OPTIMIZING VACUUM TOWER OPERATION 225

• Minimize the operating pressure of the crude

tower. This will also reduce the light ends in the
vacuum tower feed. These light hydrocarbons
will also contribute to overloading the vacuum
jet system.
• Optimize the vacuum tower top pumparound
circulation rate. If the vacuum tower has an
overhead pre-condenser, you will find that
increasing the top temperature often lowers
the tower top pressure. The light ends will get
"sponged u p " in the heavy naphtha distilled
overhead.
• Reduce the motive steam pressure to the jets.
I once throttled back on the steam pressure to the
second stage jets on a vacuum tower. The steam
pressure was reduced from 160 psig to 115 psig.
This improved the vacuum by only one mm of
Hg, but saved 25% of the motive steam to these
jets. A further reduction in the steam pressure,
however, caused a loss in the vacuum.
• Back-flush the ejector condensers. Reducing the
operating temperature of the condensers will
always improve the vacuum to some extent.
Acid cleaning of the condenser tube side will
also help, as will blowing (air rumbling) the
tubes out with plant air or nitrogen once a day.
• Check the motive steam moisture content. Wet
steam will degrade the ejector performance
and may actually cause a jet's nozzle periodi-
cally to freeze.
• Check for air leaks. Does the vacuum tower
off-gas have more than 20% nitrogen? If so,
there is a major air leak in the vacuum tower

(Continued)
226 TROUBLESHOOTING VACUUM SYSTEMS

(Continued)
or the vacuum system. An air leak into a vac-
u u m system can be seen. When air expands
into an area of lower pressure, the air is
chilled. The resulting area of low temperature
will cause moisture to condense around the
leaking pipe or flange. Note that if the off-gas
has very little 0 2 but quite a bit of C0 2 , the air
leak is likely to be found in a hot area of the
tower, not in the overhead system piping. By
a "hot area", I mean the furnace transfer line
in the region of high velocities.
• Listen carefully to the steam jets. Perhaps they
are making a surging or "hunting" sound. This
will lead to a big loss in vacuum. Often, this
surging sound is caused by:
• Overloading the jets with cracked gas.
• Erosion of the steam nozzles.
• High jet discharge pressure.
• Wet steam.
• Low motive pressure steam.
• Air leaks.

163 Carry-Over of LVGO Pumparound Spray

At the now defunct Pacific Refining near Berkeley, California,
I had made the following observations:

• The vacuum tower was a "Dry Tower", in that

there was no pre-condenser.
• As I increased the top LVGO pumparound rate,
the tower top temperature declined, which is
normal.
• As the tower top temperature dropped, the vapor
flow from the seal drum went down slightly,
 OPTIMIZING VACUUM TOWER OPERATION 227

which is fine. But the amount of hydrocarbon con-

densate from the seal drum increased, which was
unexpected.
• The vacuum became slightly worse, which was
also unexpected.
• The color of the condensate from the seal drum
turned progressively more yellow (like the LVGO
color) as the pumparound rate increased.

I then reasoned that the LVGO pumparound was misting

up in the spray nozzles that were used to distribute the LVGO
pumparound. This happens when one inch or smaller nozzles
develop a delta P of more than about 40 psi. (Depends strongly
on the type of nozzle and the manufacturer.) The LVGO mist
was putting a small extra load on the first stage ejector.
To correct the problem and test my theory, I lowered both
the pumparound return temperature and flow rate. My objec-
tive being to maintain a constant vacuum tower top tem-
perature. The effects of this change were apparent in twenty
minutes:

• The vacuum improved slightly.

• The yellow color of the seal drum condensate
disappeared.

Note that this vacuum tower did not have a top demister.
But demister corrosion, fouling and plugging only too often
create a bigger problem than it solves. Therefore, I do not
intend this story to be used as a justification for demisters in
vacuum tower service. (Refer to the story later in this chapter.)

16.4 Optimizing Vacuum Tower Top Temperature

One would think that the optimum vacuum tower top tem-
perature is always as low as possible. That is, to minimize the