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Atmospheric & Vacuum Distillation Processes

Petroleum refining operations can be separated into five basic areas: fractionation, conversion processes, treatment processes, formulating and blending, and other refining operations. Fractionation involves separating crude oil into fractions with different boiling points using distillation towers. Conversion processes change the size and structure of hydrocarbon molecules through processes like cracking, alkylation, and reforming. Treatment processes prepare hydrocarbon streams for further processing and finished products through treatments like desulfurization and removal of contaminants. Formulating and blending involves mixing hydrocarbon fractions and additives to produce finished products. Other operations include hydrogen production, acid treatment, and sulfur recovery.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)

194 views

Atmospheric & Vacuum Distillation Processes

Uploaded by

Nikhil Kumar

We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.

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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

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CRUDE

REFINING
OPERATIONS

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

Refining operations
Petroleum refining processes and operations can be
separated into five basic areas:

 Fractionation (distillation)
 Conversion Processes
 Treatment Processes
 Formulating and Blending
 Other Refining Operations

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

2
Refining operations
Fractionation (distillation)

is the separation of crude oil in

atmospheric and vacuum distillation
towers into groups of hydrocarbon
compounds of differing boiling-point
ranges called "fractions" or "cuts."

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

3
Refining operations
Conversion Processes change the size
and/or structure of hydrocarbon molecules.
These processes include:

 Decomposition (dividing) by thermal and

catalytic cracking;
 Unification (combining) through alkylation and
polymerization; and
 Alteration (rearranging) with isomerization and
catalytic reforming.
Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.
4
Refining operations
Treatment Processes
to prepare hydrocarbon streams for additional
processing and to prepare finished products.

Treatment includes removal or separation of aromatics and

naphthenes, impurities and undesirable contaminants.

Treatment may involve chemical or physical separation e.g.

dissolving, absorption, or precipitation using
processes
- including
desalting, drying, hydrodesulfurizing, solvent refining,
sweetening, solvent extraction, and solvent dewaxing.
Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.
5
Refining operations
 Formulating and Blending

is the process of mixing and combining hydrocarbon

fractions, additives, and other components to produce
finished products with specific performance
properties.

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

6
Refining operations
 Other Refining Operations include:

 light-ends recovery;
 sour-water stripping;
 solid waste, process-water and wastewater treatment;
 cooling, storage and handling and product movement;
 hydrogen production;
 acid and tail-gas treatment;
 and sulfur recovery.

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

7
Main Components of Distillation Columns
 A vertical shell where
separation of liquid components
is done.
 Column internals
e.g.trays/plates and/or
packings which are used to
enhance component
separations.
 A reboiler to provide the
necessary vaporization for the
distillation process.
 A condenser to cool and
condense the vapour leaving
the top of the column.
 A reflux drum to hold the
condensed vapour from the top
of the column so that liquid
(reflux) can be recycled back to
the column.

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

8
Trays and plates
Bubble cap trays
A riser is fitted over
each hole, and a cap
covers the riser.
The cap is mounted with
a space to allow vapour
to rise through the
chimney and finally
discharging through
slots in the cap,
bubbling through the
liquid on the tray.

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

9
Trays and plates

Valve trays
Perforations are covered by
caps lifted by vapour, which
creates a flow area and directs
the vapour horizontally into the
liquid.

Sieve trays
Sieve trays are simply metal
plates with holes in them.
Vapour passes straight upward
through the liquid on the
plate.
Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.
10
Liquid and vapour flows in a tray column

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

11
Liquid and vapour flows in a tray column
 Each tray has two conduits
called downcomers: one on
each side. Liquid falls by
gravity through the
downcomers from one tray
to the tray below.

 A weir ensures there is

always some liquid (holdup)
on the tray.

 Vapour flows up the column

and is forced to pass through
the liquid via the openings
on each tray.
Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.
12
Basic operation
 The feed is introduced somewhere
near the middle of the column to a
tray known as the feed tray.
 The feed tray divides the column
into a top (enriching) and a
bottom (stripping) section.
 The feed flows down the column
where it is collected in the
reboiler.
 Heat (usually as steam) is supplied
to the reboiler to generate vapour.
 The vapour from the reboiler is re-
introduced into the unit at the
bottom of the column.
 The liquid removed from the
reboiler is known as the bottoms
product or simply, bottoms.

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

13
Basic operation
 Vapour moves up the column, exits the top, and is
cooled in a condenser. The condensed liquid is
stored in a holding vessel known as the reflux drum.
Some of this liquid is recycled back to the top of the
column and this is called the reflux. The condensed
liquid that is removed from the system is known as
the distillate or top product.

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

14
Crude distillation
 Step 1 in the refining process is the separation of crude oil
into various fractions or straight-run cuts by distillation in
atmospheric and vacuum towers.
 The main fractions or "cuts" obtained have specific boiling-
point ranges and can be classified in order of decreasing
volatility into
 gases,
 light distillates,
 middle distillates,
 gas oils, and
 residuum.

Dr. Nikhil Prakash. SLIET, Longowal.

15
Crude distillation
Atmospheric distillation
 The desalted crude feedstock is preheated using
recovered process heat.
 The feedstock then flows to a direct-fired crude
charge heater then into the vertical distillation
column just above the bottom, at pressures slightly
above atmospheric and at temperatures ranging
from 300-350°C
(above these temperatures undesirable thermal
cracking may occur).