VOCATIONAL TRAINING REPORT

INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LTD.

MATHURA REFINERY

Submitted By:

ANKIT DEVAL
Sant longowal institute of Engg & technology
Logowal (Distt-Sangrur), PUNJAB

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 Indian Oil Corporation Ltd
Mathura Refinery-281005
U.P, India

I, ANKIT DEVAL student of Sant Longowal Institute of Engg. &Technology,

Longowal (Distt-Sangrur), PUNJAB Chemical Engineering (B.E.), REG no:
GCT/1630125, have done training in IOCL Mathura refinery from 15/06/2018 to
30/07/2018 under the guidance of Mr. R.k.Pandey(CPNM) (production
department) in following process areas:
1) Overview of refinery.
2) HGU & OHCU in detail

PROJECT-1: CALCULATION OF FUEL REQUIREMENT

PROJECT-2: FURNACE EFFICENCY

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is great that Indian Oil Corporation Limited provides training to

a large number of students like us for practical assimilation of
knowledge pertaining to our respective disciplines.

After the completion of the training program, I found it to be of

immense help, not only in supplementing the theoretical knowledge,
but also by gaining highly practical knowledge regarding the actual
work carried out in a Refinery Plant.

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. R. K. Pandey (CPNM)

who helped me in any way to complete my project work.

I am also very grateful to Mr. Himanshu Sir (Section In-charge ,

DHDS) who patiently explained the working of the plant and
provided the needed conceptual understanding for the project. The
series of discussions with him has increased my practical knowledge
about the plant and the industry.

I am heartily thankful to all unit heads and all technical & Non-
technical staff of MATHURA REFINERY for their great efforts to
enhance my practical knowledge.

Thank you once again.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.NO PROCESS UNIT

1 INDIAN OIL REFINERY OVERVIEW
2 MATHURA REFINERY OVERVIEW
3 REFINERY PROCESS
4 PROCESS UNIT DESCRIPTION
4.1 AVU (ATMOSPHERIC VACUUM UNIT)
4.2 FCCU(FLUIDISED CATALYTIC CRACKING UNIT)
4.3 VBU(VISBREAKER UNIT)
4.4 CCRU(CONTINUOUS CATALYTIC REFORMING UNIT)
4.5 DHDT( DIESEL HYDROTREATING UNIT)
4.6 SRU(SULFUR RECOVERY UNIT)
4.7 HGU 1 (Hydrogen Generation Unit 1)
4.8 HGU 2 (Hydrogen Generation Unit 2)
4.8.1 PSA (Process Swing Adsorption )
5) PROJECT -1
Furnace Efficiency
6) PROJECT 2
Calculation of Fuel Requirement

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INDIAN OIL REFINERY: - AN OVERVIEW

Introduction

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. is India's largest company by sales with a turnover of
Rs.271,074 crore and profit of Rs. 10,221 crore for the year 2009-10.
Indian Oil is the highest ranked Indian company in the latest Fortune ‘Global 500’
listings, ranked at the 98th position (2011). Indian Oil's vision is driven by a group
of dynamic leaders who have made it a name to reckon with Indian Oil Company
Limited, a wholly owned Government company was incorporated on 30 June, 1959
to undertake marketing functions of petroleum products. Later, Indian Oil
Corporation Limited (IOC) was set up on 1st September, 1964 by amalgamating
the Indian Refineries Limited (started in August, 1958) with the Indian Oil
Company Ltd., for better coordination between refineries and marketing. Indian
Oil Corporation Limited or IOCL is India’s largest commercial enterprise and the
only Indian company to be among the world’s top 200 corporations according to
Fortune magazine. It is also among the 20 largest petroleum companies in the
world. The Indian Oil Group of companies owns and operates 10 of India's 20
refineries with a combined refining capacity of 65.7 million metric tonnes per
annum (MMTPA, .i.e. 1.30 million barrels per day approx.). Indian Oil's cross-
country network of crude oil and product pipelines spans 10,899 km with a
capacity of 75.26 MMTPA of crude oil and petroleum products and 10 MMSCMD
of gas. This network is the largest in the country and meets the vital energy needs
of the consumers in an efficient, economical and environment-friendly manner.

Indian Oil Corporation has four divisions:

 Marketing Division with Headquarters at Bombay;

 Refineries and Pipelines Division with Headquarters at New Delhi;
 Assam Oil Division with Headquarters at Digboi; and

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  Research and Development Centre at Faridabad.

The Assam Oil Division was established on 14th October, 1981 on taking over the
refining and marketing operations of Assam Oil Company Limited.

The Company wholly owns a subsidiary Company viz. Indian Oil Blending
Limited, which is engaged in the manufacture of lubricants and greases. The
products of the subsidiary Company are also marketed by the Company. IndianOil
and its subsidiary (CPCL) account for over 48% petroleum products market share,
34.8% national refining capacity and 71% downstream sector pipelines capacity in
India.

It has a portfolio of powerful and a much-loved energy brand that includes Indane
LPGas, SERVO lubricants, XtraPremium petrol, XtraMile diesel, PROPEL,
petrochemicals, etc. Validating the trust of 56.8 million households, Indane has
earned the coveted status of 'Superbrand' in the year 2009 and now has a customer
base of 61.8 million. IndianOil has a keen customer focus and a formidable
network of customer touch-points dotting the landscape across urban and rural
India. It has 20,421 petrol and diesel stations, including 3517 Kisan Seva Kendras
(KSKs) in the rural markets. With a countrywide network of 36,900 sales points,
backed for supplies by 140 bulk storage terminals and depots, 3,960 SKO/LDO
dealers (60% of the industry), 96 aviation fuel stations and 89 LPGas bottling
plants, Indian Oil services every nook and corner of the country. Indane is present
in almost 2764 markets through a network of 5456 distributors (51.8% of the
industry). About 7780 bulk consumer pumps are also in operation for the
convenience of large consumers, ensuring products and inventory at their doorstep.
Indian Oil's ISO-9002 certified Aviation Service commands an enviable 63%
market share in aviation fuel business, successfully servicing the demands of
domestic and international flag carriers, private airlines and the Indian Defense

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Services. The Corporation also enjoys a 65% share of the bulk consumer,
industrial, agricultural and marine sectors.

With a steady aim of maintaining its position as a market leader and providing the
best quality products and services, Indian Oil is currently investing Rs. 47,000
crore in a host of projects for augmentation of refining and pipelines capacities,
expansion of marketing infrastructure and product quality up gradation.

Objectives

The objectives of the Company as approved (June, 1984) by Government are as

follows:

 To serve the national interests in the oil and related sectors in accordance
and consistent with Government policies.
 To ensure and maintain continuous and smooth supplies of petroleum
products by way of crude refining, transportation and marketing activities
and to provide appropriate assistance to the consumer to conserve and use
petroleum products most efficiently.
 To earn a reasonable rate of return on investment.
 To work towards the achievement of self-sufficiency in the field of oil
refining, by setting up adequate domestic capacity and to build up expertise
for pipe laying for crude/petroleum products.

 To create a strong research and development base in the field of oil refining
and stimulate the development of new petroleum products formulations
with a view to eliminate their imports, if any .

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Products Services I.O.C Refineries:

 Auto LPG  Refining  Digboi Refinery,

 Aviation Turbine  Pipelines  Guwahati
Fuel (ATF  Marketing Refinery,
 Bitumen  Training  Barauni Refinery
 High Speed Fuel  Research  Gujarat Refinery
 Industrial Fuels  Haldia Refinery
& Development
 Liquefied  Mathura Refinery
Petroleum Gas  Panipat Refinery
 Lubricants and  Bongaigon
Greases Refinery
 Marine Fuels  Paradeep refinery
 MS/Gasoline

Petrochemicals

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MATHURA REFINERY

The Mathura Refinery, owned by I.O.C.L is situated in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. It

is the sixth refinery of Indian Oil was commissioned in 1982 with a capacity of 8.0
MMTPA to meet the demand of petroleum products in north western region of the
country, which includes National Capital Region. Refinery is located along the
Delhi-Agra National Highway about 154 KM away from Delhi. The refinery
processes low sulfur crude from Bombay High, imported low sulfur crude from
Nigeria, and high sulfur crude from the Middle East.

The refinery, which cost Rs.253.92 crores to build, was commissioned in January;
1982.Construction began on the refinery in October 1972. The foundation stone

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was laid by Indira Gandhi, the former prime minister of India. The FCCU and
Sulfur Recovery Units were commissioned in January, 1983. The refining capacity
of this refinery was expanded to 7.5 MMTPA in 1989 by debottlenecking and
revamping. The present refining capacity of this refinery is 8.00 MMTPA.

The major secondary processing units provided were Fluidised Catalytic Cracking
Unit (FCCU), Vis-breaker Unit (VBU) and Bitumen Blowing Unit (BBU). The
original technology for these units was sourced from erstwhile USSR, UOP etc.
Soaker drum technology of EIL was implemented in VBU in the year 1993. For
production of unleaded Gasoline, Continuous Catalytic Reforming Unit (CCRU)
was commissioned in 1998 with technology from Axens, France. A Diesel Hydro
Desulfurisation Unit (DHDS) licensed from Axens, France was commissioned in
1999 for production of HSD with low Sulfur content of 0.25% wt. (max). With the
commissioning of once through Hydrocracker Unit (licensed from Chevron, USA)
in July 2000, capacity of Mathura Refinery was increased to 8.0 MMTPA.

Diesel Hydro-treating unit (DHDT) & MS Quality Up-gradation Unit (MSQU)

were installed with world class technology from Axens and UOP respectively in
2005 for production of Euro-III grade HSD & MS w.e.f. 1st April 2005 as per
Auto Fuel Policy of Govt. of India. Project for FCC Gasoline Desulfurization
(FCCGDS) and Selective Hydrogenation Unit (SHU), the Prime-G technology of
Axens, France was commissioned in February 2010 and supply of Euro-IV grade
MS and HSD started on continuous basis from February 2010.
Mathura Refinery is having its own captive power plant, which was augmented
with the commissioning of three Gas Turbines (GT) and Heat Recovery Steam
Generator (HRSG) in phases from 1997 to 2005 using Natural Gas (NG) as fuel to
taken are of environment.
For upgrading environmental standards, old Sulfur Recovery Units (SRU) was
replaced with new Sulfur Recovery Units with 99.9 % recovery in the year 1999.

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Additional Sulfur Recovery Unit is under implementation as a hot standby.
Mathura Refinery had also set up four nos. of continuous Ambient Air Monitoring
Stations far beyond the working area before commissioning of the Refinery in
1982 as a mark of its concern towards the environment and archaeological sites. Its
close proximity to the magnificent wonder Taj Mahal adds extra responsibility
towards maintaining a cleaner environment.

Mathura Refinery has planted 1,67,000 trees in surrounding areas including

refinery & township and 1,15,000 trees in Agra region around Taj Mahal. The
Ecological Park which is spread across 4.45 acres is a thriving green oasis in the
heart of sprawling Refinery.
At Mathura Refinery, technology & ecology go hand in hand with continuous
endeavour for Product Quality up-gradation, Energy Conservation and
Environment Protection. Mathura Refinery is the first in Asia and third in the
world to receive the coveted ISO-14001 certification for Environment
Management System in 1996. It is also the first in the World to get OHSMS
certification for Safety Management in 1998.

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 MAJOR UNITS IN MATHURA REFINERY

UNIT PRESENT FEED SPECIAL FEATURES

CAPACITY(T
MTPA)  Fuels refinery & propylene
CDU 8000 Bombay high  Product pipeline
imported- high sulfur o MJPL:3.7 MMTPA
and low sulfur crude o Mathura tundia:1.2
FCCU 1350 Vacuum gas oil ex- MMTPA
IMP. LS & OHCU o MBPL: 1MMTPA
bottom  Bit. Drum filling: by Mktg
OHCU 1200 VGO ex.IMP. HS  LPG bottling: by Mktg.
CCRU 466 Naphtha  Crude Recipient thru SMPL
VBU 1000 Vacuum residue(VR)  Captive Power Plant
DHDS 1100 Straight run gas oil,  Mode of product despatch –
total cycle oil tank truck, tank wagon and
DHDT 1800 Straight run gas oil pipeline
and total cycle oil
Biturox 750 Vacuum residue
PENEX(MS Naphtha, FCC
Quality Up 440 Gasoline heart cut
gradation)
PRIME G+ FCC Gasoline splitter
(FCC Gasoline 525 bottom
desulfurisation)

PRODUCTS:
Finished products from this refinery cover both fuel oil products as well as lube oil
base stocks.

1. Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)

2. Fuel Oil Products:
 Motor Spirit (MS)
 Mineral Turpentine Oil (MTO)
 Superior Kerosene (SK)
 Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF)
 Russian Turbine Fuel (RTF)
 High Speed Diesel (HSD)
 Jute Batching Oil (JBO)
 Furnace Oil (FO)
 Naphtha
 Gasoline
3. Lube Oil Products:
 Inter Neutral, Heavy Neutral & Bright Neutral HVI
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4. Other Products:

 Slack Wax
 Carbon Black Feed Stock
 Bitumen
 Sulfur

REFINERY PROCESS

The refining process depends on the chemical processes of distillation (separating

liquids by their different boiling points) and catalysis (which speeds up reaction
rates), and uses the principles of chemical equilibria. Chemical equilibrium exists
when the reactants in a reaction are producing products, but those products are
being recombined again into reactants. By altering the reaction conditions the
amount of either products or reactants can be increased.
Refining is carried out in three main steps.

Step 1 - Separation
The oil is separated into its constituents by distillation, and some of these
components (such as the refinery gas) are further separated with chemical reactions
and by using solvents which dissolve one component of a mixture significantly
better than another.

Step 2 - Conversion
The various hydrocarbons produced are then chemically altered to make them
more suitable for their intended purpose. For example, naphthas are "reformed"
from paraffin sand naphthenes into aromatics. These reactions often use catalysis,
and so sulfur is removed from the hydrocarbons before they are reacted, as it
would 'poison' the catalysts used. The chemical equilibria are also manipulated to
ensure a maximum yield of the desired product.

Step3 - Purification
The hydrogen sulfide gas which was extracted from the refinery gas in Step 1 is
converted to sulfur, which is sold in liquid form to fertiliser manufacturers.

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 PROCESS

UNIT

DESCRIPTION

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 ATMOSPHERIC AND VACUUM DISTILLATION
UNIT

THE UNIT CONSISTS OF FOUR SECTIONS:

Section 1: Crude Oil Desalting

Section 2: Prefractionator column and Stabilisation of Naphtha.

Section 3: Atmospheric Distillation of Crude oil.

Section 4: Vacuum Distillation of Reduced Crude oil.

1.1. STREAM DAYS: 345 days per year.

1.2. TYPES OF CRUDE:

Low Sulfur Indian : Bombay high.

Nigerian: Girasol, Escravos, Farcados, Bonny light

High Sulfur Imported: Arab Mix, Kuwait, Dubai, Ratawi, Basra etc.

1.3. PRODUCTS OF AVU

The unit is to produce the following products designated by T.B.P. cuts also:-

Product Stream Use / Using secondary units

LPG Sent to MEROX unit for treatment

C5 - 120 °C cut Naphtha Component

C5 - 118 °C cut CCRU / NSU feed

120 - 135 °C cut (BH) Heavy Naphtha for blending with Diesel

118 - 142 °C cut

(AM) Can be used as Naphtha component

135 - 255 °C cut (BH) Used as Superior kerosene

142 - 255 °C cut

(AM) Sent as ATF to MEROX for treatment

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255 - 296 °C cut (BH) Used as Superior kerosene

255 - 300 °C cut

(AM) Used as Cutter stock / HSD component

296 - 325 °C cut (BH)

300 - 330 °C cut HSD component (Light Gas Oil)

(AM)

325 - 380 °C cut (LS) HSD component (Heavy Gas oil)

330 - 386 °C cut HVGO component

(AM) (Heavy Atmospheric Gas Oil)

Light Vacuum Gas

Oil HSD component
(<380 °C cut )

Light Diesel Oil

380 - 425 °C cut
(also HVGO component)

Heavy Vacuum Gas Oil

425 - 530 °C cut
Used as OHCU / FCCU feed

Vacuum Slop Blended with SR for VDU feed

Atmospheric Residue Used as IFO component in LS run

RCO

Vacuum Residue Feed for BBU in AM run

SR Feed/Hot feed for VBU in all runs

IFO component in LS run

Hydrocarbon Gas Used as Refinery Fuel gas

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1.5. PROCESS DESCRIPTION AND PRODUCT ROUTING:

1.5.1. ATMOSPHERIC DISTILLATION UNIT

The ADU (Atmospheric Distillation Unit) separates most of the lighter end
products such as gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, and gas oil from the crude oil.
The bottoms of the ADU are then sent to the VDU (Vacuum Distillation Unit).
Crude oil is preheated by the bottoms feed exchanger, further preheated and
partially vaporized in the feed furnace and then passed into the atmospheric tower
where it is separated into off gas, gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, gas oil and bottoms.
Atmospheric and Vacuum unit (AVU) of Mathura Refinery is designed to process
100% Bombay High Crude and 100% Arab Mix crude (consisting of Light and
Heavy crude in 50:50 proportion by weight) in blocked out operation @ 11.0
MMTPA. Crude is received from the tank and is pumped through a series of heat
exchangers(1st stage preheat) before sending it to desalters.In desalters, salts
bottom sediments and water are removed from crude by injecting water and
separating out brine with the help of electrodes. This desalted crude is then passed
through another chain of exchangers(2nd stage preheat).After that crude is sent to
prefractionator column where IBP- 100o C, IBP – 110oC cut naphtha product BH
and AM operation respectively, is recovered from crude oil in the prefractionator
column as overhead product whereas topped crude from bottom is sent another
chain of exchangers(3rd stage preheat).The topped crude is heated further in
furnaces. This heated crude is sent to atmospheric distillation column where
fractionation of crude is sent into different products takes place. Column profile is
maintained by regulating CRs. Different parameters are maintained to maintain
product quality.

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1.5.1. VACUUM DISTILLATION UNIT:
Bottom residue of 11C-1(Atmospheric Distillation Column)is again processed in
vacuum column to increase distillate yield(and profitability).

RCO from 11C-1 is heated further in vacuum furnace before processing it in 12C-
1(Vacuum Distillation Column). In vacuum column, pressure is maintained at
around 60mmHg at column top pressure using ejectors. Fractionation of RCO into
different products under reduced pressure takes place. Different parameters are
maintained to adjust and control the product quality.

The finished products are then sent to storage tanks before extracting heat in heat
exchangers, which can be used for crude preheating (ENCON).
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1.6. PROCESS FLOW DESCRIPTION

1.6.1. FEED SUPPLY

Crude oil is stored in eight storage tanks (eight tanks each having a nominal
capacity of 50,000 m3 whereas remaining other 2 tanks are of 65,000 m3 nominal
capacity). Booster pumps located in the off-sites are used to deliver crude to the
unit feed pumps. Filters are installed on the suction manifold of crude pumps to
trap foreign matter. For processing slop, pumps are located in the off-site area,
which regulate the quantity of slop into the crude header after filters. Provision to
inject proportionate quantity of demulsifier into the unit crude pumps suction
header with the help of dosing pump is available.

1.6.2. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION:

Crude Oil is heated up to 136 -141 ºC in the first train of heat exchangers operating
in two parallel sections up to the desalter which is connected in series. Desalting
temperature as required can be maintained manually by operating the bypass valve
of heat exchangers.

A two-stage desalter has been designed for 99% salt removal. It is designed to use
stripped sour water for desalting which is being taken ex stripped sour water
unit. Provision to use DM water/ services water is also provided. The electric
field in the desalter breaks the emulsion and the outlet brine from the 1st stage
desalter is sent to ETP on level control.

1.7. FURNACE OPERATION:

1. CDU Fired Heater
2. VDU Fired Heater

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 1.7.1. CDU Fired Heater:

The convection section has 8 rows of tubes with 8 nos. tubes in each. The two rows
of shock tubes, i.e. the two rows just above the radiant section are plain tubes
without studs. The rest six rows are of extended surface type having cylindrical
studs. All the convection bank tubes are of 152 mmx8mm dimension and 5Cr 1/2
Mo material of construction. Of these 64 tubes in the convection section, 4 no’s
studded tubes are for the service of superheating MP steam for strippers; and the
rest 60 nos. tubes are for crude oil service. Crude oil to be heated enters the
convection section in four passes. From outlets of the convection bank, it passes
through crossovers provided inside the furnace into bottom coils of the radiant
section. Steam flow is of single pass to superheating coils.

1.7.2. VDU Fire Heater:

Like any conventional process heater, these heaters are also having two distinct
heating sections: (I) a radiant section, and (ii) convection section.

The convection section has 13 rows of tubes with 8 nos. tubes in each. The top
three rows are for the service of superheating LP steam for vacuum column and the
rest 10 rows are for RCO service. The three rows of shock tubes, i.e. the three rows
just above the radiant section are plain tubes without studs. The next seven rows
are of extended surface type having cylindrical studs. Provision exists to vent out
MP steam ex- super heating coils of furnaces to atmosphere through silence.

The floor of furnace is elevated above grade and the hot air duct (supplying
combustion air to burners) runs across the length of the furnace below the furnace
floor. The skin temperature of tubes is limited to 542 0C.

The furnaces are of balanced draft type with forced draft (FD) fans to supply
combustion air and induced draft (ID) fan to take suction of the flue gases through

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air-preheating system and discharge the same to stack.

1.8. CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT:

The column is provided with 56 trays of which 8 are baffle trays in the stripping
section. Heated and partly vaporized crude feed coming from fired heater enters
the flash zone of the column at tray no. 46 at 355 ºC/365 ºC. Hydrocarbon vapors
flash in this zone and get liberated. Non-flashed liquid moves down which is
largely bottom product, called RCO.

MP steam having some degree of superheat is introduced in the column below tray
no. 46 at approximately3.5 kg/cm2 (g) and 290 ºC for stripping of RCO. Steam
stripping helps to remove lighter constituents from the bottom product (RCO).

Reduced crude oil product is collected at the bottom of the column and the
overhead vapors are totally condensed in Overhead air Condenser and train
condenser. This condensed overhead product is separated as hydrocarbon and
water in the reflux drum. Water is drawn out under inter-phase level control and
sent to sour water drums.

1.9. VACUUM DISTILLATION UNIT:

Hot RCO from the atmospheric column bottom at 355 ºC is mixed with slop
recycle from Vacuum Column, heated and partially vaporized in 8-pass vacuum
furnace and introduced to the flash zone of the vacuum column. The flash zone
pressure is maintained at 115-120 mm of Hg. Steam (MP) is injected into
individual passes and regulated manually. Three injection points have been
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provided on each pass. This is to maintain required velocities in the heater, which
is Fuel Gas, Fuel Oil or combination fuel fired. Each cell is provided with 10
burners fired vertically upshot from furnace floor along the centerline of the cell.

The vaporized portions entering the flash zone of the column along with stripped
light ends from the bottoms rise up in the vacuum column and is fractionated into
four side stream products in 5 packed sections. The hydrocarbon vapors are
condensed in the Vac Slop, HVGO, LDO and LVGO sections by circulating
refluxes to yield the side draw products. Vacuum is maintained by a two-stage
ejector system with surface condensers. The condensed portion from the
condensers are routed to the hot well from where the non-condensable are sent to
the vacuum furnace low-pressure burners or vented to the atmosphere.

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FLUID CATALYTIC CRAKING UNIT (FCCU)

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In this process Heavy Gas Oil cut (Raw Oil) from Vacuum Distillation Section of
AVU is catalytically cracked to obtain more valuable light and middle distillates.
The present processing capacity of the unit is about 1.48 MMT/Yr. It consists of
the following sections:

 Catalytic section,
 Fractionation section and
 Gas concentration section.

The unit is designed to process two different types of feed i.e. Arab Mix HVGO,
Bombay High HVGO.

2.1. CRACKING SECTION

Cracking process uses high temperature to convert heavy hydrocarbons into more
valuable lighter products. This can be accomplished either thermally or
catalytically. The catalytic process has completely superseded thermal cracking as
the catalyst helps the reactions to take place at lower pressures and
temperatures. At the same time, the process produces a higher octane gasoline,

24
more stable cracked gas and less of the undesirable heavy residual product. The
process is also flexible in that it can be tailored to fuel oil, gas oil operations
producing high yields of cycle oils or to LPG operations producing yields of C3-
C4 fraction.

The fluid Catalytic Cracking process employs a catalyst in the form of minute
spherical particles, which behaves like a fluid when aerated with a vapour. This
fluidized catalyst is continuously circulated from the reaction zone to the
regeneration zone. The catalyst also transfers heat carried with it from one zone to
the other viz. in the vessels reactor and regenerator. The reaction and regeneration
zones form the heart of the catalytic cracking unit.

Catalyst section consists of the reactor of the reactor and regenerator, which
together with the standpipes and riser form the catalyst circulation circuit. The
catalyst circulates up the riser to the reactor, down through the stripper to the,
regenerator across to the regenerator standpipe and back to the riser. The vertical
riser is in fact the reactor in which the entire reaction takes place. The reactor is a
container for cyclone separators at the end of vertical riser.

Coke is deposited on the catalyst in the reaction zone. The spent catalyst flows
downwards into the stripping section of the reactor. After steam stripping to
remove oil vapours from it the catalyst flows from the reactor standpipe to the
regenerator through a slide valve in the regenerator, the coke is burnt off, oxygen
for burning being supplied by an air blower. Air from the blower is uniformly
given to the regenerator through a pipe grid at its bottom. The heat of combustion
raises the catalyst temperature to more than 600 (C. Most of the heat in the catalyst
is given to the feed in the reactor riser to raise it to the reaction temperature and to
provide the heat of reaction. The regenerated catalyst from the standpipe flows
into the riser through a slide valve to complete the catalyst circulation cycle.

25
Catalyst particles in the flue gas leaving the regenerator are separated at the top of
regenerator by three sets of two-stage cyclones. The flue gas contains both CO and
CO2 as carbon is burnt off partly to CO and partly to CO2 in the regenerator. The
sensible and chemical heat in flue gas is utilized to generate steam in CO Boiler.
The flue gas is passed through' the orifice chamber & regenerator. Pressure is
controlled by double disc slide valve. Orifice chamber holds backpressure
downstream of double-disc slide valve. By reducing the pr. drop across slide
valve, operating life of slide valve is greatly extended by avoiding sudden
accelerations of catalyst, bearing flue gas stream. The unit is designed for use of
high ZEOLITE catalyst (Fresh catalyst), which is microspheriadical in shape.

2.2. CATALYTIC SECTION

The fluid Catalytic Cracking process employs a catalyst in the form of minute
spherical particles, which behaves like a fluid when aerated with a vapour. This
fluidized catalyst is continuously circulated from the reaction zone to the
regeneration zone.

Feed to the FCC Unit is gas oils obtained by vacuum distillation of long residue
from the crude distillation unit. In our unit the vacuum cut boiling in the range
380-530°C is used as feedstock to the FCC Unit.

. Catalyst section consists of the reactor of the reactor and regenerator, which
together with the standpipes and riser form the catalyst circulation circuit. The
catalyst circulates up the riser to the reactor, down through the stripper to the,
regenerator across to the regenerator standpipe and back to the riser. The vertical
riser is in fact the reactor in which the entire reaction takes place. The reactor is a
container for cyclone separators at the end of vertical riser

26
Fresh feed after heating up to 350 °C in a feed pre-heater along with recycle
streams enters the base of the riser. In the riser the combined feed is vaporized and
raised to the reactor temperature by the hot catalyst flowing upward through the
riser. Cracking reactions start immediately as the gas oil comes into contact with
the hot catalyst. Entrained catalyst and hydrocarbon vapors, after cracking, flow
upwards and pass through two cyclone separators attached to top of the
reactor. These cyclones remove most of the entrained catalyst. Oil vapors
containing a small quantity of catalyst pass overhead through the vapour line into
the fractionator.

Coke is deposited on the catalyst in the reaction zone. The spent catalyst flows
downwards into the stripping section of the reactor. After steam stripping to
remove oil vapours from it the catalyst flows from the reactor standpipe to the
regenerator through a slide valve in the regenerator, the coke is burnt off, oxygen
for burning being supplied by an air blower. The heat of combustion raises the
catalyst temperature to more than 600 °C. Most of the heat in the catalyst is given
to the feed in the reactor riser to raise it to the reaction temperature and to provide
the heat of reaction. The regenerated catalyst from the standpipe flows into the
riser through a slide valve to complete the catalyst circulation cycle. Catalyst
particles in the flue gas leaving the regenerator are separated at the top of
regenerator by three sets of two-stage cyclones.

2.3. Type of catalyst

The unit requires two types of catalyst, viz.

(1) Fresh catalyst

(2) Equilibrium catalyst

27
2.4. FRACTIONATION SECTION

In this section, the vapors coming out of the reactor top at very high temperature
are fractionated into wet gas and un-stabilized gasoline overhead products, heavy
naphtha, and light cycle oil as side products. Heavy cycle oil drawn from the
column is totally recycled along with the feed after providing for the recycle
stream to the column.

The column bottom slurry containing a small quantity of catalyst is sent to a slurry
settler. From the settler bottom, the thickened slurry is recycled back to the riser
for recovering catalyst is sent to a settler and from the settler bottom, the thickened
slurry is recycled back to the riser for recovering catalyst and further cracking.

28
From the top of slurry settler, clarified oil product is taken out after cooling which
goes for blending in Fuel Oil.

Heavy naphtha and light cycle oil streams after steam stripping are used as gas oil
blending components. The un-stabilized gasoline and wet gas are sent to Gas
Concentration Unit for further processing. Both heavy naphtha and light cycle oil
being blending components for HSD can be blended in the unit and sent to product
blending station, as a single stream. In addition, light cycle oil, if required for
blending in FO, fertilizer feed, etc. can be diverted to the extent required for
product blending in a separate line.

2.5. GAS CONCENTRATION SECTION

The wet gas from the fractionator overhead receiver is compressed in a two-stage
centrifugal compressor and sent to a high-pressure (HP) receiver after cooling. Gas
from the HP receiver is sent to the Primary Absorber for recovery of C3's and
29
heavier components by absorption with stabilized gasoline taken from the
debutanizer column bottom and un-stabilized gasoline from main column overhead
receiver. Rich gasoline from Absorber bottom is recycled back to the HP receiver.
The stripped gasoline is further stabilized in the debutanizer removing C3 and C4
components from it as cracked LPG and bottom product as stabilized FCC
gasoline. Both LPG and gasoline are Merox treated before routing to storage.

2.6. CO BOILER
The flue gas leaving the regenerator via orifice chamber contains 8-13% carbon
monoxide, the rest being inert like nitrogen, steam, carbon dioxide, etc. In the CO
Boiler, flue gas is burnt with air converting, carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide,
thus releasing the heat of combustion of CO in the boiler. This heat as well as the
sensible heat in flue gas available at a high temperature is utilized for raising
medium pressure steam.

30
 VIS-BREAKING UNIT

3.1. Introduction:
The Visbreaker Unit is designed for processing a mixture of Atmospheric and
Vacuum Residue from 1:1 mixture of Light Arabian and North Rumaila Crudes. It
reduces the viscosity and pour point of heavy petroleum fractions so that product
can be sold as fuel oil. The nominal capacity of the plant is 0.8 MMTPA of mixed
Feed. However, the design capacity has been kept as 1.0 MMTPA to take care of
Fluctuations in the Bitumen production. The unit produces Gas, Naphtha, and
Heavy Naphtha, VB Gas Oil, Visbreaker fuel oil (a mixture of VB gas oil and VB
tar). In actual practice design feed was not available. So long residue and short
Residue of Nineteen type of imported crudes e.g. Arab Mix, Arab Light, Arab
Heavy, Rostam, Solman, Light Iranian, Algerian, Heavy Iranian, Lagos medio,
Basrah,Ummshaif, Iran Mix, Iran blend, AbooAlbakoosh, Dubai, Kuwait, Haut.
Oman, Nigerian and two types of Indegeneous crude Bombay High and Ratnabad
had to be processed in the unit from the very commissioning. Long And short
residue proportion also varied to a large extent depending on tank Ullage position
etc. A provision is also made by a small modification to route V B Gas oil to HSD
/ LDO pool over and above its original routing provision to V B tar.
At present all the Short residue and vac slop produced in BH run in AVU is routed
to VBU for HPS production. Short residue and vac slop in Nigerian crude run
along with BH cold feed is routed to VBU for HPS production. Nigerian SR and
vac slop is also routed to VBU (limited to 20% of blend) for FO production with
HS as cold feed .Balance Nigerian SR is routed along with RCO for IFO top up.
Short residue produced in HS run is routed to Bitumen unit and balance SR along
with vac slop is routed to VBU. Following table summaries shows the mode of
operation in VBU and their feed streams.
31
 Feed Stream Design
Capacity,MMTPA
Atmospheric Residue 400
Vacuum Residue 600

3.2. THEORY OF VISBREAKING

The Visbreaker is essentially a Thermal cracking unit designed to operate at mild
conditions and to retain all the cracked light oils in the bottom product. This results
in reduction of viscosity of bottom product. In the Thermal cracking reaction,
heavy oil is kept at a high temperature for a certain amount of time and this causes
the larger molecules to break up. The resulting product has a random distribution
of molecular sizes resulting in products ranging from light gas to heavy gas oil.
These products are characterized as "Cracked" products and contain a certain
percentage of olefinic compounds. Whenever a molecule breaks one of the
resulting molecules is an olefin.

CH3-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH3CH3-CH2-CH=CH2 + CH3-CH2-CH3

Cracked products are unstable and form gum. The cracked naphtha has higher
octane number than straight run gasoline. During the cracking operation, some
coke is usually formed. Coke is the end product of polymerizations reaction in
which two large olefin molecules combine to form an even larger olefinic
molecule.

C10H21-CH=CH2 + CH2=CH-C10H21C10H21-CH=CH-CH2-CH2-C10H21

When above reaction gets repeated several times, the end product is coke. This is
usually found inside the walls of furnace tubes and other spots where oil may
remain at high temperature and soak heat for some time. Severity of over-all
reaction is determined by residence time and temperature of cracking. Residence
32
time in the unit can be varied by varying charge rate and steam injection rate of
DMW injection into furnace coils. Temperature can be varied as per requirement.
The cracking reaction usually does not become evident until transfer temperature
crosses 400 °C. When transfer temperature reaches 460 °C; sufficient cracking of
oil takes place. Gas and Naphtha are produced, the viscosity of product is lowered
and simultaneously coke deposits in the furnace tubes & soaker.
Increased severity results in shorter run lengths and more unstable fuel oil with
sediments in it.

3.3. System Description

The feed passes through the furnace, where cracking reaction take place and the
conversion in the coil is about 50 to 60%. The effluent from the furnace is routed
to the soaker drum for completion of visbreaking reaction. The soaker effluent is
quenched before entering fractionator by injecting column bottom product (VB
Tar). The quenched effluent ten enters the VB fractionator. In the bottom of the
fractionator, steam is introduced to remove lighter fractions. VB Tar is removed as
the bottom product. The overhead fraction is unstable naphtha and gas. The
naphtha is stabilized and sent to merox unit for sweetening.

3.4. Visbreaker Furnaces

Visbreaker unit is provided with two identical natural draft furnaces. They are up-
right steel structures with outer steel casing lined with refractory material. Each of
the furnaces is independent with radiation section at the bottom. Convection
section is at the top of the radiation section and above convection section is the
stack. The convection further heat from the flue gases leaving the radiation section.
It is having numbering 6, 10 and 14 respectively. The radiation section houses the
radiation tubes numbering 30 in each pass. In this section heat is transferred
primarily by radiation by flame and hot combustible gases.

33
VBU furnace tubes skin temperature is measured by skin thermocouples provided
on tubes in radiation zone. Furnaces are provided with thermocouple in radiation
and convection zones for measuring tube skin temperatures, box temperatures
before and after steam coils, and flue gas to stack temperatures. Thermocouples are
also provided inside furnace tubes for measuring liquid temperatures at different
points. The maximum allowed tubes skin and box temperature in the heaters is 650
o
C and 750 oC respectively.
There is a provision for on-stream analyzer of SO2 emission from both the stacks.
The purpose of the water, injection is to maintain suitable velocity in the furnace
tubes and to minimize coking.
Effluent from these passes is gathered and sent to soaker drum. It enters from the
bottom and leaves from the top. Thermal cracking of the feed, which is initiated in
the furnace, gets completed in soaker drum. Residence time of the order of half an
hour is given in soaker.
To arrest cracking reactions, materials from each pass of the two furnaces are
individually quenched by the injection of cooled VB tar at 2230C. To increase
turbulence and to prevent coke deposit in the coils, there is provision to inject
steam in each pass. The purpose of the water injection is to maintain suitable
velocity in the furnace tubes and to minimize coking.

3.5. V.B. FRACTIONATOR

Soaker effluent after quenching enters fractionator. Temperature in the flash zone
is around 420 oC. From the column, gas & gasoline are separated as overhead, gas
oil as side stream and the VB tar as bottoms. The fractionator has 26 valve trays
and one blind tray. Feed enters flash zone below the 26th Valve tray.The overhead
vapours from the column are condensed and cooled in heat exchangers.

34
The liquid vapour mixture is separated in the reflux drum. Gasoline from flash
fractionator is picked up by reflux pumps and partly pumped to column top as
reflux. The remaining gasoline is routed to stabilizer under reflux drum level
controller, which is cascaded with flow controller. The sour water is drained from
the drum boot under interface level controller and routed to sour water stripper.
Main reflux drum and its water boot are having level glasses. Uncondensed gas
from Gas oil stripper goes to FCC/AVU furnaces / Flare. Column top pressure
around 4.5kg/cm2 (g). Column overhead line is provided with working and
controlled safety valves.
The heavy naphtha at a temperature of about 170 oC is withdrawn from tray no. 10
under level controller. It is stripped in the stripper to maintain its flash point. The
heavy naphtha is routed to HSD. Gas oil at a temperature of about 260 oC is
withdrawn from the blind accumulator tray under tray level controller. It is steam
stripped in the stripper ot maintain its flash point. Vapor from stripper top returns
back to column just above the blind accumulator tray. A part of gas oil from air
cooler is used for washing VB tar filters Blind accumulator tray and strippers are
provided with level glasses.
To remove extra heat and to maintain desired temperature profile in column, a
portion of gas oil from blind tray is taken and pumped in two streams. One stream
is used as heating media in steam generator where it is cooled from 260 oC to 214
o
C. The second stream supplies re-boiling heat to stabilizer re-boiler and gets
cooled from 260 oC to 215 oC. To protect column bottom against coking, cooled
VB tar condensed in air cooler and go to reflux drum. Safety valve is provided to
release gas and protect the vessel from over pressure.
Tar is cooled from 351 oC to 225 oC in feed exchangers and further cooling to 214
o
C is done. Pumps are having two filters in the suction line with gas oil flushing
facilities. Only one filter is kept in service while the other remains as spare. Cooled
VB tar is partly used as quench to
35
 1. Fractionator column bottom. Bottom temperature is maintained at 355
o
C.
2. Transfer lines of the two furnaces. Temperature of the combined
effluent entering main fractionator is maintained at 427 oC.
3. Gas oil stripper bottom should be protected against coking. Bottom
temperature is maintained at 351 oC.
VB tar is then cooled in boiler feed water exchanger from 232 oC to 210 oC. It is
further cooled to 90 oC and sent to storage with gas oil.

3.6. Stabilizer
Un-stabilized gasoline from reflux drum is picked up by reflux pump and then it is
pumped to stabilizer through stabilized gasoline exchanger. In heat exchanger, feed
is heated from 43 oC to 120 oC while stabilized gasoline is cooled from 180 oC to
120 oC. The column has 30 trays and the feed enters on the 19th.The overhead
product at 60 oC goes to water condensers. The condensed liquid is collected in the
reflux drum. Uncondensed gas from the drum goes to FCC/unit fuel gas header.
Pressure at the drum is maintained at 8.4kg/cm2 (g).

CONTINOUS CATALYTIC REFORMING UNIT(CCRU)

3.1.Introduction:
The Continuous Catalyst Regeneration type of Reforming Unit (CCRU) , process
is based on advanced technology from IFP (France), which allows continuous
regeneration of catalyst unlike in earlier semi-regenerative type of CRU’ s
operating with limited cycle length between two consecutive regenerations.
Installed at the cost of about Rs. 360 crores (inclusive of power plant), the CCRU
is serving us to produce high octane reformate (up to 98 RON) from straight run
(C5–145oC cut) naphtha through catalytic reforming process. Reformate so
produced is a component used to upgrade (by blending with) lower Octane streams
36
up to the desired level of Octane number for production of Euro-III and Euro-IV
grade MS.

A catalytic reforming process converts a feed stream containing paraffins, Olefins

and naphthene to aromatics. The product stream of the reformer is generally
referred to as reformate. The purpose of the CR unit is to produce a high octane no.
reformate as a blending stock for the production of motor spirit. The octane no. of
the gasoline coming from the AVU is around 66, whereas the required value of the
octane no. is 87, 88 and 93.

3.6.1. Design Capacity

The normal capacity of the CCR Unit is 466,000 MT based on a stream
factor of 8000 hours/year with 120% over design factor.

The normal operating flexibility of the CCR is 60% of Design.

3.6.2. Feed Specification

 Naphtha from Bombay high crude oil 80 –1400C TBP cut (Feed I)

 95/5 blend of naphtha from Arab mix (80-1450C TBP cut) and vis-
broken Naphtha (Feed II)

Composition: - wt. %
Feed Feed I Feed II
PARAFFIN
iC5 0.20 0.00
nC5 0.3 0.04
iC6 3.80 4.29
nC6 4.98 5.61
C7 20.76 9.88
C9 5.88 5.55
C10+ 0.89 0.27
NAPHTHENE
37
 N5 0.26 0.24
N6 7.97 8.91
N7 13.33 13.07
N8 3.81 7.78
N9 2.39 2.55
N10 0.00 0.00
AROMATIC
A6 6.87 8.14
A7 7.85 12.38
A8 4.21 11.39
A9 0.32 0.07
A10 0.00 0.00
TOTAL 100.00 100.00

Catalytic Reforming is a major conversion process having applications in

Petroleum Refining and Petrochemicals Industries as it transforms low octane
(Straight Run) Naphtha into:

 High Octane Motor Gasoline Blending Stock

 Produce Aromatic Concentrates rich in benzene ,Toluene & Xylene(BTX)

By Products:

 Hydrogen used in refinery for hydro-treating,hydro-cracking making it a

more economically viable process.Although use of Catalytic Reforming only
as a means to produce hydrogen is not economically viable.
 LPG

3.2 Unit Subdivision

The whole CRU can be divided into three subunits as:

38
  Naphtha Splitting Unit (NSU)
 Naphtha Hydro-treater Unit (NHU)
 Catalyst Reforming Unit – CRU &Continuous Catalyst Regeneration Unit-
CCRU

3.2.1 Naphtha Splitter Unit:

Naphtha splitting unit produces feed of required TBP range for the
reforming unit by splitting wide cut naphtha from CDU. The selected cut is
then Hydro treated before feeding to the Reforming Unit.

This unit has been designed to split SR naphtha (144 MT/hr for BH or 95
MT/hr for AM) to C5-80 oC and 80-115 oC cut. Due to the restriction on
Benzene content in the final product (motor spirit), the IBP of the heavier
cut is raised to approximately 105oC. The present operating cut range of
NSU for light naphtha product is C5-105oC and for heavy naphtha product is
105-160oC . NSU can be operated with naphtha directly from AVU (hot
feed) or from OM&S (Cold feed) or using both the feeds simultaneously.
NSU splits C5-150 OC cut naphtha into C5-90 OC cut and 90-150 OC cut.
Heavier cut forms the feed for reformer. Cut point of 90 OC has been chosen
to get required octane number with moderate severity and also to exclude the
benzene precursors from the reformer feed.

a) FEED SELECTION:
For normal operation of the plant, the feed naphtha will be supplied by AVU
stabilizer section at a temperature of about 60 OC. This naphtha is pre-heated
by column bottom Heavy naphtha in feed-bottom exchanger to 95 °C The
back pressure controller operates to maintain a set point of 4.4 Kg/cm2 (g) at
the inlet of the column to avoid two-phase flow in the feed line. The Heavy
Naphtha from the Splitter column is routed to rundown or as hot feed to
NHTU.
39
 In case of pre-planned AVU shutdown, stabilized naphtha (C5-150 oC) will
be stored in the existing naphtha tanks and processed in NSU as cold feed.

b) SPLITTER SECTION:
Naphtha splitter receives feed on its 19th tray. The hot feed from AVU/cold
feed, after getting preheated goes to the LP steam pre-heat exchanger, and
the MP steam pre-heat exchanger, before entering the splitter. In former, the
naphtha feed temperature is increased to 1350C from 95 0C by LP Steam and
in later the required feed temperature of 1450C is achieved by using MP
Steam. The feed naphtha after preheating enters the splitter through the
control valve. Splitter has a total of 40 trays.

Overhead vapours of splitter are totally condensed in the splitter air-cooler

and in the new overhead condenser before it is collected in splitter Reflux
drum. Part of the liquid collected in reflux drum is sent back as reflux to
splitter section by splitter reflux pumps and balance is sent back to AVU
after cooling it in light naphtha cooler.

Splitter bottom product is cooled in splitter bottom Air Cooler followed by

splitter bottom Heavy Naphtha trim cooler. Heavy Naphtha can directly
send to Hydro treater feed coalesce.

c) REBOILING HEATER:

Splitter re-boiler supplies the heat necessary for splitter re-boiling. It is a six
pass vertical cylindrical heater with 6 burners having provision for
combination firing of both fuel gas and fuel oil. However they are designed
for 100 % of fuel gas or fuel oil firing.

Desired temperature at outlet is maintained by controlling the fuel firing.

The radiant section of the heater is provided with 12 bare tubes per pass. The
convection section has studded as well as bare tubes. The permissible
maximum tube skin temperature for the heater is 253 oC.
40
 In the heat recovery system, FD fan supplies hot air for combustion through
APH and hot flue gases are discharged to stack using ID fan after
exchanging heat in APH.

d) CONDENSATE RECOVERY SECTION:

Feed naphtha preheating is achieved by LP and MP steam pre-heaters. The LP

steam condensate vessel floats with the LP steam header through a 1.5” line
from the top of the vessel. The level in LP condensate pot is maintained at
50% by level control valve, which transfers the condensate to condensate
recovery drum by pressure head. MP Steam is under cascade control splitter
inlet temperature.The level in MP condensate vessel is maintained at 50% by
level control valve, which transfers the condensate to condensate recovery
drum by its pressure head.The total condensate received in the condensate
recovery vessel, is pumped to condensate polishing unit. Small quantity of
steam is safely vented to atmosphere. The condensate recovery vessel is also
provided with an overflow line routed to drain to take care of level controller
failure.

3.2.2. Naphtha Hydro – Treater Unit.

The purpose of Naphtha Hydrotreater is to eliminate the impurities (such as

sulfur, nitrogen, halogens, oxygen, water, olefins, di-olefins, arsenic and
metals, except for water, which is eliminated in the stripper) from the feed
that would otherwise affect the performance and lifetime of the Reformer
catalyst. This is achieved by the use of selective catalyst (nickel,
molybdenum) and optimum operating conditions. The unit is designed to
handle a wide range of feed naphtha from very low sulfur (10.9 PPM in
neat BH) to a maximum sulfur content of 1043 PPM so as to give treated
product of sulfur less than 0.5 PPM. Nitrogen is also reduced to less than
0.5 PPM and water content is reduced in the stripper to less than 4 PPM.
41
 The normal capacity of the unit is such that the capacity of the reforming
unit is 466000 MT/Year based on an On-Stream factor of 8000 hours/year
(345 days operation) with 120% over design. Operating flexibility is of
60%, same as that of the reforming unit. The hydrogenation of di-olefins and
conversion of mercaptans take place in a fixed bed axial reactor, 14R2. The
hydrogenation of olefins, hydro-desulfurization and hydro-denitrification
reactions take place in another fixed bed axial reactor, 14R1. A middle
range temperature is required to promote the chemical reactions, which
improve the product quality. The hydrotreatment catalysts shall be
periodically regenerated to recover its activity. The liquid product from the
reaction section is then stripped to remove H2S, water and light
hydrocarbons.

3.2.3.CATALYTIC REFORMING UNIT – CRU &CONTINUOUS

CATALYST REGENERATION UNIT- CCRU

a) REFORMING UNIT

Catalytic reforming is normally facilitated by a bi-functional catalyst that is

capable of rearranging and breaking long-chain hydrocarbons as well as removing
hydrogen from naphthenes to produce aromatics. The idea of a Catalytic
Reforming Unit is to have RON (Research Octane Number) as high as possible at
the same time keeping the Olefins, Benzene & Aromatics under the specified
limits. The different types of reformers are classified as a fixed-bed type, semi-
regenerative type, cyclic type and the continuous regenerative type. This
classification is based on the ability of the unit to operate without bringing down
the catalyst for Regeneration. During the regeneration process, the refinery will
suffer production loss. In the Continuous Catalytic Reforming unit, the reactors are
cleverly stacked, so that the catalyst can flow under gravity. From the bottom of
the reactor stack, the 'spent' catalyst is 'lifted' by nitrogen to the top of the

42
regenerator stack. In the regenerator, the above mentioned different steps, coke
burning, oxychlorination and drying are done in different sections, segregated via a
complex system of valves, purge-flows and screens. From the bottom of the
regenerator stack, catalyst is lifted by hydrogen to the top of the reactor stack, in a
special area called the reduction zone. In the reduction zone, the catalyst passes a
heat exchanger in which it is heated up against hot feed. Under hot conditions it is
brought in contact with hydrogen, which performs a reduction of the catalyst
surface, thereby restoring its activity. In such a continuous regeneration process, a
constant catalyst activity can be maintained without unit shut down for a typical
run length of 3 - 6 years.
Feed for the Reforming unit (94 m3/hr at 14 kg/cm2 and 110 oC) is received
directly from hydrotreater stripper after heat exchanger. The filters must be
provided for the protection of the welded plate exchanger. Feed is filtered to
remove any foreign particles. At the D/S of the feed filter, chloriding agent and
water injection are done. CCl4 solution of 1% in reformate is dosed by pump.
Dosing @ 1 ppm wt. CCl4 in feed is done when continuous regeneration unit is
down. Water injection (not on regular basis) is done to maintain Cl-OH
equilibrium on the catalyst when regenerator is out of service.
Feed mixed with recycle H2 stream gets preheated in PACKINOX exchanger from
91oC to 451oC by the effluent from 3rd Reactor which gets cooled down from
497oC to 98oC. Due to the endothermic nature of the reforming reactions, the
overall reforming is achieved in stages with inter stage heater provided to raise the
temperature. There are three Reactors (15R-1, R-2 & R-3) each provided with
reaction heater.
b) REACTORS
In the reactors, the feed contacts the reforming catalyst which is divided
approximately in the ratio 15:30:55. In the CCR process, the catalyst circulates
continuously in reactors, in the space between the external grid and the central pipe
43
from the top to the bottom, from one reactor bottom to the top of the next one,
from the last reactor to the regeneration unit for regeneration. From the
regeneration unit, the regenerated catalyst returns to the first reactor. Each reactor
is a vertical cylindrical vessel with spherical heads. It is equipped with one inlet &
one outlet nozzle for feed & effluent respectively. Catalyst enters the reactor
through 12 nos. of 3" pipes, flows through the space between external grid and the
central pipe from top to bottom and exits through 12 nos. of 2"pipes, slow moving
bed of bimetallic catalyst and exits through the outlet nozzle at the bottom. The
radial flow of feed is achieved by directing the flow through external grid to
catalyst bed & exit is made to central outlet collector pipe. Gas tight baffle is
provided on the outlet pipe to avoid short-circuiting of the feed to outlet pipe at the
entrance. Reactor effluent after passing through PACKINOX exchanger is cooled
in air cooler to 65 oC and then by trim cooler to 45oC before entering the separator.
The separated gas is compressed in the recycle gas compressor and a part is
recycled to the reactors. The remaining gas is routed to a re-contacting section to
improve hydrogen purity and recover liquid yield.

44
 DHDT: DIESEL HYDROTREATING UNIT
3.7. DHDT UNIT DETAILS:

 Process Licensor: IFP, France

 LSTK Contractor: Daelim, S. Korea
 PMC: Jacobs H& G Pvt.Ltd.
 Capacity: 1.8 MMTA(Designed for 2 MMTPA)
 Turndown: 50%
 Process: IFP Licensed Hydro treating technology
 Capacity Basis: 8000 HRS/YEAR
 Cost: 6000 crores
 Commissioning date: 02/05/2005

3.8. PURPOSE OF UNIT:

 To reduce low sulfur (<30ppm) and high cetane number (55) HSD to cater
to the needs of bharat stage II, bharat stage III and bharat stage IV.
 With recommendation of task force of government’s AUTO FUEL
POLICY, following emission’s norms will be followed.

3.9. SPECIFICATIONS OF BHARAT STAGE I AND VI:

SULFUR IN DIESEL CETANE NUMBER

BHARAT STAGE I 2500 ppm
BHARAT STAGE II 500 ppm
BHARAT STAGE III 350 ppm 51(min)
45
BHARAT STAGE IV 50 ppm
BHARAT STAGE VI 10ppm

3.10. Cetane number:

 A rating on a scale use to indicate the tendency of a fuel for diesel enginesto
cause knock, comparable to octane number for gasoline.
 The rating is comparing the fuel’s performance in a standard engine with
that of a mixture of cetane 100 and alpha-amine-naphthalene (0). The cetane
of diesel is the percentage by volume of the cetane(say 55) in the mixture of
alpha-methy-naphtalene (say 45)then the cetane number of the said diesel is
55.
3.11. CHEMICAL REACTIONS:

The main reactions taking place in the process are refining and hydrogenation
reactions, in addition some hydrocracking reactions takes place as well.

3.11.1. Refining reactions:

Refining reactions involve the removal of heteroatoms, namely sulfur, nitrogen and
oxygen. It also includes the saturation reactions of olefins and di-olefins.

Treating reactions:

 Metal removal
 Olefin saturation
 Sulfur removal
 Nitrogen removal
 Oxygen removal
 Aromatic saturation(cetane number improvement)

Desulfurisation reactions:

46
The aliphatic sulfur compounds, namely mercaptants, sulphides and di-sulphides
react easily leading to the corresponding saturated or aromatic compounds.
Thiophenes sulfur is most difficult to react. The reaction is exothermic.

Mechanism:

Sulfur removed first, and then the olefin is saturated. Three mole of hydrogen
consumed per mole of sulfur. 560 kcal of heat liberated per Nm3 of H2 consumed.

 Mercaptant
R-SH + H2 RH + H2S
 Sulphides
R-S-R + 2H2 2RH + H2S

DENITROFICATION REACTIONS:

 These reactions lead to ammonia formation and are exothermic in nature.

The hydro – denitrogenation reactions are slower than the hydro

desulfurisation reactions, and generally require more severe conditions

especially for components having nitrogen as a part of an aromatic ring such

as pyridine.

Mechanism:

First saturation of the rings to which nitrogen is attached and then carbon nitrogen
bond scission. Five mole of hydrogen consumed for per mole of nitrogen. 632 to
705 Kcal of heat liberated per Nm3 of hydrogen consumed.

Amine

CH3-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-NH2 +H2 CH3-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH3 + NH3

47
 SULFUR RECOVERY UNIT (SRU)

6.1. INTRODUCTION
The unit consists of three identical units A, B and C. One of them is kept standby.
The process design is in accordance with common practice to recover elemental
sulfur known as the Clause process, which is further improved by Super Clause
process. Each unit consists of a thermal stage, in which H2S is partially burnt with
air, followed by two catalytic stages. A catalytic incinerator for incineration of all
gases has been incorporated in order to prevent pollution of the atmosphere.

SRU (Sulfur recovery unit)

This unit is basically low pressure (slightly above then atm) unit having throughput
of 60 tons/day.

The Sulfur Recovery Unit is designed to recover sulfur from the sour vapors
originating from the following sources:

48
1) The Amine Regenerator Unit

2) The Sour Water Stripper Unit

Feed Specifications
The feedstock of the SRU is a mixture of the “Acid gas ex ARU” and the “Acid
gas ex SWS”, 50% of the feed to the SRU is to be processed in the two of the three
trains.The quantity and quality of H2S feed to the unit will vary depending on the
shutdown of the various preceding units. The unit should be capable of converting
99% wt. of the H2S contained in the feed streams to sulfur in all the following
cases:

Case 1: When all units are running with HCU on 70% IMP HVGO.

Component Acid gas ex-ARU Acid gas ex-SWS Total feed

H2 2.2 - 2.2

H2S 4805.0 560.7 5365.7

H/S* 11.3 - 11.3

CO2 338.3 - 338.3

NH3 137.0 137.0

H2O 122.7 309.9 432.6

Total kg/hr 5279.5 1007.6 6287.1

* H/C will be a mixture of C1, C2, C3, C4 having an average molecular wt. of 30.

Case 2: When HCU is down and DHDS is feed-2 operation

Component Acid gas ex-ARU Acid gas ex-SWS Total feed

H2 0.3 - 0.3

H2S 1727.2 545.9 2273.1

49
H/S* 11.3 - 11.3

CO2 338.3 - 338.3

NH3 218.3 218.3

H2O 48.1 364.8 412.9

Total kg/hr 2125.2 1129.0 6287.1

* H/C will be a mixture of C1, C2, C3, C4 having an average molecular wt. of 30.

Battery limit conditions

Component Gas ex-SWS Gas ex-ARU

Temperature, oC 90 40

Pressure, kg/cm2g 0.7 0.7

Design Criteria and Requirements

Capacity

The unit consists of three parallel SRU trains, each with a sulfur production
capacity of 60 metric tons/day, a tail gas incinerator and a sulfur degassing system.
Two SRU trains are normally in operation and one SRU train is in the hot stand-by
mode.

Sulfur Recovery Rate

The unit is capable of a sulfur recovery efficiency of 99.0 wt.% based on the
operation of the unit at a capacity and acid gas composition corresponding to one
of the cases as defined under Para 2.1.

Turndown

The turndown of the unit is 30% on the “normal” feed gas rate (case 1) and
composition as defined under Para 2.1.
50
Product Specifications

The product sulfur will meet the following specification after degassing.

State : liquid sulfur

Color : bright yellow (as solid state)

Purity : min. 99.9 wt% on dry basis

H2S : 10 ppm weight max

6.2. PROCESS DESCRIPTION

The sulfur recovery process applied in the present design, which is known as the
Clause process, is based upon the combustion of H2S with a ratio controlled flow
of air which is maintained automatically in sufficient quantity to evolve the
complete oxidation of all hydrocarbons and ammonia present in the sour gas feed
and to burn one third of the hydrogen sulfide to sulfur dioxide and water.
H2S + 3/2 O2  SO2 + H2O + Heat
The major percentage of the residual H2S combines with the SO2 to form Sulfur,
according to the following equilibrium reaction
2 H2S + SO2 3S + 2H2O + Heat

Sulfur is formed in vapour phase in the main combustion chamber. The primary
function of the waste heat boiler is to remove the major portion of heat involved in
the combustion chamber. The secondary function of waste heat boiler is to
condense the sulfur, which is drained to a sulfur pit. At this stage 60% of the sulfur
present in the sour gas feed is removed. The third function of the waste heat boiler
is to utilize the heat liberated there to produce LP steam (4 kg/cm2).
The process gas leaving the waste heat boiler still contains a considerable part of
H2S and SO2. Therefore, the essential function of the following equipment is to
shift the equilibrium by adopting a low reactor temperature thus removing the
sulfur as soon as it is formed.
Conversion to sulfur is reached by a catalytic process in two subsequent reactors
containing a special synthetic alumina catalyst.
Before entering the first reactor, the process gas flow is heated to an optimum
temperature by means of a line burner, with mixing chamber, in order to achieve a
high conversion. In the line burner mixing chamber the process gas is mixed with
the hot flue gas obtained by burning fuel gas with air.

51
In the first reactor the reaction between the H2S and SO2 recommences until
equilibrium is reached. The effluent gas from the first reactor passes to the first
sulfur condenser where at this stage approximately 29% of the sulfur present in the
sour gas feed is condensed and drained to the sulfur pit. The total sulfur recovery
after the first reactor stage is 89% of the sulfur present in the sour gas feed. In
order to achieve a figure of 94% sulfur recovery the sour gas is subjected to one
more stage. The process gas flow is once again subjected to preheating by means
of a second line burner then passed to a second reactor and the sulfur condensed in
a second condenser accomplish a total sulfur recovery of 94%. A sulfur coalescer
is installed downstream the last sulfur condenser to separate entrained sulfur mist
fter the first reactor stage is 89% of the sulfur present in the sour gas feed. In order
to achieve a figure of 94% sulfur recovery the sour gas is subjected to one more
stage. The process gas flow is once again subjected to preheating by means of a
second line burner then passed to a second reactor and the sulfur condensed in a
second condenser accomplish a total sulfur recovery of 94%. A sulfur coalescer is
installed downstream the last sulfur condenser to separate entrained sulfur mist.
The heat released by the subsequent cooling of gas and condensation of sulfur in
waste heat boiler and, sulfur condensers results in the production of low-pressure
steam.

52
 HYDROGEN GENERATION UNIT II (HGU II)

OBJECTIVE: : To Meet the Hydrogen requirement for DHDS/ DHDT/ OHCU/

ISOM/ Reforming Units and Other Hydrotreaters.

FEED : Relequified Natural Gas(RLNG) / Naptha(sour)

PRODUCT:
 Hydrogen approximately 99.99% pure ( Main Product)
 Off gas ( By-product use to burn reformer furnace )

The HGU II units consist of two sections namely

 PDS Section ( Pre desulphirisation Section )
 Reforming Section
53
PDS Section
This section is used when we use naptha as feed and not when we use RLNG as
feed the main application of this secton is to remove sulphur and Nitrogen present
in the naptha ( sour ).

REFORMING SECTION:
This is the main section which convert naptha or RLNG into Hydrogen by making
the use of steam reforming reaction. This section also contain CoMox reaction to
remove the small amount of sulphur and chorine (if present ) in RLNG feed and
already treated naptha in the PDS section. If RLNG is the feed it is fed directly to
the reforming section.

The basic processes involve in Hydrogen Generation unit II are

 Hydrotreating
 Prereforming
 Reforming
 High temperature Shift Reaction
 Low temperature Shift Reaction
 PSA section( To separate Hydrogen from other gases)

HGU II-- EQUIPMENTS AND PROCESSES

PDS SECTION FOR NAPHTHA

SURGE DRUM V-01

This is also called the sour naphtha surge drum the naphtha feed is stored In V-01
before going further in the unit. The height in this drum should be maintained at
70% of the total height. The main function of the surge drum is to provide constant
flow of the feed to the unit irrespetive of the fluctuations in the supply of the
naphtha from other battery area.

PUMP P-01 A/B

It is a reciprocating type of drum used to increase the pressure of naphtha to
33 kgf/cm2 after that the naphtha is mixed with the recycled hydogen to further fed
to the hydrogenator.

RECYCLE H2 KO POT V-03

The recycled hydrogen from the header and the unconverted H2 from the naphtha
seperator is fed to the knock out drum. The function of KO drum is to remove the
the moisture content (if any) with the help of a demister pad, the gases are fed from
54
the bottom and moves upward through the demister pad which absorb the moisture
present in the gases and let the gas pass through it. It is necessary to remove all the
moisture because any moisture in the gas can affet our compressors used further in
the unit.

H2 CIRCULATION COMPRESSOR K-01 A/B

The H2 from the KO drum is fed to this compressor where it is compressed to
33kgf/cm2 ( same as naphtha ) and after that both the streams are mixed having a
final Temperature of 50oC.

HEAT EXCHANGER E-1

The combined stream of H2 and naphtha is heated to a temperature of 266oC which
the effluent of reactor R-01with hot liquid in the tube side and the cold liquid in the
shell side.

FURNACE F-01
The stream at 266oC is then fed to the furnace F-01 where its temperature is
increased to 330oC which is the required inlet temperature for the reactor R-01.
This furnace is a natural draft furnace and having the box pressure of -5 to -30 mm
H2O.

COMOX REACTOR R-01

 This reactor is also called hydrogentor or pretreater as the hydrogen mixed
feed react here with the help of COMOX catalyst.
 In this reactor the sulphur present is converted to hydrogen sulphide and
chlorine to hydrogen chloride also saturation of olefins takes place along
with nitrogen converted to ammonia.
 The comox catalyst initially present in oxided form which is inactive state
and DMDS is added to convert it into sulphided state(active state).
 The effluent of this reactor being on high temperature is used to H2 mixed
naphtha with the help of E-01 which decreases the temperature of effluent
to 118oC.
 The ammonia and HCl present will form a white precipitate of NH4Cl to
avoid that wash water is added as NH4Cl is soluble In water and also some
of H2S will also dissolve in water as it is slightly soluble in water.
 To further decrease the temperature of effluent to 40oC cooling water is
used with the help of heat exchanger E-2 with cooling water in the tube side
and effluent in the shell side.
55
NAPHTHA SEPERATOR V-02
The stream containing water dissolved ammonia and HCl salt, H2S, Naphtha, and
some unconverted H2 is fed to a naphtha seperator where it is seperated to three
phases bottom most phase contain water ( contain NH4Cl and H2S partial). The
middle phase will contain naphtha and H2S and the top most phase will contain
unconverted H2 which is fed back with the recycle stream to the KO drum. From
here the middle phase containing naphtha and H2S is taken further for treatment.

HEAT EXCHANGER 3A-C

The stream containing H2S and naphtha is heated to 162oC using the warm
naphtha from the naphtha stripper with cold stream on the tube side and hot stream
in the shell side.

NAPHTHA STRIPPER C-1

 As the the stream containing naphtha and H2S is heated the H2S being light
in weight or volatility will vaporise along with some of hydrocarbon part
and the liqud will contain hydrocarbon part or naphtha along with some H2S.
 The gaseous phase from C-1 will be cooled using cooling water in the
exchanger E-5 with cooling water the tube side. And getting cool the heavier
hydrocarbon part in the gas will be condensed and is seperated from H2S in
V-06 where H2S is recovered and liquid part containing hydrocarbon is fed
to naphtha stripper as reflux with the help of pump P-02 A/B.
 Then the bottom part will be boiled to vaporise some of the dissolved H2S
and fed back to the stripper.
 Then the bottom product is the sweet naphtha as all the impurities are
removed from it and this being hot is used to heat the feed cominng to the
stripper using the heat exchanger 3A-C. The temperature of this stream is
dropped from 162oC to 70oC.

SWEET NAPHTHA SURGE DRUM V-11

Sweet naphtha i.e. naphtha containing very small amount to impurities is stored
in this surge drum and is either provided to the Reforming section to produce
hydrogen or supplied to MSQU unit ( motor spirit quality upgradation unit)
depending on the conditons and requirement of plant.

PDS Section remove sulphur to 5 ppm to decrease the sulphur content further
we use another CoMoX reactor and adsorbers in reformiing section.

56
REFORMING SECTION

PUMP P-11 A/B

If naphtha is fed to the reforming section then then this compressor is used to
increase the pressure of sweet naphtha to 40kg/cm2.

COMPRESSOR K-11 A/B

Recycled Hydrogen is added to the stream for hydrogenation using this
compressor this compressor increase the pressure of recycled hydrogen from 20
To 40 kg/cm2 .

COMPRESSOR K-12
This compressor is used to purge the reforming section before it start operation
using nitrogen and when RLNG is at low pressure this compressor is used to
compress RLNG to 40kg/cm2 and then fed to the reforming section but now
IOCL buy RLNG from GAIL which is already at this pressure so this
compressor is not used.

From now on the feed is either naphtha and hydrogen or RLNG and hydrogen
depending on the requirement at 78oC .

Now this feed is heated to 394oC using heat exchangers E-11 and E-12 which
use the efflunet of LT shift converter and HT shift converter to heat the feed
and after that E-55 uses flue gas from the reformer to further heat the feed to the
a temperature around 400oC.

COMOX REACTOR R-11

 This reactor is same as the comox reactor in the PDS section just feed
here only contain sulphur as impurities all other impurirties are already
removed from naphtha and RLNG doesn’t contain other impurity other
than other than sulphur in appriciable amount except from some chlorine.
 The activated comox catalyst (sulphided form ) absorb organic sulphur
from the feed and convert the sulphur from the catalyst (iorganic sulphur)
form H2S which is further adsorbrd in R-12 A/B.
 As the catalyst in R-12 can only adsorb inorganic sulphur so it is
necessary for the comox ctatalyst to convert all the organic sulphur from
organic to inorganic sulphur.

57
 Reactions taking place

RSH + H2 ---------------- RH + H2S

RCl + H -------------- RH + HCl

ADSORBERS R-12 A/B

 The adsorber contain 2 beds one is called chlorine guard (Al2O3) and othe
one is called sulphur guard. The chlorine guard is always above the sulphur
bed because if the chlorine got into the sulphur guard it’ll form ZnCl2 which
will deteriorate the adsorber bed and the catalyst present in the reforming
section.
 Also ZnO will not be able to adsorb organic sulphur so it is necessary to
convert all the organic sulphur into inorganic sulphur.
Reactions taking place

Al2O3 + HCl ------------ AlCl3 + H2O (chlorine guard)

ZnO + H2S ---------- ZnS + H2O (sulphur guard)
 There are two adsorbers in series and the outlet of first adsorber is the inlet
of the next adsorber.
 The feed enter these adsorber at 380oC and leaves at 352oC.
 The outlet of these adsorbers will contain sulphur around 0.1 ppm

PREREFORMER R-13
 The effluent from R-12 A/B are further heated using the flue gas of the
reformer with the help of exchanger E-54
 Also a stream of steam is added to the stream to perform steam reforming
reaction in the prereformer.
 Then it enters the prereformer at a temperature of around 500oC.
 The main function of the prereformer is to convert all the higher
hydrocarbons to methane because if higher hydrocarbons are fed to the
reformer i.e. at around 1000oC cracking woud take place resulting in the
coking which in turn foul the walls of the reformer also more reforming
catalyst (Ni) will be used to convert the higher hydrocarbons.
 This reaction took place at low temperature than the reformer temperature i.e
almost halft the reformer temperature.
 The catalyst in the prereformer is the NiO.

Reaction taking place

CnHm + nH2O ======= nCO + (2n+m)/2 H2

58
 The above reaction took place at equlibrium in the above prereformer as the
number of moles in the product side increases then the reaction starts to
move backward and it forms methane (CH4) as it most probable product of
the backward reaction instead of the higher hydrocarbon as the enthalpy of
formation of is minimum for methane.
 When naphtha is used the above reaction is exothermic and when we use
RLNG as feed the reaction is endothemric.
 The composition of the outlet stream is as follows
CH4 = 78.5%
CO2 = 4.7%
H2 = 16.8%
CO ~ 1%
 CO 2 is present as some of the CO react with steam and get converted to the
CO2 following the water gas shift reaction.

REFORMER F-11
 The effluent of R-13 is heated using the reformer flue gas with the help of
exchanger E-52 after steam is added to the effluent.
 The effluent then reach the reformer at 655oC which is a top fired reformer
containing 34X6 tubes filled with catalyst (Ni).
 The reaction taking place inside the reformer is highly endothermic therefore
to maintain the temperature inside the reformer burners are used.
 The fuel used to burn the burners is off gas from the PSA section and if Off
gas is not enough then Natural gas is used to cope with the burning and also
during startup Natural gas is used as a fuel.
 The box temperature is around 1000oC and coil outlet temperature is 855oC.

Reaction taking place in this section is

CH4 + H2O ---------- CO + H2

Here most the methane is converted to CO and also as steam is in excess CO
is also converted to CO2
 The outlet of reformer contain 14% of the CO which is dropped to 0.3%
using two shift converter.
 The effluent from the reformer being on very high temperature is used to
make steam with the help of process gass boiler E-16.
 The temperature of the stream is dropped from 885 to 343oC in the E-16.
 Some backward reaction will also take place converting to metahne and this
is called methane slip which should not more than 3.5 %

59
HT SHIFT REACTOR R-14
 The stream at 343oC is fed to the R-14 where shift reaction takes place at
high temperature.
 The catalyst here is Cr2O3 or ferrous oxide
 The reaction here is highly exothemic therefore the effluent is used to heat
the feed containing naphtha and hydrogen or RLNG and Hydrogen.

Reaction taking place here is

CO + H2O -------- CO2 + H2

The outlet of R-14 contain 3.4% CO whereas inlet contain 14% CO

LT SHIFT REACTOR R-15

 The catalyst used in the reactor is CuO/ZnO.
 The stream here should enter at 232oC therefore the effluent of R-14 wich is
very high in temperature is used to heat feed and to produce steam using E-
12,19,17,18.
 All these exchanger decrease the temperature and still if the temperature
haven’t lowered enough then DSH S-17 (De superheater) is used to take its
temperature further down.
 And if the temperature of effluent of R-14 is not that high then by-passes are
provided which will by-pass some of the heat exchangers and DSH will not
be used.
 The inlet of this reactor contain 3.4% CO whereas its outlet contain 0.3%
CO.
 Composition of the outlet of R-15 is
CO = 0.3%
CH4 = 3%
CO2 = 16.2%
H2 = 80.5%
 Reaction is same as HT shift reactor but at low temperature and in the
presence of different catalyst.

Now the effluent from R-15 is used to heat the feed and steam using heat
exchanger E-20,21,22,11which decrease the temperature to 119oC.

Then stream is put into KO drum V-17 so that the condensed moisture can be
removed as the beds of PSA are sensitive to moisture.

60
Then the stream is further cooled using Air cooler AC-13 and E-23 (exchanger) to
a temperature of 40oC here E-23 uses cooling water.

Then the KO drum V-18 is used to remove further ondensed moisture and the
stream is fed to PSA UNIT (PSA UN S-12).

PSA UNIT (PSA UN S-12)

This unit uses pressure swings to purify the hydrogen produced to 99.99% purity
containing two phases adsorption (high pressure ) and regeneration (Low pressure )
the product is obtained during adsorption here a 12 bed PSA system is used each
bed(vessel ) containing 4 adsorption bed to adsorb various impurities.

The hydrogen from the top is cooled and sent to header from where it is sent to
various units requiring hydrogen including the recycle hydrogen for HGU 2 itself.

The off gas is used to burn the reformer furnace F-11 which is a top fired furnace.

61
 PROJECT- I

Calculation of Furnace Efficiency

FURNACE

Furnace is a heating system. Furnace is called direct fired heater. There are three types of
furnace-

 Fuel combustion furnace.

 Electric Arc furnace.
 Industrial Furnace

62
FURNACE COMPONENET

 Burners , Heat exchangers, Draft inducer and venting

 Controls and safety devices
 Blower and air movement

INDUSTRIAL FURNACE-

An industrial furnace or direct fired heater is equipment used to provide heat or can serve as
reactor which provides heats of reaction. Furnace designs vary as to its function, heating duty,
type of fuel and method of introducing combustion air; however, most process furnaces have
some common features.

Fuel flows into the burner and is burnt with air provided from an air blower. There can be more
than one burner in a particular furnace which can be arranged in cells which heat a particular
set of tubes. Burner can also be floor mounted, wall mounted or roof mounted depending on
design. The flame heat up the tubes, which in turn heat the fluid inside in the first part of the
furnace known as the radiant section or firebox. In this chamber where combustion takes place,
the heat is transferred by radiation to tubes around the fire in the chamber. The heating fluid
passes through the tubes and is thus heated to the desired temperature. The gases from the
combustion are known as flue gases. After the flue gas leave the firebox, most furnace designs
include a convection section where more heat is recovered before venting to the atmosphere
through the flue gas stack

Fuel flows into the burners and air flows from air blowers for burning.

There are tubes in the furnace. Flames heat up the tubes.

There are two sections in the furnace-

 Radiation section.
 Convection section

63
Radiation Section-
This is first part of the furnace. This is also called firebox. Combustion takes
place in this section. Heat is transferred mainly by radiation gases from combustion of flue
gases. The radiation section is where the tubes receive almost all its heat by radiation from the
flame. In the vertical cylindrical furnace the tubes are vertical. Tubes can be vertical or
horizontal, placed along the refractory wall, in the middle etc.or arranged in cells. Studs are
used to hold the insulation together and on the wall of furnace. The tubes are distant away
from the insulation so radiation can be reflected to the back of the tubes to maintain a uniform
tube wall temperature. Tube guides at the top, middle and bottom hold the tubes in place.

Convection Section-
Convection Section is next to radiation section where it is cooler to recover
additional heat. Heat transfer takes place by convection here. And tubes are finned to increase
heat transfer. The tubes (with out fins)located at the top of the radiation section are known as
shield section, so named because they are still exposed to plenty of radiation from the firebox
and they also act to shield the convection section tubes, which are normally of less resistant
material from the high temperatures in the firebox.. The area of the radiant section just before
flue gas enters the shield section and into the convection section called bridge zone. Crossover
is the term used to describe the tube that connects from the convection section outlet to the
radiant section inlet. The crossover piping is normally located outside so that the temperature
can be monitored and the efficiency of the convection section can be calculated. The slight
glass at the top allows personnel to see the flame shape and pattern from above and visually
inspect if flame impingement is occurring. Flame impingement happens when the flame
touches the tubes and causes isolated spots of very high temperature.

Burner-
The burner in the vertical, cylindrical furnace as above is located in the floor and fires
upward. Some features have side fired burners. The burner tile is made of high temperature
refractory and is where the flame is contained. Air registers located below the burner and at
the outlet of the air blower are devices with movable flaps or vanes that control the shape and
pattern of the flame, whether it spreads out or even swirls around. Flames should not spread
out too much, as this will cause flame impingement. Air register is classified as primary,
secondary and if applicable tertiary, depending on when their air is introduced. The Primary air
64
register supplies primary air, which is the first to be introduced in the burner. Secondary air is
added to supplement primary air. Burners may include a premix to mix the air and fuel for
better combustion before introducing into the burner. Some burners even use steam as premix
to preheat the air and create better mixing of the fuel and heated air. The floor of furnace is
mostly made of a different material from that of the wall, typicabbly hard castable refractory to
allow technicians to walk on its floor during maintenance.

A furnace can be lit by a small pilot flame or in some older models, by hand. Most pilot flames
now days are lit by an ignition transformer (much like a car’s spark plugs). The pilot flame in
turn lights up the main flame. The pilot flame uses natural gas while the main flame can use
both diesel and natural gas. When using liquid fuels, an atomizer is used; otherwise, the liquid
fuel will simply pour onto the furnace and become hazard. Using a pilot flame for lighting the
furnace increases safety and ease compared to using a manual ignition method (like a match).

FURNACE EFFICIENCY-

Furnace efficiency measures the amount of heat produced compared to the amount of fuel
burned the percentage of fuel that a furnace turns into actual heat is called Annual fuel
utilization efficiency (AFUE). A furnace is then labeled as low-minded or high efficiency. Low
efficiency models under 78% AFUE, are older, and not generally for sale. Mid efficiency models
start at 78% and go up to 90% AFUE. Anything above the level is considered high efficiency.

Calculation for furnace efficiency-

Heat Input = FG+FO

Heat Output = FCC Feed + MP Steam + Radiation

65
 Natural Gas Flow= 700 Nm^3/Hr

 Fuel Oil Flow= 0.6 M63/ Hr

 Natural Gas Calorific Value= 8000 Kcal/ N M^3

 Fuel Oil Flow= 10238 Kcal/ Kg

 Feed Pass Flow= 190 M^3/Hr

 Natural Gas = 700*8000 =5.6*10^6

 Fuel Oil= 0.6*900*10238=5.5*10^6 Kcal/ Hr

 Heat Duty for Steam Oil

 6*1000(2927-2790)=0.822*10^6 Kcal/ Hr

 Steam Enthalpy @ 135 Deg C=2790 Kcal/ Kg

 Steam Enthalpy @ 250 Deg C=2927 Kcal/ Kg

 Efficiency=(5.4+0.822)*10^6/(5.6+5.5)*10^6 , Kcal/ Hr

=6.222*10^6/11.1*10^6 Kcal/ Hr

= 56%

66
67
 PROJECT-II

MATERIAL BALANCE AROUND REACTOR – REGENARATOR SECTION

In any industrial plant, mass balance over the plant and/or over any particular
unit is a very important part for the daily operation of the plant. Material balances
are fundamental to the control of processing, particularly in the control of yields
of the products. Ideally, by the Law of Conservation of Mass, the amount of feed
going inside the plant should be equal to the amount of products leaving the
plant. But this usually doesn’t happen and we encounter many losses during the
process.

Mass In = Mass Out + Mass stored.

Feed + Air + Steam = Products + Coke formed + Losses.

68
 Flow rate (m3/hr) Specific Gravity
Feed 185 0.91
Air 76000 1.21
Atomising Steam 5.0 tonnes/hr
HCO Steam 0.4 tonnes/hr
Slurry Steam 0.3 tonnes/hr
Stripping Steam 3.0 tonnes/hr
Y Steam 130 kg/hr
Dome Steam 500 kg/hr
Dry Gas 6.0 tonnes/hr Molecular Weight – 27
LPG 72 0.52
Gasoline 75 0.73
HN 33 0.88
LCO 18 0.95
CLO 19 1.03

Flue Gas

O2 2.7%
CO2 14.8%
CO 0
SO2 0
N2 + Argon 82.5%

Ambient temperature = 320C.

From the graph, dry air is 95.5%. (as Relative humidity  70%)

Wet air = 76000 m3/hr.

69
Dry air = Wet air * (0.955 * 1.21) / ( 27).

= 3240656.83 moles/hr.

Using N2 + Argon balance, flue gas out of Rg is calculated on dry basis:-

Flue Gas Rate = 3103174.42moles/hr.

Total coke formed = 6.0535tonnes/hr.

ENERGY BALANCE AROUND REGENERATOR

70
As mass is conserved, so is energy conserved in unit operations.
The combustion of coke in the regenerator satisfies the following heat
requirements:
 Heat to raise air from the blower discharge temperature to the
regenerator dense phase temperature.
 Heat to raise the temperature of the stripping steam to the reactor
temperature.
 Heat to raise the coke on the catalyst from the reactor temperature to the
regenerator dense phase temperature
 Heat to raise the coke products from the regenerator dense temperature
to flue gas temperature
 Heat to compensate for regenerator heat losses.
 Heat to raise the spent catalyst from the reactor temperature to the
regenerator dense phase temperature

ASSUMPTION:
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1) Coke is completely burnt up.
2) Nitrogen doesn’t react, act as inert.
3) Entrained catalyst particle heat is neglected.
4) Sulfur burning isn’t considered.
5) Heat losses in regenerator in 4% of combustion reaction and in reactor it is 2%
of cracking reaction.
6) Ambient temperature assumed -250C

GIVEN DATA:

MOLAR SPECIFIC HEAT OF FLUE GASES:

∆HCO = 16.18 Btu/kgmole 0F =17703.8229 joule/kgmole 0C

∆Hco2= 24.71 Btu/kgmole 0F =26070.41 joule/kgmole 0C

∆Ho2=16.78 Btu/kgmole 0F =17703.823 joule/kgmole 0C

∆HH2O=19.5 Btu/kgmole 0F =20573.5725 joule/kgmole 0C

∆HN2= 17.2 Btu/kgmole 0F =18146.946 joule/kgmole 0C

T (reaction) =4940C (reactor temperature at which spent catalyst enter into the
regenerator)

T (region 2) = 6800C ,T (region 1) = 6700C

AT 1375 0F

HEAT OF COMBUSTION REACTION

2C +O2 2CO 48,237 BTU/lbmole =112,197284 J/kgmol

C+ O2 CO2 169,822 BTU/lbmole = 394,999000 J/kgmol

2H2 +O2 2 H2O 106,725 BTU/lbmole =248,237974 J/kgmol

SPECIFIC HEAT CAPACITY:

CP air = 0.26 BTU/ lb 0F =1088.55 J/kg 0C

CP coke= 0.4 BTU/ lb 0F =1674.69 J/kg 0C

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CP catalyst=0.275 BTU/ lb 0F = 1151.3502 J/kg 0C

VOLUME FLOW RATE OF AIR =67000 Nm3/hr

FLUE GAS CONTENT (DRY BASIS)

CO – 7%

O2—1%

CO2—9.2%

N2—82.8%

AIR CONTENT : N2 -79% , O2--21%

H/C RATIO IN COKE IS : 14%

CALCULATION:

Density of air:

𝑃𝑀 = 𝜌𝑅𝑇

105 × 10−3 × 28.87 = 𝜌 × 8.314 × 298

𝜌 = 1.165254 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

Air flow rate = 78071.99 kg/hr

N2 balance 

Nitrogen in air required for regenration = nitrogen in flue gases

0.79 × 78071.99
= .828 × 𝑥
28.87

0.79 × 78071.99
=𝑥
28.87 × .828
𝑥 = 2580.1516 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

We have,
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CO – 7% =180.61 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

O2—1% = 25.801516 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

CO2—9.2%= 237.374 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

N2—82.8% =2136.365 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

AIR CONTENT : N2 -79% , O2--21%

O2 in air = 567.895 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

O2 in flue gases = 25.8015 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

O2 consumed in reaction :

2C +O2 2CO :O2 consumed = 237.374 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

C+ O2 CO2 :O2 consumed =90.305 𝑘𝑔𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒/ℎ𝑟

2H2 +O2 2 H2O :O2 consumed : what ever the O2 left =214.414 kgmol/hr

H2O formed= 428.828 kgmol/hr

Heat of combustion:

(∆HCO)rxn = 20264063.66 KJ/hr

(∆Hco2)rxn =93762492.63 KJ/hr

(∆HH2O)rxn = 106477950.2 KJ/hr

Heat content of flue gases:

∆HCO= 3197505.158 J/hr 0C

∆Hco2=6188437.503 J/hr 0C

∆HH2O= 8822523.948 J/hr 0C

∆Ho2= 456785.4724 J/hr 0C

∆HN2 = 38768500.29 J/hr 0C

ENERGY EQUATION USED:

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(Energy in + energy generated)-(energy out )-(energy consumed)=

[rate of accumulation of energy]

rate of accumulation of energy=0 (assume)

Mcoke Cpcoke(Trx-Ta)+ McatCpcat(Trx-Ta)+ Mair Cpair(Tair-Ta)+heat of combustion = ∆H flue

gas (Trg2-Ta) +Mcat Cpcat (Trg1-Ta)+loss

CALCULATING LEFT HAND SIDE:

#:Mcoke Cpcoke(Trx-Ta)

Mcoke : Carbon content in CO 180.611 kgmol/hr

: Carbon content in CO2 237.374 kgmol/hr

: H content in H2O  857.676 kgmol/hr

H/C RATIO CACULATED : 857.676/5015.82 =0.17099 (for cross check)

Mcoke =5873.496 kg(C+H)

Mcoke Cpcoke(Trx-Ta)= 5873.496 × 1674.63 × (494 − 25)

= 4613217673 𝐽/ℎ𝑟

#:Mair Cpair(Tair-Ta)= 78071.99 × 1088.55 × (250 − 25)

= 1.9121684566 × 1010 J/hr

# heat of combustion= 220477950.2 KJ/hr

# McatCpcat(Trx-Ta)

Mcat ? (We need to determine)

Cpcat =1151.3502 J/kg 0C, (Trx-Ta) = (494-25)

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CALCULATING RIGHT HAND SIDE:

#:∆H flue gas (Trg2-Ta)

∆H flue gas= 57433752.4 J/hr 0C, (Trg2-Ta) = 680-25

= 57433752.4 × (680 − 25) = 3.761910782 × 1010 J/hr

#:Mcat Cpcat (Trg1-Ta)

Mcat ? (We need to determine)

Cpcat =1151.3502 J/kg 0C , (Trg1-Ta)= 670-25

#: loss: 4% heat of combustion

KJ
= 0.04 × 220477950.2
hr
= 8819118 × 103 𝐽/ℎ𝑟

NOW, substituting above value in our energy balance equation:

Mcoke Cpcoke(Trx-Ta)+ McatCpcat(Trx-Ta)+ Mair Cpair(Tair-Ta)+ heat of combustion =

∆H flue gas (Trg2-Ta) +Mcat Cpcat (Trg1-Ta)+loss

We get,

2.06381 × 1011 = 𝐌𝐜𝐚𝐭 × 202637.6352

𝐾𝑔
𝐌𝐜𝐚𝐭 = 1018472.69 = 1018.42 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑠/ℎ𝑟
ℎ𝑟

REACTOR HEAT BALANCE

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Given:

Flow rates :

Feed: 160200 kg/hr

Feed steam: 4 ton/hr

HCO nozzle steam : 300 kg/hr

Slurry steam : 2.5 ton/hr

Stripping steam : 2.5 ton/hr

Lift steam : 180 kg/hr

Wye steam : 100 kg/hr

Heat content :

Feed : 276.64 btu/hr

Feed vapors going out of the reactor :726 btu/hr

CPSTEAM :0.55 kcal/0C

Temperatures :

Steam inlet : 2500C

Steam outlet : 4940C

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Heat balance :

Heat in – Heat out = Heat of reaction ---------------------------(1)

Heat in :

Feed: Mass flow rate of feed * Heat content of feed

= 160200 * 643.897

=103152321.5 J/hr

Steam : Mass flow rate of steam * CPSTEAM * ∆T

= (4000+300+200+2500+180+150) * 0.55 *1000*4.186*(250-25)

= 3797068275 J/hr

Regenerated catalyst : Mass flow rate of catalyst* CP cat * ∆T

=1018472.69*1151.3502*(670-25)

=7.56339*1011 J/hr

Heat out:

Reacted vapor: Mass out flow rate of the reactor*Heat content of vapor

= 160200*1691676.159

= 2.7*1011 J/hr

Spent catalyst: Mass flow rate of catalyst* CP cat * ∆T

= 1018472.69*1151.3502*(494-25)

= 5.499582*1011 J/hr

Coke : Mass flow rate of coke* CP coke * ∆T

= 5873.496*1674.69*(494-25)

= 4613217673 J/hr

Losses : 0.02*Heat of reaction

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Total heat in = 8.25279*1011 J/hr

Total heat out =8.632883898*1011 J/hr + 0.02* heat of reaction

Putting above values in equation 1.

Heat of reaction inside the reactor is 3.73*1010 J/hr or 35.3 mbtu/hr

79
 Submitted By:
ANKIT DEVAL
Reg No-GCT/1630125 (B. E. -Chemical Engineering)
Sant longowal Institute of Engg & Technology
Longowal, (Distt-Sangrur),
Punjab

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