Optimise crude processing with the Profiler™
The Challenge: Refiners aim to optimise feedstock blends to improve margins, but variability can bring significant operational challenges during the process. One critical need is the efficient removal of solids, salts and water from crude feedstock. It is essential that washing of the crude is effective at removing high levels of these, and the oilcan be efficiently separated prior to crude distillation. Efficient separation needs accurate and reliable interface control to manage its position and quality.
The Solution: The Tracerco Profiler™ has been successfully used for desalter interface control. The device gives an accurate measurement of the density distribution within a desalter, offering continuous high-resolution imaging and control of each phase. This monitors the effectiveness of chemical additives and mud washing and allows the most efficient operating conditions to be maintained.
With accurate and reliable real-time process measurements, the ProfilerTM provides operators with interface confidence. When the interface is controlled correctly, the desalter can be operated at the ideal level to maximise performance, which enhances separation of crude from water. By optimising separation, mixing can be increased to maximise wash water contact, thus removing more undesirable materials. This allows improved feedstock flexibility. By providing a high-resolution measurement around the emulsion layer, the tendency to overdose chemicals is reduced. This enables refiners to reduce chemical dosing costs, enhance safety and benefit from reduced environmental impact.
By providing a continuous high-resolution measurement throughout the level range, interfaces such as emulsion can be monitored and controlled, reducing the tendency to overdose chemicals. This enables operators to reduce costs, enhance safety and benefit from improved environmental compliance by reducing grid energy demand and consumption. The likelihood of process trips is also reduced and while this is important for reliable production, it also has the potential to reduce associated Green House Gases (GHG) and emissions from flaring.
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FCC stripper - distribution studies
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Exchanger leak testing - chemical tracers
Tracerco has been at the forefront of the development of online leak detection for the last 40 years. The method allows the detection of leaks as small as 0.5%. However, customer demands to measure smaller leaks affecting product quality, has prompted extensive research to develop alternative online ...
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Providing real time measurement technologies to assist with critical decision making. Tracerco Scanning Services TRU-SCAN® Application. Do you have problems with the operation of your stripper/absorber or fractionation tower? Is this limiting production? Do you want to reduce your operating costs? ...
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Tracerco Diagnostics™ FCCU Study
The Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU) is the economic heart of a modern refinery. Even small increases in its yield can bring about significant overall gains in productivity and revenue. Tracerco is a world leading industrial technology company providing unique and specialized detection, diagnostic ...
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Measurement instruments and servicing
Our Measurement Instruments business designs and manufactures a range of bespoke, low maintenance, high reliability instruments providing operators with real time measurements and in-situ visualisation. Our experienced team technically supports an extensive range of nucleonic measurement instruments ...
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Making desalter vessels transparent to optimise crude processing
Making Desalter Vessels Transparent to Optimise Crude Processing... whatever the blend. To improve margins, refiners continuously look to optimise feedstock blends. Variability can bring significant operational challenges during the refining process that must be overcome. One critical need is the efficient ...
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Moving gamma scanning forward — quantitative analysis of tray capacity
Improving process operating margins can include maximising production of higher value products and/or minimising production costs. Process plants depend heavily on fractionation towers to produce products meeting customer specifications. Tower gamma scanning is well established in the process industries ...
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PackView™ - quantitative analysis of packing mal-distribution
The last issue of Tracerco Insight (Vol 6 Ed 1) featured our patent pending FrothView™ technology illustrating how using Tracerco’s new measurement detector technology and analysis of gamma scan data provides quantitative information about the useful capacity of trayed towers. In this article ...
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In FCC Units (Fluidised Catalyst Cracking Units) the atmospheric residue from the distillation is cracked to LPG, naptha and other components. This sometimes leads to “invisible” deposits inside the Riser. This article features Tracerco’s ThruVision™ scans to illustrate how the ...
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A Windows based application offering dynamic displays, diagnostics, trending, control and historical logging. The Profiler™HMI, is a ready-made graphical user interface that provides clear insight into your separation process while enabling efficient operation and control of the Profiler™GPS ...