
water removes a large amount
3.6 of plugging material from the
system. Consequently, the
3.4 reflux temperature dropped
b 0
ar 10

r 0
ay 10

n 0

l 0
g 10
p 0
ct 0
ov 10
ec 0

n 0
b 1
ar 1

r 1
ay 11

n 1
11
from 45°C to 33°C, allowing for
Fe 201

Ap 201

Ju 201

Ju 01

Se 201
O 201

D 201
Ja 201
Fe 201
M 201
Ap 201

Ju 201
M 20

M 20

Au 20

N 20

M 20

20
2
n

more cooling. The realised

Ja

benefits of the backwash were

Figure 3 Platformate RVP before/after revamp tremendous as the overhead
cooling capacity was greatly
parameters were not achieving reported to be high, in the improved. Consequently, the
the target RVP value. As such, range 40-50°C, which was platformate RVP has dropped
the operating parameters were affecting column operations. from an average of 3.9 psia to
adjusted to a reboiler outlet Performance assessment of an average of 3.5-3.7 psia (see
temperature of 240°C, a tray 8 the debutaniser overhead Figure 4).
temperature of 105°C and a trim coolers V14-E-103A-D
reflux ratio of 5.0. As a result, indicated that they were Benefits of debutaniser
the average reformate RVP operating at a performance optimisation and cooling
dropped to 3.8 psia. However, level of 35-40%. The trim improvements
during the summer peak, the coolers were designed to The reduction in platformate
reformate RVP increased to 4.0 use 500 m3/h of sea water for RVP allows for the addition of
psia. cooling, while the total sea 1 MB of i-C5 to the gasoline
water flow was around 150 pool. Furthermore, as a result
Overhead cooling limitations m3/h, which clearly pinpoints of backwashing, the debutan-
During the summer season, a problem on the sea water iser off-gases were reduced by
the reflux temperature was side. more than 1000 m3/h, resulting
in an increase in LPG produc-
tion of 300 b/d. The trim
4.9 coolers were badly plugged
(see Figure 5).
Backwashing the debutaniser
4.4 overhead trim coolers V14-E-
103A-D resulted in additional
benefits including:
psia

3.9
• Increase in sea water flow by
more than 100 m3/h
• Increased LPG production by
3.4
300 b/d
• A decrease in reflux tempera-

2.9 ture by more than 10°C

• Significant improvement to
11

11

11

11

2
01

1
20

20

20

20

20

the debutaniser overhead cool-

2
g

ct

ov

ec

n
Ja
Au

Se

ing system
O

D
2

2
2
2

• Relaxed operation of the

Figure 4 Platformate RVP before/after backwash debutaniser column.

4 Revamps 2012 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1000717

Rakan Bilaus is a Process Engineer
with Saudi Aramco and has four years’
experience in engineering and refining.
He has been involved in the design
and evaluation of several flare and
relief systems in Saudi Aramco plants,
and has worked in several refineries
handling a number of process units,
from crude distillation units to FCC
and CCR platformer complexes. He
holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical
engineering from McMaster University,
Canada.
Sajeesh Padmanabhan started his
career at Reliance Industries, where he
was involved in the commissioning and
start-up of the world- scale aromatics
complex at Jamnagar. He joined Saudi
Aramco in 2005 and was involved in the
commissioning and start-up of the CCR
platformer and isomerisation units. He
holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical
engineering.
Neelay Bhattacharya is an Engineering
Specialist working with Saudi
Aramco Process and Control Systems
Department. He has 21 years’ experience
in refineries and petrochemical plants
and previously worked as a Technical
Advisor with UOP India. He holds a BE
degree in petroleum and petrochemicals
from Pune University, India.

LINKS
Figure 5 Backwashing the plugged debutaniser overhead trim coolers delivered
More articles from the following a range of benefits
categories:
Design, Engineering &
Construction
Revamps, Shutdowns and
Turnarounds

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1000717 Revamps 2012 5