CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Background

Distillation Column is an equipment that involves separation process of fluids into its fraction in the
downstream sector of Oil and Gas industry. The crude oil are separated into each fraction for
marketable product. A method called fractional distillation was introduced in some applications, including

petroleum refining, since the simple distillation of liquids with a boiling point close together is not
efficient. The crude oil refinery is separating the products into Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), gasoline,

diesel, kerosene, heavy oil and other goods from a typical barrel. Crude oil distillation process will
be discussed further in this section to understand the operation of oil refineries.

The first oil well in Malaysia was discovered in Shell boiling in 1910 in Sarawak, East Malaysia.
Then about 1914 Shell in Miri, in Sarawak, established the first oil refinery and submarine pipeline in
Malaysia. Innovative characteristics of the submarine pipeline system are at the moment to carry crude
oil offshore. The first gas pump on Foch Road, Kuala Lumpur, was built in 1921. Malaysia's oil and gas
corporation begins searching Malaysia for more oil and gas. The corporation discovered oil for the first
time in Sabah offshore in 1971. The Malaysian, Sarawak and Sabah basins are the three generating
basins. Due to a strong demand for fuels and gas for everyday uses, oil and gas industry is being
introduced in Malaysia over the years. In Southeast Asia, Malaysia is a fast-paced developing nation
aimed at achieving high-income countries by 2020. Its economic development relies heavily on its

plentiful natural resources in particular gas and crude oil. Table 1.1 bellow shown the distillation
column list in Malaysia:

Refinery Ownership Capacity (BBL/D)

Melaka I refinery PETRONAS 93000
Melaka II refinery PETRONAS, ConocoPhilips 126000
Kertih refinery PETRONAS 40000
Port Dickson refinery Royal Dutch Shell 125000
Petron Port Dickson refinery Petron 86000
 Kemaman Bitumen refinery TIPCO 24000
Table 1.1 List of crude oil distillation column in Malaysia [ CITATION Chi15 \l 1033 ].

In this paper, we will study the separability of petrol and kerosene with the use of commercial
simulation package (ASPEN HYSYS) for the distillation phase. The composition of Petrol varies from C5-
C10 and the ranges of Kerosene is C8-C12 as for Naphtha is C10-C16. Light oils and heavy oils are also
known for Petrol and Kerosene. Light gas oil has a low density and provides fuel for car engine use as it
is distilled from Naphtha. Higher densities exist for heavy gas oil and it creates Kerosene for use in jet
engines and the solvent for greases. The fractional method for distillation involves the mixture of raw oil
components that heats the different boiling points at a high temperature. Heating with high pressure
steam is typically carried out at temperatures of around 600 ℃. The gas-forming components go into
the vapor process. A heavy oil hits the bottom of the trays. To permit steam to flow through the trays,
the distillation column includes multiple plates or bubble caps. They improve the time of interaction
between the vapor and fluids in the column and help to re-boil the liquids. The temperature inside the
column is different. As a material in the vapor reaches the height of its approaching column
temperature, the column can condense into a liquid. Trays are collecting the various liquid fractions. The
gathered liquid fractions can be transferred into condensers that cool further, and then into storage
tanks or other processing areas. Table 1.1.2 shown the list of typical distillation column fractions and
components after the process:

Fractions Component B.P Range (⸰F)

Gases C1-C4
Light Naphtha C5-C6 90-190
Heavy Naphtha C6-C12 190-330
Kerosene C10-C16 330-480
Diesel oils C14-C20 480-610
Lubricants C20-C50 480-610
Fuel oil C20-C70 610-700
Residue ¿C70
Table 1.1.2: Typical distillation tower fractions and components after the process
(energy.fanchi.com,2015).

In the case of the distillation column scale, the procedure for validation and the scale-up of the
distillation column will be operated by using commercial simulation package (ASPEN HYSYS). In a small
preliminary analysis, a simulation is to test the process of a distillation column to separate Petrol and
Kerosene efficiently with the modern technology. During the old days, we are using the lab scale to
study the process of crude oil distillation column. By using the modern technology, validation and scale-
up process is easier with the help of simulation that can design a refinery plant process. The design
simulation is including some of the parameters that important to study the efficiency of the products to
separate. The process characteristic of pressure drop, liquid and separation efficiency were nevertheless
calculated [ CITATION Ach041 \l 1033 ].

The main factor in the investigation of this issue is to introduce the oil and gas business in the
future, by increasing the output of the crude oil commodity and efficiencies to separate the product
from each fraction. Very few components come from the column that is ready for the market. In order
to obtain additional fractions, certain materials must be chemically removed. For example, petrol is just
40% of crude oil refined, gasoline is one of petroleum firms' key products. The oil firms chemically
process many other fractions of the distillation column to produce petrol instead of continuously distilling
vast volumes of crude oil. It will help in fact to solve the problem of a very limited number of products
which efficiently separate the crude in Malaysia oil and gas industry and decrease the cost of production
by designing the refinery plant with simulation package before scale up to industry scale.

1.2 Research Motivation

1.2.1 Problem Statement

Crude oil is an unprocessed fuel from the reservoir. There are many different components that
can be found in the Crude Oil with different boiling points. Hydrocarbons are hydrogen and
carbon-containing molecules that come from straight chains to chains and rings in different
lengths and structures. The processing or refining of crude oil is done in order to produce usable
products like petrol. There are thousands of different molecules of crude oil. The isolation of each
molecule and the production of finished products of each molecule would be almost impossible.
This problem can be addressed by chemists and engineers by isolating the molecular blends
according to the mixture boiling point area.

A fractional distillation column begins the process of oil refining. Crude oil components
vary in size, density, and boiling temperatures, hence separating these components is the first
step. As they have varying boiling temperatures, a method called fractional distillation will quickly
isolate them. The crude oil is refined chemically to convert one fraction into another after
fractional distillate. Finish by treating distilling and refined chemical fractions for the elimination of
impurities.

Crude oil is the hydrocarbon combination with complexity. Crude oil has been identified
from hundreds of various hydrocarbons. The production of oil and gas can be classified as
conventional and unconventional. Figure 1.2 shown the convention and unconventional resource:

Figure 1.2: Resource triangle. (Source: Adapted from Synder and Seale (2011) and Holditch,
2007.)

Innovation viewpoint on these innovations and impetus for their wider use for the propagation
of these instruments, although relatively confined to laboratories. Awareness of many operating
parameters is required to scale the distillation column from the lab to the industrial scale. If the
procedure is to be applied, there should be ample knowledge available to make the design of new
equipment feasible in a manner which ensures that the specifications of the products are met. From this
point, the importance of this literary analysis article is critical to stress, which collects methodologically
scientific histories and basic principles about the drop of liquid distillation into columns which have been
developed over the years to promote potential prospects of innovation and to stimulate the spread of
this technology.

The HYSYS is a flexible engineering modelling framework developed particularly for program
architecture, interface creation, engineering capability and interactive activity. It is designed to provide a
solution for distillate column validation by means of commercial simulation that is ASPEN HYSYS. The
built-in state and dynamic modelling capabilities that represent the big developments that the software
engineering industry will examine from any point of view with a full sharing of process information. In
refineries we are now faced with this dilemma, which can be validated and calculated so that
hydrocarbons can be segregated and improved operating quality, maximized production and processed
at lower cost.

1.2.2 Research Challenges

There are so many obstacles facing us to carry out research on this initiative. First, we are now
struggling with the Coronavirus pandemic, which adds to the need for everyone to isolate themselves at
home as to deter the transmission of the virus. Thus, we need to gain information by using online
sources. For instance, Google, Google Scholar, Petrolwiki, and online library. Some of these sources are
limited because we need to pay for the subscription of the website for more information regarding the
project we need to find. Second, we could not do the pilot scale distillation column in the laboratory
regarding to the self-isolation.

I excel in overcoming hurdles, however, by using the commercial simulation for validation and
calculation for the petroleum and kerosene distillation column. Modelling and simulation is a discipline
for stage development that recognizes the function of the elements of the system. It is a lot of art to
model and to simulate. By reading a bicycle, you will understand. You must train a bike actively if you
ever plan to learn to drive a bike. Tone of the same definition is accompanied by modelling and
simulation. You will learn a great deal by reading the books and talking to the modelers about design
and simulation. Power and talent in model simulation production and implementation was developed
solely through model construction and simulation. I designed the distillation column with AUTOCAD
software for modelling. This helps to provide a clearer view of the industry's distillation column.

1.3 Research Aim

1.3.1 Objectives

Based on the project title, Process Validation and Scale Up Distillation Column contains some
of the objectives to be accomplished during the analysis, which are as follows:

1. To separate mixtures of liquid hydrocarbon using pilot scale or commercial simulation

distillation column.

2. To analyse separability of liquid hydrocarbon by distillation process using commercial

simulation package simulator.

3. To scale up distillation process for separation of liquid hydrocarbon.

Thus, these goals would include some pictures of the project and provide more information on
the fuel chemical distillation column, which details the method of separation of petrol and kerosene.

1.3.2 Scope of Work

This research concentrates on doing a simulation and modelling for the Process Validation and
Scale Up Distillation Column,

In this case, I used a Commercial Simulation Package which is ASPEN HYSYS V11 to
process the Petrol and Kerosene distillation column. The equations used in this simulation are Peng-
Robinson which suitable for Petrol-chemical products. For the modelling in designing the Distillation
Column, I used AUTOCAD 2020 software. In the process of validation and scale up distillation column
via commercial simulation package, the product that includes in this project are Petrol ranges from C5-
C10 and Kerosene ranges from C10-C16.

Petrol and Kerosene in the process via commercial simulation package parameters are included
mass flowrate, temperature, pressure, reflux ration, and distillate rate.

1. Mass Flowrate (kg/h) = 5000 kg/h

2. Temperature (℃) = 170 ℃
3. Pressure (atm) = 1 atm
4. Reflux Ratio = 3
5. Distillate Rate (kg/h) = 900 kg/h (1st Distillation Column)
1200 kg/h (2nd Distillation Column)
6. Table 1.3 shown the fractions and composition % in the simulation.

Fractions Compositions %
C5 0.0500
C6 0.0500
C7 0.0500
C8 0.0500
C9 0.0500
C10 0.2000
C12 0.0500
 C13 0.0500
C14 0.0500
C15 0.1000
C16 0.3000
Table1.3 : List of fractions and its compositions %.

1.4 Thesis Structure

This thesis presents the research of Process Validation and Scale Up of a Distillation Column. The overall
thesis is structured as follow:

Chapter 1 presents introduction of the distillation process by using Petrol and Kerosene as a
product.

Chapter 2 reviews on the literature of distillation column for the industry.

Chapter 3 is the research methodology for this thesis. This chapter describes the timeline of
the project and flow charts.

Chapter 4 provides the results and discussion regarding the distillation process.

Chapter 5 reports the conclusion and findings of the project and its recommendation.