Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
How to
Design
Crude
Distillation
BASIC PRINCIPLES
First let us consider some of the basic steps for separat-
ing crude oil into fractions without regard for the effect
of side strippers or stripping steam. The separation dis-
cussed here will involve a vapor overhead product, five
sidestream products and a residual liquid bottom product.
A small amount of extra vaporization called overflash will
be used to insure the desired vaporization occurs and to
provide some reflux for the bottom section of the tower.
a higher reflux rate will require a lower number of trays. feasible amount of all distillates in the atmospheric col-
umn. Then the size of the vacuum column can be mini-
Product Specifications. The properties of each fraction mized. A side benefit is the maximization of the crude
can be varied as required by sales demands, but only at preheat prior to entering the furnace.
the expense of the adjacent fractions. Generally the pro- For the example discussed here, the identity of the
cess designer must estimate the material balance on the crude oil fractions starting with the lightest are: overhead
basis of the specifications given for the desired products. vapor, light naphtha, heavy naphtha, light distillate, heavy
The basis for most product specifications for a crude distillate, gas oil and reduced crude. Isolation of these
column are derived from the method proposed by Ameri- fractions should be computed on two representative
can Society for Testing Materials (ASTM). This method crudes, one light and one heavy.
reports the temperatures at which certain portions of the The material balance will be based on alternately
material are vaporized. maximizing the production of gasoline (naphthas), light
ASTM End Points. One method for setting product distillate and heavy distillate. Some typical ASTM boiling
specifications ~s to state the maximum allowable end ranges for these alternatives are given in Table 1.
points for the fractions. The heaviest distillate product, Key Temperatures. Intermediate temperatures usually
called atmospheric gas oil, is excluded from this specifi- are specified relative to the product streams. These set the
cation since it is withdrawn from the column to provide gap between the temperature at 5% ASTM for the
adequate fractionation between the other liquid distillates heavier fraction and the temperature at 95% ASTM for
and the reduced crude. the lighter fraction. For preliminary designs, the gaps
If the crude processing facilities contain a vacuum col- shown in Table 2 can be used when specifications
umn, economics favor the production of the maximum are not given.
These specifications must be transformed into ASTM TABLE l-Typlcal Product Spa<lficatlons
end point specification before continuing with a design.
Temp. for Mal<. Product Given, OF
The method for making this extrapolation will depend
on the way in which the specifications are written. One HeayY
method uses probability graph paper. On this type of
Product
Light Naphtha . 250 I Distillate
December 1969 97
HOW TO DESIGN CRUDE DISTILLATION ...
bottoms. For distillate fractions, this will result in a strip- The temperature of the liquid on the top tray is cal-
ping rate of between 6 and 10 volume percent of the gross culated as discussed previously by making a heat balance.
stripper charge. This is shown by Envelope III of Fig. 8. On this tray however, instead of using the bubble point
The trend in recent years has been to specify reboiled temperature, the dew point temperature is adjusted to
strippers wherever thermally possible. This is due to two the partial presure of the condensible hydrocarbons in
factors: Primarily, stripping steam increases the size of the total vapor leaving the top tray. The applicable en-
the crude tower, the size of the condenser, and increases velopes for top tray calculations are Envelopes V and VI
the load on the effluent water treating facilities. Secon- on Fig. 8.
darily, in jet fuel production, it is mandatory that this
finished product be completely water-free.
Care should be exercised in specifying reboiled strip-
pers to insure that an economical heat source is available.
For the reason that a high temperature oil source is sel-
dom plentiful, the light gas oil is usually steam stripped.
Heavy distillate and lighter streams can be reboiled in
most refineries.
For steam strippers, the temperature of the stripped
material leaving the bottom of the stripper is assumed
to be 30° F lower in temperature than the corresponding
draw tray temperature. For reboiled strippers, this tem-
perature is assumed to be 30° F higher than the corre-
sponding draw tray temperature.
36
37
718
737
66.42
67.48
69.87
71.82
27.5
27.4
...
...
......
. .....
88
39
762
777
69.66
71.66
78.78
75.76
26.9
26.3
...
...
......
. .....
40 804 78.76 77.72 25.8 ... ......
41 821 76.87 79.69 25.4 ... .......
42
43
44
837
870
918
77.98
80.27
82.66
81.66
83.78
85.97
25.1
24.2
23.1
...
...
... .. .....
.....
.....
Residuum 99.64 100.44 1U ... ......
• Cut No. lis C. throulb Ca',.
... Cut No.2 II Co·... FIg. 8--Envelopes used for making heat balances.
Compo Vo]•• %
Cl. .•......................... -269 0.01
C2 •.......................... -128 0.Q7
Ca .. -44 0.92
IC . 11 1.44
nC . 31 2.26
lC . 82 1.90
nC . 97 1.80
CP ••........................ 121 0.15
2. SDMB .. 136 1.15
2MP . 141
SMP . 146 0.75
n.Co . 166 1.10
MCP . 161 0.66
CH . 177 0.67
Benz .. 176 0.34
IC .. 194 3.77
nC . 209 0.95
DMP . 211 1.13
MCH . 214 1.88
Tot . 231 1.17
EFV-FRL
Vol.
% TBP DRL FRL TBP-DRL TBP-DRL EFV-FRL EFV
6
1-
62 96
----
203 -34 0.39 -13 tQ,J
10 t« 144 235 0 235
20 256 240 299 ]5 0:86 '5 304
30 344 335 363 9 0.34. 3 S66
40 437 431 427 6 0.34 2 429
50 631 626 491 1\ 1I.34 2 493
60 623 622 US 1 0.34 0 US
70 717 717 619 0 619
80 819 8111 683 6 0:84 '2 686
85 897 861 715 36 0.34 12 727
(sp. gr.)v = (sp. gr.) crude (wt frac) v/ (vol frac) V Therefore, 695 0 F is OK.
(sp. gr.h = (sp. gr.) crude(wt frach/ (vol frach
Fig. 12-The ASTM and EFV data are computed from TBP.
Another Heat Balance. Make a second heat balance Heat in = Heat out
around the bottom of the column which includes the draw Qn + Qsw + QaOT + Qr.s + QV>L8 = Q(~Dl)
tray (Envelope II). + QV,LS + Qsa + Qw .
Qr.s
370,550,000 + 7,240,000 + 116,900(287) + L (394) 9
hL8 @ 590 0 F & 26.6° API = 401 Btu/lb + 20,800(394) = (466,300 - 70,300) (529)
hLs @ 579 0 F & 26.6 0 API = 394 Btu/lb + 208,000(401) + L s (495) + 6,142(1,321)
H Ls @ 590 0 F & 26.6 0 API = 495 Btu/lb + 90,710,000
H(~D.Dl) @ 590 F & 50.0 0 API = 529 Btu/lb
0
La =: 274,800 lbjhr or 903 mol/hr
0
H S8 @ 590 F & 24.15 psia = 1,331 Btu/lb
Check original estimate of column temperature by com-
puting the partial pressure of La using a mole ratio
To establish flow rates, make a hydrocarbon material
balance around the stripper assuming V La is ten percent PXO = 24.1(902/4271)
of L, (Envelope III.) = 5.09 psia
La = ROT+ VL8 + D 1 T o% TBP @ atmospheric is the same as
= 116,900 + 0.1 La + 70,300 595 0 F @ 5.09 psia. Thus, OK.
= 187,200/0.9 = 208,000Ib/hr Stripping Steam. Steam is used at a rate of 10 pounds
Then the heat balance becomes per barrel of total stripper bottoms which is
(OB) (K)
(Lm +](
K@
---
FUit Loat X.b"id. Ds
14.25
p.ia
Compo 10000F La- Ln-
Trial,
5 .0
Trial,
2 .3
Vapor, Va
Mol/ll1 LbjH.r
----,---
Mol/Ilr
(]Iy
1./111
illereD'.)
Gal/Hr Vol. '1l>
0, 197.0 0.18 0.13 1.8 80 o 1-----
0 0 ....
c. ".0 0.49 0.46 6.6 100 .4 20 0 Nil.
0. 11.& 6.40 4.71 67.2 2,~ 17.8 790 187 1.1
~ U 6.42 4.76 67.9 3,930 44.0 2,MO 548 8.3
DC. 3.8 9.76 6.71 96.7 6,840 86.7 6,040 1,030 8.2
lC. U14 U2 UO 41.4 2,080 90.5 6,520 1,254 7.6
DC. 1.10 4.67 2.37 33.8 2,430 92.6 6,670 !,i70 7.7
130"11 6.603 2.06 0.93 18.3 1.140 65.2 6,610 1,278 7.7
180'11 0.887 2.80 1.14 16.3 1,480 143.0 12,730 2.159 13.0
180'11 0.182 1.44 0.56 7.8 740 127.3 12.100 2.208 13.7
216"F 0.10ll 1.00 0.39 6.6 650 151.6 Is.o10 2,320 14.0
243"11 0.068 Q.l5O 0.18 2.6 280 128.5 18,250 2,369 lU
'D'M! 0.026 0.21 0.07 1.0 110 118.5 18.400 1,909 11.6
ToW 40.24 26.30 881.0 22,800 1,066.0 93.700 16.502 100.0
Lo... OX:
Prusure, Eat.
Temp.• OF Millimeters ab•. D...."
Stream Te~••
UllItdppecl O%EFV 100% EF'V p PRO
Lt. Nallh. ......... 56 204 1.044 916
860
216
i:t'?'Dl:tie~:::::::: 308 361 1.096 316
436 816 1.168 670 400
Hvy. Dl.tU, ....... 685 634 1.205 840 525
Atm. Gas Oil...... 686 731 1,251 2W 590
1:11- 13--Column temperature and pressure profile.
Stream
ASTM TBP
EP,oF ~VoJ. %
I BbJ/D "API Lb/llr
Gas.V•.......... 22.0 2.U20 22,300
Lt. N~b., D•..... Zii 273 9,~SO 7i 93.700
75,400
6,490 46
r~))lstu.'~?~: : :
377 379 11.8
650 558 19.2 10,5flO 34 131,600
Hvy. Distil. D•... 6a9 654 10.4 5.720 30 73,000
Atm. Ga. Oil, D•.. 724 750 9.8 5.390 26.6 70,aoo
... -...-
Total Stream., 1:D
Reduced Crude. , .. ." ... I 73.2
26,8 I
I
40,260
14,740
I 46.5
la.6
1'466,300
200.500
Crude Cbatle ..... .. , - ...-!loo.O 55,000
I 36.3
I 675,800
SUMMARY OF CALCULATIONS
Each of the draw trays are computed in a manner
similar to the first draw tray. Note ho\\"e\'er that the re-
boiled strippers are assumed to have temperatures 30 0 F
R e• +D = 116,900 + 70,300
1 higher than their associated draw trays, instead of 30 0 F
=
137,200 lb/hr @ 26.6 0 API lower as in the steam stripper. A summary of the final
or 598 Bbl/hr product is given in Table 10.
S1 =
10(598) = 59801b/hr
or 332 mol/hr NOMENCLATURE
QSl = 5980( 1179) = 7,050,000 Btu/hr D distillate rate
DRL distillation reference line
Then the stripper bottoms cooler duty is EFV equilibrium flash evaporization
F feed rate
QOl = 187,200(381-275) H
h
vapor enthalpy
liquid enthalpy
= 19,840,000 Btu/hr K vapor·liquid equilibrium constant
L liquid rate
Product heat content is MW molecular weight
MeABP mean avera~e boiling point
Qnl = 70,300(275) NBP normal boiling point
OH overhead rate
= 19,330,000 Btu/hr P total pressure
partial pressure
Tray 7 Conditions. The induced reflux is &
R
heat content
reflux rate
S steam rate
R tf '= Ref [ (h8'23°1i'- h,oo°li') / SpGr specific gravity
(H838o F - hG230p) h6.00 API T temperature
= 116,900(428 - 275) /(536 - 428) TBP true boiling point
V vapor rate
= 165,600 lb/hr VABP volumetric average boiling point
W residual rate
Operating conditions are Subscripts
c cooled
T7 = 623 0
F and P7 = 24.15 psia FO
FZ
furnace outlet
flash zone
HC hydrocarbon portion
i internal
OF overflash
About the author
R. N. WATKINS joined Creole Peflro- LITERATURE CITED
leum Corp., Amuay, Venezuela, after 1 PaclI;i';t J. w.~ "Diltillation Equipmcnt in the Oil Relining Industry," 1'ra.,.
p"eparing this article. He has wewked AlCM. 'Vol. ,7. l!*l'. p. 5lo.
• Ne1Ion. W. L,. "Petroleum Refinery Engineering," <lth Ed., McGraw·HiII,
as a process engineer few Monsanto Co., 1958.
Celanese Chemical Co., Fluo'1' CO'fp. • Hengstebeck R. J., "Petroleum Procesung," McGraw·Hill, 1959.
• Prater, N, H. and BoYd. C. W,. "How to Calculate Multidraw Towers,"
Ltd. and Bechtel Corp. He holds B.S. Oil anil Gas Jo~",al May 2, 1955. p. 72.
degrees in chemistry and chemical en- • Edmister. w:C.• "Applied Hydrocarbon Tbermodynantk.," Gul£ Publish.
jnJf Co:. 19H.
gineering f'1'om University of Kentucky • Maxwell. J. ll" "Data llook on Hydrocarbons," D. van Nuotrand Co.• 1965,
and is a '1'egistered p'1'ofessional engi. , American "'petrOleum Institute, '\Technical Data Book-Petrolcum Re6mng,"
1966.
neer. Mr. Watkins specializes in the
process design of petroleum and petro- lndex!.o.J Terms: Boiling Poinu-6,7. Columns/Process/·910, Crudes· I , De.
chemical plants with pa'1'ticula'1' emphasis on distillation. sjgn-4,8, Distillation.4.8,9, Equations·IO. Heat·6. Oils-I,2. Pbysical Prop_erties.
6,7. Properties/Charactemtic:s/.6,7, Proportioning.7, Sepa,·ation-4,8,9, Vapori.
zabon-7,