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  • A single integrated vacuum system

    Failure to design the vacuum unit as an integrated system will invariably result in unsatisfactory yield and poor product quality (high vanadium, nickel, microcarbon, or asphaltenes), and ultimately, an unscheduled shutdown. To avoid these revamp problems the charge pump, fired heater, transfer line, column internals and ejector system must all be evaluated and designed as a unified whole so that critical variables – heater outlet temperature, coil steam injection rate, ...

  • A time for grass roots thinking ?

    Within the past year or two spiking crude prices and surging refinery margins have led to overheated talk about increasing refinery capacity worldwide. Plans for construction of as many 60 grass roots refineries have been discussed. But stretched out lead times for major equipment and inflated prices, as well as declining margins and a final realization that there is not enough crude to meet demand, have brought sober thinking to the table. Recent societal changes in India and ...

  • About Axens

    Axens is a group providing a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates as well as all of natural gas' treatment and conversion options. The offer includes technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts, adsorbents and related services. Axens is ideally positioned to cover the entire value chain, from feasibility study to unit start-up and follow-up throughout ...

  • All about excellence in the energy and chemical industry

    KBC exists to help you achieve and sustain excellent operational performance, through the actions of our people, fused with the application of our digitalization technology and best practices, powered by the Cloud.Better decisions - faster, Flawless execution - every time and  Superior results - sustained. Deliver value: Performance assurance Organizations that perform at their best are able to adjust to changing dynamics without compromising competitiveness. KBC ...

  • Avoid fired heater coking

    For many refiners, heater coking in Crude and Vacuum Distillation Units (CDU/VDUs) is a common occurrence. Many units around the world are shut down every two years, every year, or even every six months to deal with chronic heater coking. However, with the right design features driven by a solid understanding of heater coking mechanisms, fired heater run length can be extended beyond five years, even with relatively challenging crudes. The two primary drivers of heater tube ...

  • Axens overview

    Axens is a group providing a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates as well as all of natural gas' treatment and conversion options. The offer includes technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts, adsorbents and related services. Axens is ideally positioned to cover the entire value chain, from feasibility study to unit start-up and follow-up ...

  • Condensate is crude

    Ultra-light crudes and condensates are here to stay. These streams have flooded the market in recent years, and many of them are deeply discounted against reference crudes. Refiners have been processing increasing percentages of this light material through their Crude Distillation Units (CDUs) up against unit naphtha handling limits. On the surface, processing condensate and other ultra-light crudes with high API gravity and low sulfur should be easy. In reality, many refiners ...

  • Designing deepcut vacuum units that really work

    Every barrel of vacuum gas oil (VGO) you can save from being reduced to coke in the delayed coker unit is a barrel more that can go to the FCCU. That’s a good reason to raise HVGO cutpoint. But how to do it? Some people think the job can be done just by running computer models in the engineering office, relying on vendors and their data sheets for a clue to true equipment performance. Experience, however, shows it just ain't so. For either a grass roots project or a revamp, ...

  • Equipment design matters

    Many attractive projects fail to meet expectations at startup. Disappointing performance often results from bad simulation practices and/or poor equipment design rather than faulty execution. Refineries are currently considering FCC revamps to increase olefins for more alky unit feed, maximize LCO product recovery, and minimize slurry product by producing HCO for hydrocracker feed. These changes raise fractionator operating temperature. Higher temperatures require better process ...

  • Interface measurement in desalters

    Interface measurements in desalters are often regarded as not being very critical, even though every drop of oil, to be refined, passes through the desalter. As refineries try to maximize their margins, so-called opportunity crudes are often used. These crude oils generally contain increased levels of sulphur, oil sands, bitumen, heavy oils and oils with high TAN. This can lead to problems with the proper operation of the desalter. In addition, refineries are increasingly confronted ...

  • Is pinch enough?

    Back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when fuel gas prices were high, energy utilization assumed major importance. A new method of calculating heat exchanger networks was developed. It was called Pinch Technology. Today pinch has been rediscovered by engineers who have access to fast computer simulation models. But as occurs with any older method that is rediscovered by a newer generation, enthusiasm generated by the rediscovery tends to obscure the deficiencies ...

  • ITW Online Cleaning

    Will revolutionize turnaround operations and operational excellence by optimizing: productivity, operability, safety health and environment, reliability, product quality, energy efficiency, CO2 SOX NOX VOC emissions, maintenance and repair and operational requirements. An entire Unit can be ITW Online Cleaned in as low as 24 hours on an oil-to-oil basis, including all the equipment and not only the relevant one, without the need of opening it. ITW Online Cleaning a Unit in ...

  • Maximize reliability in grassroots crude units

    Crude unit operators are far too familiar with a long list of crude unit reliability problems including fouling in heat exchangers and fired heaters, poor desalting, corrosion of piping and equipment, and coking in the vacuum column wash zone. Many millions of dollars have been spent fighting these problems, yet they continue to force unplanned shutdowns with depressing regularity. Revamps must address reliability issues, but project scope is hindered by the limitations of existing ...

  • 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 ...

  • PURASPEC CLEAR Chloride guards

    Chlorides in a refinery. Where does it come from? Chlorides are introduced into the refinery flowsheet in several ways. Some crude sources can bring both inorganic and organic chloride content. Desalter processes and chemical additives are used to remove chlorides and prevent corrosion and fouling caused by these chlorides. The other major source is from the Catalytic Reforming Unit (CRU). This unit upgrades straight run naphtha value for use in the gasoline pool or as petrochemical ...

  • RVP in process: ensure safety, comply with specifications, optimize profits

    Pipeline operators, offshore platforms, terminals, fuel depots or oil tankers detect the vapor pressure, before transporting crude oil or other petrochemical products such as Gasoline or LPG for subsequent processing. It is absolutely necessary to know the vapor pressure of the transported substance to prevent costly damage done to the transportation or storage system.   Apart from the costs a failure might cause, environmental regulations limit maximum vapor pressure ...

  • Vapor pressure testing for petroleum, LPG, crude oil and Chemicals

    Vapor pressure is an important physical property of volatile liquids especially of spark-ignition engine fuels. It provides an indication of how a fuel will perform under different operating conditions. For example, vapor pressure is a factor in determining, whether a fuel will cause vapor locks at high ambient temperature or at high altitude, or will provide easy starting at low ambient temperatures. Petroleum product specifications are regulated by various governmental agencies. ...

  • VFF Products

    VFF supplies a wealth of column-related products and consultation services for the most diverse applications e.g.: - Absorption - Desorption - Distillation - Extraction - Drying - Cooling - Humidification - Water treatment - Droplet separation (demisters) - Desalination - Heterogeneous catalyst reactors - and much more

  • Why do many crude/vacuum units perform poorly?

    In many cases it’s because the original design was based more on virtual than actual reality. There is no question: computer simulations have a key role to play but it’s equally true that process design needs to be based on what works in the field and not on the ideals of the process simulator. Nor should the designer simply base the equipment selection on vendor-stated performance. The design engineer needs to have actual refinery process engineering experience, not ...

  • Why produce diesel from the vacuum unit?

    Look ahead five years. The economy is likely to keep tightening and the rush to control pollution will inevitably be accompanied by demands for greater energy conservation. Consequence? A growing market for diesel which yields more energy per unit volume. Yet many continue to believe that producing diesel from the vacuum unit is poor design—that it should be produced only from the atmospheric column. Hence many refiners feed 20-30% diesel boiling range material to their ...

  • XRG Technologies, Services and Solutions

    XRG Technologies is an innovative engineering and procurement firm focused on fired and unfired heat transfer equipment for the refining, petrochemical, and power markets. We collaborate with our partners to solve complex problems and manage projects from concept to completion. We have brought together a team of fired heater, burner, boiler, flare, and thermal oxidizer experts to create one centralized, go-to engineering firm for all your process equipment needs.

  • A new perspective on improving process and operational efficiencies

    Presented with ageing equipment and ever-increasing environmental restrictions, process engineers are challenged with maximizing efficiency and mitigating problems. Without the necessary information, facing this challenge can be difficult or impossible. Tracerco provides you with the insights you need to help troubleshoot production problems and optimise processes. With the widest range of scanning and tracer diagnostic services on the market, Tracerco helps the refining and ...

  • CDU desalter processing with interface control

    In this webinar, you will find out how Tracerco’s advanced multi-phase nucleonic instrumentation can analyse desalter performance and improve crude blending capacity. Discover opportunities to: - Improve environmental impact, compliance and energy usage - Reduce unplanned trips and downtime - Optimise chemical dosing (demulsifiers/neutralisers) - Reduce overhead corrosion, as well as catalyst deactivation in FCC - Improve process control enabling data driven insights With ...

  • Simplify crude assay importing in UniSim design by utilizing H/CAMS

    Haverly H/CAMS is the industry leading assay crude management software with over 2000 assays. Honeywell's UniSim Design software links to Haverly H/CAMS via a COM interface and allows you to import proprietary assays with just a few clicks. This functionality increases engineering effectiveness, eliminates the need for manual data entry, and makes it easier to model crude storage facilities and refining processes. Presenters: Jagdish Rachh - Honeywell David Alexander - Haverly Moderator: Ken ...