Crude Distillation

Chapter 4

Gasses

Polymer- Sulfur
ization Plant
Sulfur

LPG
Sat Gas
Gas
Plant
Alkyl
Butanes Fuel Gas
Feed
LPG
Alkylation

Gas Polymerization
Separation & Naphtha
Stabilizer Isom-
erization
Isomerate
Light Naphtha Alkylate
Aviation
Gasoline
Automotive
Gasoline
Reformate
Naphtha Solvents
Heavy Naphtha
Hydro-
Naphtha Reforming
treating Naphtha
Atmospheric
Distillation

Jet Fuels
Kerosene
Crude
Desalter Kerosene
Oil
Cat Solvents
Distillate Hydro-
AGO cracking Naptha Distillate
Treating &
Hydro-
Blending
Heating Oils
Gas Oil Fluidized treating
LVGO Hydro- Catallytic Diesel
treating Cracking
Cat
Vacuum
HVGO Distillates
Distillation
Fuel Oil
Cycle Oils
Residual
DAO Fuel Oils

Solvent
Coker SDA
Deasphalting
Naphtha Bottoms Naphtha Asphalts

Visbreaking Distillates
Fuel Oil
Bottoms
Coker Lubricant
Vacuum Residuum Lube Oil
Gas Oil
Solvent Greases
Dewaxing
Waxes
Waxes
Coking
Coke

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 Typical Crude Tower Products
Cut TBP IBP (°F) TBP EP (°F)
Light Naphtha
80 to 90 180 to 220
(LSR Gasoline)

Heavy Naphtha 180 to 220 330 to 380

Distillate
330 to 380 420 to 520
(Kerosene)
AGO
420 to 520 610
(Atm Gas Oil)
LVGO
610 800
(Light Vac Gas Oil)
HVGO
800 950 to 1050
(Heavy Vac Gas Oil)

Vacuum Resid 950 to 1050

Overview
• Crude Stills
» Historically the oldest refining process
» Only the first step in crude oil processing
• Purpose
» To recover light materials
» Fractionate into sharp light fractions

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 History of Crude Distillation
• Oil distillation technology already advanced by 1500s
» Feed preheat, reflux, reboiling, & temperature
regulation were all used
• Idea of Samuel Kier, pharmacist from Tarentum
Pennsylvania — oil sludge from his father’s salt wells
could be therapeutic
» Used distillation to purify his “Rock Oil” cure (1846)
» Simple batch still to improve the color
—Devised by a whiskey distiller
—One-barrel, then a five-barrel iron kettle
—Second stage added to remove H2S
» Initially sold as bottled medicine; soon distilled
illumination purposes (kerosene)

History of Crude Distillation (cont.)

• Coal tar distillation facilities displaced by kerosene as
an illuminant
• Early configuration
» Typically a vertical pot
» Overhead from the pot was condensed in a water box
—Coils submerged in water pumped in & flowed out by
gravity to a cooling pond
» Radical improvement when the still was laid on its side
& made of thinner metal
—Increased heat transfer

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 Typical Configuration
Atmospheric Column w/o Preflash

Configuration
• Feed Preheat Exchanger Train
» Elevated from atmospheric temperature to over 700°F
» Recovery of heat important to distillation economics
• Crude Desalter
• Crude Stabilizer/Preflash Column
• Atmospheric Crude Tower
» Side draws
» Side strippers
» Pumparounds
» Steam stripping for improved cuts
—Reduces partial pressure
• Vacuum Unit
» Reduced pressure to keep temperatures below 650°F

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 Typical Feed Preheat Exchanger Train
• First absorb part of the overhead condensation load
• Exchange with one or more of the liquid sides
streams, beginning with the top (coldest) side stream
• Crude desalting within feed preheat exchanger train
» Point must be carefully selected
» Normally at 250°F to 300°F but is a function of the
gravity of the crude
—Lighter crudes (> 40°API) @ 250°F
—Heavier crudes (< 30°API) @ 300°F
» Care taken not to let the water vaporize
—Balance temperature & pressure
• After desalting, crude is exchanged with hotter
sidestream liquids further down in the tower

Crude Electrostatic Desalting

• All crudes contain salts
» Concentration expressed as pounds sodium chloride per
thousand barrels of crude
» May actually be magnesium chloride, etc.
» Salt present in the emulsified water
—Treated in the field with heat & chemicals to break
oil water emulsions.
• Salt can cause damage to equipment
» Deposits on heat exchangers & drastically reduce heat
transfer
» Hydrogen chloride formation by hydrolysis can lead to
corrosion
» Contains metals that can poison refinery catalysts

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 Crude Electrostatic Desalting

Crude Electrostatic Desalting

• Water washing employed to remove the dissolved
salt & salt crystals plus the dissolved metals & dirt
» Untreated oil mixed with fresh wash water
» Demulsifiers added
» Streams mixed & heated; subjected to additional
mixing, followed by settling
• Oil, salt water, demulsifier, & wash water mixture
separated in an electrostatic settling drum
» Uses a high voltage electric field across the drum to
promote coalescing of water into droplets
» Collect in a water layer at the bottom of the settler

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 Crude Electrostatic Desalting
• Quantity of emulsified water in the crude varies, but
the added wash water can be as much as 10% of the
crude oil charge
» About 90% of the water can be recovered
» If that’s not sufficient, a second stage of desalting can
raise water recovery to 99% Wash water also washes
out sediment
» Fine clay, rust and other solids
» Normal, efficient water washing will remove over half of
these suspended solids
• Wash water now must be treated for benzene
recovery

Crude Furnace (“
(“Pipe Still”
Still”)
• Entrance ~550°F. Outlet 750°F max (thermal cracking
lilmited)
• Fired with oil, refinery fuel gas, or natural gas
• Box or cabin furnace usually with horizontal tubes or
a cylindrical vertical tube furnace
• Heat flux not excessively high (~10,000 BTU/hr-ft²)
» Coking not a problem if desalter operating properly
• Furnace supports the total vapor rate to the
atmospheric tower since it does not have a reboiler
» Additional duty (Overflash)
• Depending on the crude slate, half or more of the
crude is flashed

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 Atmospheric Stabilizer
• Additional drum or column to flash off light gases &
water
• Place after desalter & before crude furnace

Atmospheric Crude Fractionator

• Multiple distillation columns in one unit
» Heat removal in side pumparounds
» Side liquid draws for multiple products
» Steam stripping to clean up the side products
—Steam will reduce the partial pressure of the
hydrocarbons in the vapor phase
• Zones
» Flash zone & Stripping Section
» Wash Section
» Overhead System
» Side streams

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 Atmospheric Crude Fractionator
Flash Zone & Stripping Section
• Flash zone pressure is set as low as possible
» Maximize vaporization
» Minimize flash zone temperature
» Reduce furnace duty
» Optimize compression of tower overhead vapors
• Flash zone pressure
» Overhead condensation pressure plus tower pressure
drop
• Flash zone temperature
» Usually no greater than 740°F
» Function of onset of crude cracking, pressure of the
flash zone, amount of stripping steam, …
» Usually 5 to 10 lb steam per barrel resid
—Excess must be treated as sour water

Atmospheric Crude Fractionator

Wash Section
• 3 to 4 trays above the flash zone & below the bottom
gas oil draw
• Provide reflux to wash resins & materials that may
contaminate the products.
» Reflux is the condensed overflash vapor.
• Either sieve trays or grid used

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 Atmospheric Column Overhead System
• Overhead vapors cooled & partially condensed
» Exchange with cold feed
» Final condensation with air fin or water condensers
• Products from overhead accumulator
» Vapors directed to the fuel system
» Liquid -- straight run gasoline
• Operating pressure
» 0.5 psig to 20 psig depending upon design
» Balancing act
—Low pressures reduce compression on the overhead
system
—High pressures decrease vaporization, but increase
flash zone temperatures and furnace duty, and
affect yields.

Atmospheric Column Side Streams

• Overhead liquid — Straight Run Gasoline
» Part returned to tower as reflux
• Pumparound on liquid draws
» Cooled & returned as subcooled reflux
» Reduces the overhead condenser load & achieves more
uniform tower loadings
—Provides liquid overflow at points below liquid draws
• “Cut point” for each side stream is related to the final
boiling point of the stream being withdrawn
» Liquid has light component “tail” that must be removed
» Side strippers
—Steam strippers tradition
—Reboiled strippers reduce steam usage &
associated sour water

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 Number of Trays & Pressure Profile
• 0.1 to 0.2 psi per tray pressure drops typical
• Typically 32 trays in tower
» 6 trays below the reflux to the naphtha draw
» 6 trays below to the light distillate draw
» 6 trays below to the heavy distillate draw
» 10 trays below to the gas oil draw
» 4 wash zone trays
• 3 to 10 psi pressure drop across overhead condenser
» Static head of liquid in accumulator
• For typical 5 psi accumulator vapor pressure, inlet to
wash zone needs to be 11 to 21 psi.

Vacuum Distillation

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 Vacuum Distillation
• Wring additional gas oil from the bottoms of the
atmospheric crude tower.
• Accomplished by distilling under vacuum so that
cracking of the feed is reduced
• Recovered gas oil typically catalytically cracked or
occasionally hydrocracked.
• Vacuum distillation conventional approach for
processing atmospheric column bottoms because of
efficiency & low cost

Vacuum Distillation Feeds & Products

• Bottoms from the atmospheric crude unit
» Typically 40% - 45% of atmospheric tower charge
» Vacuum unit will recover 50% to 75% of that as gas oil
• Products are gas oils & vacuum resid
» Gas oils usually sent to FCCU for gasoline &
diesel/heating oil
—2 or 3 cuts may be made to increase the heat
recovery in the tower
—Made then combined as feed to FCCU via
hydrotreating
» Bottoms used for heavy fuel oil or further processing by
thermal or solvent processes
—Choice of resid conversion process depends on
products & types of crude

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 Vacuum Unit Furnace & Overflash
• Flash zone of atmospheric unit max 750°F — entrance
to vacuum tower furnace ~675°F. Exits 780 to 800°F
(thermal cracking limited)
• Transfer line to vacuum tower ∆p determines furnace
exit pressure —100 to 200 mmHg
• Heater radiant flux ~8,000 BTU/hr-ft²
• Overflash used to maintain heat balance & generate
internal reflux in the wash section above flash zone
• Wash zone to wash heavy materials containing resins
& asphaltenes with metals from vaporizing & carrying
up the tower to contaminant the gas oil products
» Generally 1% to 3% (volume) of gross vapor from the
flash zone
» May utilize 5% overflash for heavy contamination

Vacuum Distillation Flash Zone

• Hot feed is flashed through system of injection
nozzles
• General operating philosophy
» Pressure low to maximize vaporization, minimize flash
zone temperature, & reduce furnace duty
» Optimize the vacuum system & tower pressure drop, &
obtaining a deep cut without thermal cracking.

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 Vacuum Distillation — Two Cases
• 1050 Vacuum Resid & Dry System
» 1050°F+ cut temperature & no stripping steam
—Diameters of the tower are smaller
—Amount of sour water produced is reduced
—Vacuum systems are smaller
» Flash zone at 20-25 mm Hg (absolute) & 750°F to
770°F. Inlet to the vacuum system at the top of the
tower will be approximately 10 mm Hg (absolute)
• 1100 Vacuum Resid & Wet System
» Deep cut, 1100°F+ cut temperature
—Steam used to increase vaporization & lower
hydrocarbon partial pressure
» Hydrocarbon partial pressure 10-15 mm Hg (absolute);
total pressure 30 mm Hg (absolute)

Steam Ejectors & Vacuum Pumps

• Vacuum maintained on tower overhead
» Steam systems considered more reliable
—Waste steam is sour & must be treated
» Combinations systems — Last steam stage replaced
with a vacuum
• Vacuum system depends on tower operation
» 1050 Vacuum Resid & Dry System
—10 mmHg at inlet to vacuum system
—Tower top ~13 mmHg & flash zone at 20-25 mmHg
a ∆p through tower packing and/or grid ~15 mmHg
—Three-stage vacuum system common
» Deep cut 1100 Vacuum Resid & Wet System
—15 mmHg at the vacuum system inlet
—30 mmHg in flash zone
—Four stage ejector (vacuum pump and/or ejector
combination) & steam

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