Crude/Vacuum Distillation System with Preheat Train

Contents

1. Introduction................................................................................................................1

2. Simulation Basis........................................................................................................1

3. Process Description..................................................................................................2

4. Simulation Results....................................................................................................4

5. Conclusions...............................................................................................................5

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1. Introduction

This is an example for the process of crude/vacuum distillation system with the preheat train, which
is the first step in oil refining. Since the large amount of heat must be added to distill the crude oil
products, the waste heat recovery is significant for saving operational coasts. It is quite useful to study
with simulation models for improving the waste heat recovery from the crude/vacuum system products
and the prediction of the affects resulting from the changes in the crude oil quality.

This model includes:

A simulation basis including the oil assay and the fluid package.

Typical process containing heat exchange, crude distillation column, vacuum distillation column and
stabilizer column.

Key process control specifications, such as temperature and composition of the crude oil, the
specifications for the columns.

This model is based on the information from the following document:

Gerald L. Kaes, Refinery process Modeling Sample Problem One: Modeling a Crude/Vacuum
System with Preheat Train, 2002.

2. Simulation Basis

Light ends including C2, C3, IC4 NC4, IC5 and NC5 as well as water are selected from the simulator
library. Nitrogen used in the model to define vacuum column leaks is also added to the pure component
list. The following hypo components are created standing for the distillation fractions from the crude oil.
The data of NBP, MW and Liq Density are specified and other properties are estimated by the simulator.
NBP Liq Density Tc Pc Vc
Name MW Acentricity
(F) [lb/ft3] [F] [psig] [ft3/lbmole]
NBP[0]147* 146.7421 105.8016 42.37853 447.4028 429.4629 5.829346 0.273113
NBP[0]253* 252.7078 124.9977 44.81849 561.5367 348.7343 7.742862 0.378482
NBP[0]324* 324.4453 173.1500 47.02713 638.0839 308.6648 9.146006 0.447883
NBP[0]375* 375.2702 201.5351 48.48910 698.0783 291.2723 10.06883 0.486619
NBP[0]424* 423.8661 229.4804 49.47802 747.6514 268.7440 11.18176 0.529661
NBP[0]475* 475.3488 260.4695 50.39907 796.6316 243.9436 12.57437 0.574547
NBP[0]527* 527.2939 297.9789 50.9921 849.1971 233.1912 13.51217 0.612076
NBP[0]574* 573.5722 346.2567 52.08661 895.7696 216.0730 14.88849 0.643422
NBP[0]625* 625.2534 377.2623 53.43509 947.8387 199.7976 16.46257 0.677774
NBP[0]675* 674.7726 423.0164 54.47968 994.7636 183.0856 18.24526 0.715060
NBP[0]724* 723.7329 463.9322 55.52977 1040.479 168.5626 20.07649 0.754380
NBP[0]800* 799.8880 510.7350 56.59741 1105.934 145.4750 23.45759 0.829437
NBP[0]898* 898.0888 618.4507 57.85611 1188.275 123.4429 27.66671 0.950994
NBP[0]974* 974.1449 713.6272 58.88298 1252.272 112.8992 30.09669 1.073444
NBP[0]1046* 1045.570 799.0424 59.60659 1288.751 92.56667 34.23621 1.327634
NBP[0]1224* 1223.863 933.8387 61.32536 1425.534 61.92610 49.10677 1.536513
NBP[0]1447* 1446.890 1209.901 65.17255 1618.260 42.92479 69.02807 1.715915

The pseudo-component Salt* is created representing the salts in crude oil. The Peng-Robinson
property package is used in the whole flowsheet.
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3. Process Description

The Crude/Vacuum distillation system with preheat train includes preheat train and crude distillation
including atmospheric distillation, vacuum distillation and stabilizer distillation. The flowsheet is shown as
Figure 1.

Figure 1 the Flowsheet of the Crude/Vacuum System with Preheat Train

3.1 Preheat Train

The preheat train is a heat recycle process. The heat exchanger is the main unit operation in this
process. By exchanging the heat between the crude oil and the products from crude distillation tower and
vacuum distillation tower, a large quantity of energy is recycled.

This process is described as: The crude oil (85,000 barrels per day) is preheated by exchanging with
crude column overhead, kerosene and diesel products, and kerosene and diesel pumparounds before
entering the desalter. After desalting, the crude oil is saturated with water and also contains some
entrained water. It is next pumped through a series of five heat changers, where it is heated by
exchanging twice with the atmospheric gas oil (AGO), twice with the theavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO), and
once with the vacuum residuum stream. The preheated crude oil is heated to the final processing
temperature 650 degree F in the crude furnace.

The data of the preheat exchangers are collected in Table 1. The outlet conditions of the oil crude
are preferred to be specified to simplify the model.

Table 1 the Parameters of Different Heat Exchangers

Tube Side Shell Side
Heat
Exchanger Pressure Pressure
T(Inlet, F) T(Outlet, F) T(Inlet, F) T(Outlet, F)
Drop(psig) Drop(psig)

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 E-1A/B 100 130 15 217.7 192.3 2
E-3 130 170 10 373.2 259.3 4
E-4 130 170 10 504.6 387.6 4
E-5 170 235 15 409.4 307.5 4
E-6 235 293 15 529.6 420.4 4
E-7 240 256 5 290.9 277.1 5
E-8A/B 288.7 342 15 455.1 375.7 5
E-9 342 362 15 525.3 441.0 5
E-10A/B 352 432 15 540.9 455.1 5
E-11 432 451 15 614.6 525.4 5
E-12 451 475 15 813.6 691.2 5
E-14 102.6 175 5 285.1 219.0 5
Distil Heater 475 650 10
Vacuum Heater 670.6 747.0 25.7
E-2A-F 195.3 102.0 6

3.2 Crude Distillation

After preheated, the feed stream 22A enters the atmospheric column on the tray 24 which
represents the column flash zone in the model. A dummy heat source is introduced on this tray to trim
the crude oil temperature as needed fro the initial solution trials and facilitate a converged solution. The
flash zone vapors rise up the tower where the side products are condensed and withdrawn. Cold reflux
for condensing the side products is provided by the pumparound cooler and the overhead condensers.
The atmospheric gas oil, diesel, and kerosene products are steam stripped in side columns, with the
stripped vapors re-entering the main column. The side stripper for heavy naphtha is inactive, and has no
steam flow.

After cooled, the overhead product is three-phase separated, the wet gas, Water and the liquid. The
liquid flow is divided as two, one goes back to the column as reflux and the other is stabilized in a
column that collects the C3 and C4 hydrocarbons.

The topped crude from the column bottom is pumped to the vacuum column after heated by a
furnace. The heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) and light vacuum gas oil (LVGO) are drawn from this 8-
stage column.

All the specifications correlated with the columns are listed in Table 2.

Table 2 the Specifications of the Columns

Crude Tower
TrimDuty 4.91e7 Btu/hr
Kerosene pumparound rate 50000 barrel/day
Diesel pumparound rate 40000 barrel/day
AGO pumparound rate 20000 barrel/day
Overhead product ASTM D86 95 LV% 232 F
Heavy Naphtha ASTM D86 95 LV% 360 F
Kerosene ASTM D86 95 LV% 515 F

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Diesel ASTM D86 95 LV% 650F
Reflux Rate (stream Re) 28500 barrel/day
BotSteam 635 F, 135.3 psig, 5000 lb/hr
AGOSteam 570 F, 50 psg, 750 lb/hr
DieselSteam 485 F, 50 psig, 2500 lb/hr
KerosSteam 361 F, 50 psig, 3500 lb/hr
Stabilizer
IC5 fraction in overhead product LV% 0.010
NC4 fraction in bottom product LV% 0.025
C3/C4 rate 800 barrel/day
Light Gasoline Recycle 440 F, 96 psig, 11710 lbmole/hr
Vacuum Tower
LVGO pump rate 30000 barrel/day
LVGO pump return temperature 133 F
Slop Was Rate 1100 barrel/day
HVGO Return rate 50000 barrel/day
HVGO rate 16804 barrel/day
Vac Resid rate 13920 barrel/day
Column top temperature 136 F
Column bottom temperature 675 F
4. Simulation Results

The preheat system saves great energy for the oil distillation process, which is about 70% of the
total provided heat for the Crude Tower and Vacuum Tower. Some distillation products are listed in Table
3.

Table 3 the Specifications of the Columns

Crude Tower Flow barrel/day

Heavy Naphtha 10116
Kerosene 13788
Diesel 11857
AGO 3240
Stabilizer Flow barrel/day
C3/C4 800
Light Straight Run Gasoline 8328
Vacuum Tower Flow barrel/day
LVGO Rate 3091
HVGO Rate 16804
Vac. Resid 13920

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5. Conclusion

This model offers a good description for the crude/vacuum distillation system with preheat train. It
can be used as starting model for analyzing the cost and feasibility for the oil distillation process as well
as for developing the more complex model.