Field Separator
Crude desalting
Poor
desalting
Types of Salts in Crude oil:
Dissolved salts in fine water droplets emulsified in crude oil-water-in-oil-
emulsion. The fine droplets have big asphaltenes coming from sediments,
sands or corrosion products. Salt removal requires these salts to be ionized in
water.
Desalting Process:
Desalter -ESP
Desalter Operating Variables:
Desalting temperature: Settling rate increased
with temp.-typical temp. 50-150 deg.C.
Washing water ratio: Increasing wash water rate
increases coalescence rate. Eg. Kuwait crude
(31.2 API) requires 7-8 vol% water addition.
Water level: Raising water reduces settling time,
improving desalting efficiency till it is below the
lower electrode.
Washing water injection point: Usually the
washing water is injected at the mixing valve.
Demulsifier injection rate: Demulsifiers are basic
copolymers with one hydrophilic end.
Type of washing water: pH in the range of 6 for
process water, relatively soft.
Pressure drop in the mixing valve: 0.5-1.5 bar is
used.
Crude Distillation
CDU is at the front end of the refinery.
Process Description
Atmospheric distillation Unit
Crude inlet temperature: 330-385 deg.C
Typical column size: 50m height with 30-50
valve trays, large diameter above flash zone.
Steam injected at the bottom of the stripping
section (below flash zone) to strip
atmospheric residue of any lighter HCs and
also lower partial pressure of HC vapors in
flash zone.
Atmospheric distillation Unit
Column refluxes:
Overhead reflux: Part of light naphtha returned
to column
Pump around reflux: Liquid withdrawn at a
point below a side stream tray that is cooled
by the cold crude feed and then returned to
the column a few trays above the draw tray.
Pump around reflux
• Advantages:
1. Cold fluid condenses more of the rising vapours thus providing
more reflux to compensate for the withdrawal of products from the
column.
2. Heat is removed from the column at higher temperatures. This is in
addition to heat removal from the condenser which takes place at
relatively lower temperatures, thus the thermal efficiency of the
column is improved and the required furnace duty is reduced.
3. Pumparound streams reduce the vapour flow rate throughout the
column, therefore required column is smaller.
• Disadvantage:
1. The pump around streams reduce the fractionationation.
2. Uneven composition of reflux and liquids present on the
tray hence pumparound not placed more than two sections in
the column.
Pumpback reflux
Advantages:
Reflux provided at regular intervals
Every plate acts as true fractionator due to
good amount of liquid
Tower uniformly loaded, hence a uniform,
lesser diameter tower required.
Heat from external reflux can be utilized as it
is at progressively higher temperatures.
Disadvantages:
Design and operation of such towers are
costly.
Vacuum Distillation Unit:
LVGO
MVGO
HVGO
Hydrotreating, Hydroprocessing of the VDU distillates necessary for
downstream conversion processing.
Feed temperature is 380-415 deg. C in a fired heater. To minimise
thermal cracking and coking, steam is injected into the tubes of the
furnace. 3-5 vol % vapors are produced more than the total products
withdrawn above the flash zone.
VDU are equipped with packing for fractionation and heat exchange
zones to reduce pressure drop in the column which is necessary for
creating a low vacuum in the lower section of the column.
Design of crude distillation columns
Packie’s method-column design
Degree of difficulty of separation: Purity of
products.
Degree of separation: With increasing
closeness of B.P of two cuts, separation
becomes difficult –expressed as diff. in 50%
ASTM B.Ps.
ASTM gap: Diff. between 5% B.P of heavy
and 95% B.P. of preceding cut.
TBP overlap: Diff. between FBP and IBP of
successive fractions.
Packie’s method-column design
No. of plates in a section-depends on gap and
reflux ratio.
Separation capability, ‘F’ factor = R x no. of
plates, F is related to ASTM 50% diff. of
successive fractions and the gap of these
fractions.
EFV curve at normal Press. Is converted to
Flash zone press. , gap and 50% diff.should
be then found from the new curve.
Flash zone-Zone where hot crude in flashed
in the column.
Packie’s method-column design
Overflash: Portion of total vapor leaving the flash
zone boiling above the nearest side draw fraction
but never included in that fraction.
Increase in flash zone pressure increases draw
temp.
Increase in over-flash decreases the side draw
temperatures from the second draw onwards.
Increase in steam in flash zone decreases the
product temperature.
Pressure in flash zone is reflected throughout the
column in the form of plate temperatures.
Packie’s method-column design
Degree of fractionation: Measured by the gap
or overlap in crude distillation.
ASTM gaps followed in practice:
Light naphtha to heavy naphtha 12-18
deg.C
Heavy naphtha to light distillate 15-30
deg.C
Light distillate to middle distillate 2 - 6 deg.C
Middle distillate to first draw 2-6
deg.C
