Modern crude distillation, modularized

Global interest in modular refinery construction is surging. Small modular refineries are attractive to investors for several important reasons: SPEED: Project time from contract execution to start-up can be as short as 18-24 months. LOGISTICAL ADVANTAGES:Modular refineries can be built in remote locations to realize efficiencies in supply and transportation of raw crude and refined products. LOW INITIAL COST: Small relative size makes initial capital cost more manageable. Modules ...

Myth of the 1000°F vacuum unit cutpoint

Canadian Synbit and Dilbit crudes will come to make-up a substantial fraction of feedstocks to North American refineries. Today, however, for the most part refiners both north and south of the 40° parallel seem to be unaware of the extreme challenges this change will present. To run an oil sands crude in a vacuum unit designed for conventional heavy feedstocks and to expect a 1000°F cutpoint for a 5-6 year run is like believing in the Tooth Fairy. Bitumen based crudes ...

Nasty stuff

Heavy crudes are here to stay. As longs as oil prices remain high, Canadian, Venezuelan, Deep Water Gulf of Mexico, Mexican and other low API gravity crude oils will play an ever more important role in supplying world refineries. And prices promise to remain high because gainsayers notwithstanding, Hubbert was right. A big question is how to handle best these nasty crudes? Do you revamp existing units or invest in new capacity? With refineries now running flat out, the balance ...

Oil sands crude — profits and problems?

Canadian bitumen production currently runs about 1 MMbpd, with some being sold as Synbit and Dilbit. Over the next 10-12 years output is expected to increase to 3.5 MMbpd and more refiners will begin investing to process it and come to depend on the Synbit and Dilbit for a significant part of their supply. Few today, however, have ever processed these feeds at high blend ratios, and are unaware that conventional process and equipment designs are not up to the job. Canadian oil ...

On budget, on time, offline

Flawless project execution will not prevent a unit shutdown due to selecting the wrong metallurgy for a challenging crude slate. No matter how well it is fabricated and installed, a shell and tube exchanger with cold, high viscosity vacuum resid on the tube side will have poor heat transfer performance. On-time shipping and installation of a too-small desalter will not prevent crude column overhead corrosion if the centerline velocity is overly optimistic for the design crude. A ...

Operating a fouled process unit? What is it costing you?

ITW Online Cleaning Technology, applied proactively during a run, restores unit performance to near start of run conditions in as low as 24 hours oil-to-oil without the need for opening equipment. By utilizing ITW’s patented asphaltene stabilization and/or polymer modification technologies, even the most severe fouling problems can be effectively handled. ITW Online Cleaning has an immediate return on investment (ROI). All the benefits are immediately monetized in terms ...

Opportunity knocks

A group of interesting articles* deals with opportunity crudes, a mixed breed that includes very heavy, sour and high total acid number types as well as those with unexceptional naphthenic acid content but which do have significant concentrations of aliphatic acids or possess the ability to generate them during processing. They all sell at substantial discounts that give refiners who can process them the opportunity to reap higher profits. Hence their name. Note that phrase ...

Opportunity or Annoyance?

Price differentials between conventional and opportunity crudes compel refiners to process increasing percentages of lower valued opportunity crude. However, as many refiners have learned the hard way, opportunity crudes are tied to unique processing challenges. Furthermore, existing crude unit configurations may limit high profit opportunity crude to a disappointingly small proportion of the total unit blend. Processing a changing slate of opportunity crudes of varying compositions ...

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 ...

Optimus™

Bulk level and interface measurement. Optimus™ is designed for liquid level, interface and solids monitoring in upstream and downstream vessels. Optimus™ is suitable for bulk level measurement in the most challenging oil, chemical and petrochemical industry applications, including those with the potential for solids deposition and extremes of temperature and pressure. Key features - Advanced signal processing - Interchangeable components for easy on-site maintenance - ...

Processing heavy Canadian crude

Reducing crude oil cost is the major incentive driving crude and vacuum unit projects to handle heavy Canadian crudes. But such crudes–Albian Heavy, Christina Lake, MacKay River and others derived from oil sands–today present refiners with a unique set of problems not just because of extra-low API gravity, but also because of asphaltenes, vanadium and nickel, high solids content and extremely high viscosity vacuum residues. To process such crudes reliably over a 4-5 ...

Profiler™ GPS

Level, interface and multiphase measurement. The Profiler™ GPS provides a ‘window’ into the vessel to enable the operator to improve production throughput, reduce the number of unscheduled shutdowns and achieve significant cost savings. The Profiler™ GPS has no moving parts and is installed in some of the most challenging and diverse applications, ranging from subsea oil and gas processing, to downstream refining. Key features - Extremely reliable with zero moving ...

Profiler™ TGA

The Profiler™ TGA provides extremely reliable liquid level and interface measurements for alkylation units and other harsh service environments. The Profiler™ TGA is specifically designed to measure the vertical distribution of multiple interfaces in real time and at high resolution. Key features - Extremely reliable - Low maintenance Benefits - Reduces possibility of acid runaway - Increases production throughput - Optimises acid recirculation - Provides real-time ...