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Seminar assignments - Assignment 3 questions + answers

Oil Refining and Processing (The University of Western Ontario)

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The University of Western Ontario

Faculty of Engineering
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CBE 4432B/9132B –Oil Refining and Processing

Assignment # 3

Due Date: Monday, February 3, 2014 by 5 p.m.

Problem 3.1
Feed to riser of a FCC unit is 20,000 BPD of VGO having an API gravity of 21 and sulphur
content of 0.5 wt%. Additional information about other streams is given in Table 3.1.
a) Calculate catalyst to feed ratio required to maintain the operation, if 6 wt% of feed
is deposited as coke on the catalyst. Heat of cracking reaction is given as 350 kJ/kg
feed.
b) Calculate approximate diameter of the riser, based on the following information.
i. Reactor operating tempearutre and pressure are 520 oC and 250 kPa
respectively
ii. The maximum vapor velocity is 40 ft/s.
Table 3.1 Properties of FFC streams

Stream API Avg. NBP, Cp,avg, MWavg Temp, oC

o
C kJ/kg.K

VGO 21 380 3.4 345 250

Product 51 3.2 106 520

stream

Catalyst - _ 1.1 - 670

Coke 21.0

Following assumptions can be made:

1. All of steam injected in the reactor leaves with cracked products. Moreover, enthalpy
of steam is negligible compared to enthalpy of feed streams. Therefore steam is not
included in enthalpy balance.
2. Heat losses due to conduction and radiation are assumed negligible.

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Problem 3.2
For the above problem, what precent of coke need to be combusted in the regenerator to
achieve an outlet temperature of 670 oC. Following additional information is given.

i. Coke is essentially carbon

ii. All of combusted coke is oxidized to CO2
iii. Heat of combustion reaction of coke is -390x103 kJ/kmol
iv. Cp,air = 29.5 kJ/kmol.K; Cp,N2 = 31.5 kJ/kmol.K; Cp,CO2 = 47 kJ/kmol.K;

References
Fahim, M.A., T.A. Alsahhaf, and A. Elkilani, “ Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining”,
Elsevier (2010).
Perry, R.H. and D.W. Green, “Perry’s Chemical Engineering Handbook”, 8th Ed., McGraw
Hill, N. York (2008).
Riazi, M.R., and Al-Sahhaf, T.A.. “Physical properties of heavy petroleum fractions and
crude oils”, Fluid Phase Equilib., Vol. 117, pp. 217-224 (1996).

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Solution to Problem 3.1

Figure 3.1 shows inlet and outlet streams of a riser reactor.

Cracked products

F2, T2, H2

Spent catalyst

F4, T2, H4 T2 Riser reactor

Regenerated
Catalyst Steam
F3, T3, H3

Feed
F1, T1, H1

Figure 3.1. Schematic of a riser reactor showing inlet/outlet streams

Heat to the riser is supplied by the hot regenerated catalyst. An enthalpy balance for the
riser steams is given as below.

F3Cp,c(T3 – Tref ) + F1Cp,f(T1 – Tref) = F4Cp,c(T2 – Tref) + F2 Cp,p (T2 – Tref) + F1 Hcrack
(3.1)

Let fc = fraction of feed deposited as coke on catalyst.

Then flow rate of spent catalyst

F4 = F3 + fcF1 (3.2)

Product flow rate

F2 = F1(1 - fc) (3.3)

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Eq. 3.1 can be solved for catalyst fed rate F3, since other terms are either known or
calculable.

Mass flow rate of feed F1 = (20,000 barrel/d)x (159x10-3 m3/bbl)x(d/24h)x(doil kg/m3)

= 132.5 m3/h x(doil kg/m3)

doil = [141.5/(21+131.5)]x1000= 928 kg/m3

Thus F1 = 132.5x928 = 122960 kg/h 34.15 kg/s

Specific enthalpies of different streams: Let Tref = 25 oC

Oil feed H1 = 3.4x(250-25) = 765 kJ/kg

Product stream H2 = 3.2x(520-25) = 1584 kJ/kg

Spent catalyst H3 = 1.1x(670-25) = 709.5 kJ/kg

Since heat capacities of catalyst and coke are different, their enthalpies are
calculated separately.

H4,cat = 1.1x(520-25) = 544.5 kJ/kg

H4,coke = 21.0x(520-25) = 10395 kJ/kg

Substituting into Eq. 3.1 and solving for F3 = 1.25x106 kg/h

Catalyst to oil ratio, F3/F1 = 10.16

Part b - Riser diameter

Volumetric flow rate in the reactor is related to reactor diameter and superficial gas velocity
by,

Qp = [(πD4/4)xVp) (3.4)

Here Vp = 40 (ft/s)x0.3048 (m/ft) = 12.19 m/s

Volumetric flow rate of the product gases (Qp) can be estimated assuming ideal gas law
applies for the low pressure and high temperature system.

PQp = nRT

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n = [34.15 (kg/s)(1-0.06)/106(kg/kmol)] = 0.3028 kmol/s

T = 520 + 273 = 793 oK

P = 250+101.3 = 351.3 kPa

(unless stated in problem, given pressure can be assumed to be gauge

pressure)

R =8.314 (m3.kPa/kmol.K)

Qp = 0.3028x8.314x793/351.3 = 5.683 m3/s

DR = 0.8 m

Solution to Problem 3.1

Regenerator enthalpy balance:
Enthalpy balance on regenerator can be used to determine amount of air required to combust
coke deposited on catalyst (Figure 3.2).

Flue gas

F6, T3, H6

Spent catalyst
F4, T2, H4
Regenerator T2

Regenerated
Catalyst F3, T3, H3

Air

F5, T5, H5

Figure 3.1. Schematic of a regenerator reactor showing inlet/outlet streams

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Enthalpy of spent catalyst + Enthalpy of air = Enthalpy regenerated catalyst +

Enthalpy of flue gas + Enthalpy of reaction

F4Cp,c(T2 – Tref ) + F5Cp,air(T5 – Tref) = F3Cp,c(T3 – Tref) + F6 Cp,fg (T3 – Tref) + F1 fc Hcomb (3.5)

In this equation values for F3 and F4 are taken from problem 3.1

Flow of flue gas (F6) can be related to flow of air (F5) as below using following assumptions.

1. Coke deposited on catalyst is essentially carbon

2. Catalyst aided combustion ensures that stoichiometric amount of oxygen is sufficient for
complete combustion to CO2

Let fx be the fraction of coke combusted.

Moles of coke combusted = F1fcfx

Calculation for theoretical amount of air required for combustion.

Moles of oxygen required = F1fcfx/12

Knowing that air is 21 mole% oxygen and 79 mole% nitrogen.

Moles on N2 = [F1fcfx )/12]x(79/21) (3.6)

Mass flow rate of air is obtained by adding Eq. 3.8 and 3.9 and multiplying by avg, molar mass of
air (MWair = 28.84).

Thus F5 = 11.44F1fcfx (3.7)

Flow rate of flue gas can be calculated in similar way, using avg. molar mass
of flue gas.

Moles of CO2 produced = (F1fc fx)/12

Thus F6 = 12.44F1fcfx

Substituting for above and assuming that air inlet temperature is 25 oC.
Equation 3.5 can be written as

F4Cp,c(T2 – Tref ) = F3Cp,c(T3 – Tref) + 12.44 F1fcfx Cp,fg (T3 – Tref) + F1 fc fxHcomb (3.8)

Equation 3.8 can be solved for fx since all other values are known.

fx (fraction of coke combusted) = 0.75

6

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