Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

2001, 40, 617-626 617

PROCESS DESIGN AND CONTROL

Rigorous Procedure for the Design of Conventional Atmospheric

Crude Fractionation Units. Part I: Targeting
Miguel Bagajewicz* and Shuncheng Ji
School of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of Oklahoma, 100 East Boyd Street,
T-335, Norman, Oklahoma 73019

The problem of designing crude fractionation units is not only a distillation design. It has the
added complexity that these units should be able to process different types of crude, sometimes
from heavy to light. Important heat exchange also takes place, and the energy efficiency is related
to the column design parameters. Part I of this two-part series presents a rigorous targeting
methodology to design this multipurpose plant, which can be implemented using a commercial
simulator. Part II deals with the heat exchanger network design.

Introduction light components in the range of gas oil. These compo-

nents are removed from the residue by steam stripping
Crude distillation is energy intensive. It consumes at the bottom of the column. In addition to the overhead
fuel at the equivalent of 2% of the crude processed. The condenser, there are several pump-around circuits along
conventional design (Figure 1), consisting of a column the column, where liquid streams are withdrawn,
with side strippers and pump-around circuits, appeared cooled, and sent back to upper trays. Products are
70 years ago1 and is still the design used in the refining withdrawn in the liquid state from different trays and
industry. Watkins2 proposed a design procedure for this then stripped by steam in side strippers to remove light
system and discussed a few variants such as pump-back components. Bagajewicz5 offered a detailed discussion
reflux and stripping using reboilers. A few alternative of the effect of the different variables on the energy
designs can be found in the literature. For example, the efficiency of this conventional design.
addition of prefractionation columns to this conventional Crude oil is a complex mixture. There exist about
design was proposed by Brugma3 and is being used in 1000 distinguishable components with boiling temper-
several industrial sites. Another old design, the carrier atures varying from room temperature to over 550 °C.
design, was proposed as early as the 1920s. This design Crude distillation yields mixtures called naphtha, kero-
makes use of light components to enhance the separa- sene, diesel, and gas oil. These products are specified
tion in the stripping section of the column. Nelson4 also by ASTM D86 distillation temperatures.
mentioned some other alternative designs. All of these Compared to common distillation of discrete compo-
old designs have been abandoned for reasons that are nents, crude distillation has the following specific
not completely known or understood. One important fact features. (1) Large processing quantity: The charge rate
is that they were abandoned before the 1970s, when is the largest among all petroleum or chemical process-
energy consumption started to play an important role ing units. The typical processing capability is around
in process economics. Because energy efficiency is now 15 000 m3 per day (100 000 bbl/day). In such a large-
desired, all of these designs merit reevaluations. Nev- scale process, energy cost accounts for a larger part of
ertheless, the conventional design is widespread and manufacturing costs than in other processes. (2) Large
popular. temperature variation throughout the column: The
Crude is mixed with water and heated in a heat temperature difference between the top tray and the
exchanger network before entering a desalter, where flash zone is about 250 °C, which means significant heat
most of the water containing the salt is removed. The degradation throughout the column. (3) Absence of a
desalted crude enters another heat exchanger network reboiler: The main column functions as a rectifying
and receives heat from hot streams. Both heat ex- section for products, while side columns act as stripping
changer networks make use of the vapors of the main sections. (4) Low separation sharpness: Product quality
column condenser, the pump-around circuit streams, is specified by ASTM boiling points rather than com-
and the products that need to be cooled. The preheated ponent fractions as in the discrete component separation
crude then enters the furnace, where it is heated to case. The former is a more relaxed requirement. (5)
about 340-370 °C. The partially vaporized crude is fed Components in a lighter product can be found in any of
into the flash zone of the atmospheric column, where heavier products: This is because all components
the vapor and liquid separate. The vapor includes all constituting the light product have to travel through
of the components that comprise the products, while the trays where heavier products are withdrawn.
liquid is the residue with a small amount of relatively The major objective in the design of crude distillation
units is to find the most energy-efficient separation
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. structure. Although some ideas exist for the design of
10.1021/ie000302+ CCC: $20.00 © 2001 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 12/16/2000
618 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001

Figure 1. Conventional crude distillation.

energy-integrated distillation schemes,6 they are not explored, these columns are merged into a single
directly applicable to crude fractionation for the follow- complex column.
ing reasons: (1) The number of components in the crude The major advantage of the procedure presented by
is too large to handle. Usually around 30-40 pseudo Liebmann et al.9 is that it couples the column perfor-
components are used, while available studies on se- mance with heat recovery goals. However, the procedure
quencing seldom addressed systems containing over 5 is not able to assess the trade-off between steam
components. (2) Previous separation sequencing studies injection and distribution of heat removal in pump-
assumed that the products were pure; however, products around circuits. Finally, addressing the column as a
in crude distillation are mixtures. whole, which is the alternative we present in this paper,
Packie7 pioneered the field of crude fractionation is more convenient and straightforward. It does not rely
design. In his method, 5-95 gaps and 50% distillation on any special rules of thumb for reflux ratios, and it
temperature differences are used as separation criteria. helps determine better the relationships with column
The term gap refers to the difference between the 5% variables and heat integration.
ASTM D86 distillation temperature of a heavier product Sharma et al.10 proposed a method for calculating the
and the 95% ASTM D86 distillation temperature of an maximum pump-around heat removal. First, a practical
adjacent lighter product. When the distillation curves minimum reflux ratio for each column section is deter-
of the two products overlap, a negative gap appears. mined using Packie’s empirical diagram. Then, the heat
Packie used empirical charts to express the relation removal in the upper part of the column is calculated
among the 5-95 gap, the reflux ratio, and the number using a heat balance. The upper part may start from
of trays in the section under consideration. However, an arbitrary tray and end with the condenser. Next, the
the empirical nature of these charts results in inac- upper part is extended tray by tray, and heat surplus
curacy and prevents optimal designs. Furthermore, in is calculated for each tray. The resultant heat surplus
his design procedure, Packie considered the column data are used to construct a column grand composite
design and the heat integration separately. The heat curve. Finally, the maximum heat removal for each
integration does not start until the column design is section is determined using the column grand composite
finished. curve. A major advantage of this method is that the
Watkins2 pointed out that “optimizing the crude maximum heat removal can be estimated quickly with-
preheat-tower cooling heat-exchange train is the heart out the need of simulation. However, as Packie’s dia-
of crude unit design, and each case must be studied on gram is empirical and the effect of the stripping steam
an individual basis in order to arrive at the most is not included, the heat removal calculated is not
economical processing scheme.” However, Watkins did accurate. In contrast, the procedure presented in this
not present a specific methodology to perform this paper is based on rigorous simulations and can capture
design. the relationships between the column variables and the
Liebmann et al.8,9 recently proposed an integrated heat integration opportunities.
design procedure. The design procedure starts with a In this paper we present a new procedure for crude
sequence of simple columns that are generated by distillation design. The major features of this procedure
decomposing the crude main tower. The total number are the following: (1) The design objective is to process
of trays is assumed to be the same as that in Watkins’ several crudes at optimal conditions. (2) The design
design, and the number of trays for each column is calculations are rigorous. (3) Heat demand-supply
calculated with the assumption that the R/Rmin values diagrams are used as a tool guiding the design. The
are approximately the same for all columns. There is major advantage of the heat demand-supply diagram
no thermal coupling between these initial columns. is that the contribution of each process stream or pump-
Next, reboilers and thermal coupling are introduced in around to the total utility consumption is shown explic-
order to reduce utility consumption. The grand compos- itly. This feature helps determine necessary changes
ite curve is used to assess the proposed modifications. leading to lower energy consumption. (4) The interaction
After all of the possible design modifications have been between steam stripping and pump-around duties is
 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001 619

In Figure 2, we see two different regions, those where

heat supplies are larger than demands and those where
heat supplies are smaller than demands. When the
supply exceeds the demand, one can move the surplus
part of the supply to a lower-temperature region where
the supply is deficient. Figure 2 shows two areas where
the supply is in deficit (gray areas). The left gray area
can be covered by the heat surplus from the condenser
or from PA1. The right one can be covered using the
excess of PA2. This illustration is omitted throughout
the paper, assuming that this area matching is implicit.
The location of the pinch point can be easily obtained
from this diagram. It is the lowest temperature at which
the demand is larger than the supply after the shifting
Figure 2. Heat demand-supply diagram of a crude distillation and area matching has been performed. Finally, the
unit. heating utility is given by the unmatched demand on
the right, and the cooling utility is given by the extra
taken into consideration. (5) The starting point of the supply on the left.
column design is a complex column without pump- Three options to reduce energy consumption exist:
around circuits. decreasing demand, increasing supply, and improving
Although general procedures that would render glo- the match between the supply and the demand. (1)
bally optimal solutions are a desirable goal, there is also Decrease of demand. A decrease in heat demand can
interest in determining the optimal parameters for the be realized by moving the demand line down, that is,
subset of conventional units. This choice is made because decreasing the flow rate. One way of doing this is to
practitioners are not always willing to make radical flash the crude at lower temperatures and send the
departures from this design. In addition, the knowledge vapor to a tray above the flash zone. In practice,
of such optimal designs provides a useful horizon for vaporization before the furnace inlet is pressure sup-
retrofit procedures. In addition, the heat exchanger pressed to avoid two-phase flow. This reduces energy
network design procedure presented in Part II renders saving opportunities. Such opportunity is analyzed in
a structure suitable for the processing of different crudes a separate work.18 Another way to decrease heat de-
at maximum energy efficiency. A short version of this mand is to reduce the target temperature of the crude.
procedure was presented by Bagajewicz et al.11 This can be achieved by lowering the pressure drop from
The paper is organized as follows: The heat demand- the outlet of the furnace to the overhead reflux drum of
supply diagram, an important tool, is presented first, the column. In this sense, a vacuum operation is even
and the roles of the different column design variables better, but it is excluded for other reasons (mainly cost).
in this diagram are discussed. Next, limitations in the Another way of decreasing the final temperature is
pump-around circuit heat load are described. Finally, using a larger amount of steam, but the introduction of
the design targeting procedure is presented. This rigor- steam has complicating effects on energy consumption,
ous procedure is based on the use of commercial simula- which will be discussed in another paper. (2) Increase
tors, departing from the use of charts, rules of thumb, of the supply and/or the thermal quality. Withdrawing
and other approximations. certain products in the vapor phase instead of in a liquid
phase has the advantage that condensation heat is
Heat Demand-Supply Diagram released at a higher temperature. This option is not
explored in this paper, mainly because it is a major
Heat demand-supply diagrams are an extension of departure from the conventional scheme. (3) Improve-
the concept of temperature-enthalpy diagrams.12-17 In ment of match between demand and supply. Assume
the demand-supply diagram, a stream is represented that there is a large heat surplus in a moderate-
by a curve. This curve represents the product of mass temperature range and a heat deficit in a higher-
flow rate and specific heat capacity (true or apparent temperature range. One way to improve this mismatch
in the case of phase changing streams) as a function of is to move a part of the heat surplus to a higher
temperature. A schematic heat demand-supply dia- temperature by increasing the duties of the pump-
gram for typical crude fractionation units, like the one around circuits. The design procedure proposed in this
of Figure 1, is shown in Figure 2. paper relies on the idea of distributing heat among the
In setting up the diagram, a heat demand line is first condenser and pump-around circuits. We focus on this
drawn and used as a background. The crude is the only procedure next.
cold stream. In some cases, as proposed by Liebmann
et al.,9 water at room temperature to produce steam is Pump-Around Circuits and Heat Recovery
also considered a cold stream. However, in many
refineries, low-pressure steam is in surplus, and it can The original purpose of adding pump-around circuits
be considered as a cheap or even free heat source. To was to reduce vapor and liquid traffic at the top section
locate the hot streams (heat supply), the usual mini- of the column2. Without pump-around circuits, all
mum temperature difference is used. Thus, the tem- condensation heat has to be removed from the con-
peratures of hot streams are shifted to the left by this denser, which results in a large vapor flow rate at the
minimum difference, which has been traditionally named top trays. We explore now the limit of heat that could
the heat recovery minimum approximation temperature be removed from a pump-around circuit.
(HRAT). The area below the heat demand line repre- Maximum Heat Duty of Pump-Around Circuits.
sents the total heat demand of the unit without heat In Figure 3, envelope III contains k pump-around
recovery. circuits. To calculate the maximum pump-around duty,
620 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001

applying eq 4 accordingly, one can find the maximum

heat duty for each pump-around circuit.
It can be shown through an overall heat balance that
the total amount of heat to be removed from the column
depends on the yields of the products. In addition,
shifting heat from envelope II to envelope III results in
a decrease of Lj-1. Thus, the shifting can take place as
long as Lj-1 remains positive.
Effect of Heat Shifting on Separation. It is well-
known that heat shifting reduces separation efficiency.
The presence of the pump-around circuit decreases the
number of effective ideal trays.5 The effect can be even
more detrimental to separation if the flow rate of a
pump-around circuit is increased. As we shall see later,
these effects can be compensated to a certain extent by
increasing the steam rates in the side strippers. Another
solution is to increase the number of trays. However,
with the total number of trays kept constant, the
Figure 3. Heat balance of the distillation column. aforementioned relationship between heat recovery and
steam consumption can be incorporated into the design
we carry out a heat balance for this envelope.
procedure.
VW W O O
FZhFZ + VFZhFZ + Lj-1hLj-1 + ∑ Fsihsi + k∈III
i∈III
∑ Qk ) Design Procedure
LOhLO + ∑ Fpihpi +
i∈III
VW W
j hVj + VO O
j hVj (1) We now summarize the technique for designing a
multipurpose energy-efficient atmospheric column. First,
the Watkins design method is used to obtain an initial
In eq 1, VW O
FZ and VFZ are the steam flow rate at the scheme without pump-around circuits. Then, a heat
flash zone and the hydrocarbon vapor flow rate at the demand-supply diagram is constructed, and the direc-
flash zone, respectively and VW O
j and Vj are the steam tion of heat shifting needed for maximum energy
flow rate at tray j and the hydrocarbon vapor flow rate efficiency is determined. This procedure is repeated for
at tray j, respectively. Note that VFZ ) VW O
FZ + VFZ and at least the lightest crude and the heaviest crude that
W O
Vj ) Vj + Vj . It is assumed that water is insoluble in will be processed. Thus, the design procedure is divided
liquid streams. into two parts: the targeting procedure and the multi-
By applying material balance of hydrocarbons to purpose heat exchanger network design. This paper
envelope I, one obtains focuses on the targeting procedure, which is presented
next. After this, the goals of the heat exchanger network
VO
FZ ) LO + ∑
i∈I
Fpi (2) design procedure are outlined. The heat exchanger
network design procedure is presented in Part II.
Step 1. Begin with the lightest crude to be processed.
Similarly, material balances for envelopes II and III are As the lightest crude has the highest yields of light
distillates, the supply of heat is the largest. Next, the
VO
j ) Lj-1 + ∑Fpi major design parameters (the number of trays in each
i∈II section, the pressure drop, and the amount of stripping

∑ Fsi
steam) are chosen using the guidelines offered by
VW W
j ) VFZ + (3) Watkins with one exception: No pump-around circuits
i∈III
are included at this point.
Replacing VO W O Step 2. The simulation is performed next. Usually,
FZ, Vj , and Vj in eq 1, one obtains
the column is not difficult to converge, as the liquid
∑ Qk ) LO(hL
k∈III
O
- hO
FZ) + ∑
i∈III
Fpi(hpi - hO
FZ) +
reflux ratio is large.
Step 3. The heat demand-supply diagram is con-
structed.
∑
i∈II
Fpi(hVO - hO
j
W W W
FZ) + VFZ(hV - hFZ) +j Step 4. The maximum amount of heat is transferred
to a pump-around circuit located in the region between
∑
i∈III
Fsi(hVW - hsi) + Lj-1(hVO - hL
j j
) (4)
j-1
the top tray and the first product withdrawal tray. The
location of the pump-around circuit withdrawal and the
return temperature are conveniently chosen so that the
There are six terms on the right-hand side of eq 4. energy recovery is maximized. This step is discussed
The first through the fifth terms represent the conden- further when presenting the example.
sation heat of the overflash stream LO, the condensation Step 5. If the product gap becomes smaller than
heat of the products leaving envelope III, the apparent required, the stripping steam flow rate is increased to
heat released by the hydrocarbon vapor VO j , and the
fix the gap. As long as the steam added has a lower cost
apparent heat released by the steam streams. The last than the energy saved, one can continue shifting loads.
term stands for the vaporization heat of the internal Otherwise, it is advisable to stop when a trade-off has
reflux Lj-1. Apparently, when Lj-1 goes to zero, the heat been reached.
removal from envelope III reaches its maximum. By Step 6. If there is heat surplus from the pump-around
including more pump-arounds in envelope III and circuit just added, transfer the heat to the next pump-
 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001 621

Table 1. Feedstock Used for the Design Table 5. Tray Requirements in Watkins Design
density throughput number
crude (kg/m3) (m3/h) separation of trays
light crude 845 (36.0 API) 795 light naphtha to heavy naphtha 6-8
intermediate crude 889 (27.7 API) 795 heavy naphtha to light distillate 6-8
heavy crude 934 (20.0 API) 795 light distillate to heavy distillate 4-6
heavy distillate to gas oil 4-6
Table 2. TBP Data flash zone to first draw tray 3-4
temperature (°C) steam stripping sections 4

light intermediate heavy Table 6. Comparative Results of No Pump-Around and

vol % crude crude crude One Pump-Around Schemes
5 45 94 133 no one
10 82 131 237 product pump-around pump-around
30 186 265 344
naphtha flow rate 250 m3/h 248 m3/h
50 281 380 482
kerosene flow rate 144 m3/h 146 m3/h
70 382 506 640
diesel flow rate 70 m3/h 70 m3/h
90 552 670 N/A
gas oil flow rate 121 m3/h 121 m3/h
residue flow rate 211 m3/h 211 m3/h
Table 3. Light-End Composition of Crude
kerosene stripping steam ratioa 9.82 9.68
vol % diesel stripping steam ratio 10.22 10.27
gas oil stripping steam ratio 10.12 10.11
light intermediate heavy
residue stripping steam ratio 10.19 10.19
compound crude crude crude
kerosene-naphtha (5%-95%) gap 25.12 °C 23.0 °C
ethane 0.13 0.1 0 (5-95) diesel-kerosene gap 5.14 °C 5.31 °C
propane 0.78 0.3 0.04 (5-95) gas oil- diesel gap 0.93 °C 0.91 °C
isobutane 0.49 0.2 0.04 kerosene withdrawal temperature 238.8 °C 237.1 °C
n-butane 1.36 0.7 0.11 diesel withdrawal temperature 298.7 °C 298.7 °C
isopentane 1.05 0 0.14 gas oil withdrawal temperature 338.7 °C 338.7 °C
n-pentane 1.30 0 0.16 residue withdrawal temperature 347.8 °C 347.8 °C
total 5.11 1.3 0.48 condenser duty 103.86 MW 41.70 MW
condenser temperature range 155-43.3 °C 146.4-43.3 °C
Table 4. Product Specifications and Withdrawal Tray pump-around 1 duty - 62.14 MW
withdrawal pump-around 1 temperature range - 179.6-104.4 °C
product specification tray flash zone temperature 358.6 °C 358.6 °C
energy consumption (E) 103.78 MW 96.77 MW
naphtha D86 (95% point) ) 182 °C 1
a
kerosene D86 (95% point) ) 271 °C 9 Steam amount in lb/h over the amount of product in bbl/h.
diesel D86 (95% point) ) 327 °C 16
gas oil D86 (95% point) ) 377-410 °C 25 are estimated and adjusted to 10 lb per barrel of
overflash rate 0.03 product, as suggested by Watkins. The total energy
kerosene-naphtha (5-95) gap g 16.7 °C
diesel-kerosene (5-95) gap g 0 °C consumption (E) is calculated using the following ex-
gas oil-diesel (5-95) gap ) -5.6 °C to -11 °C pression:
feed tray 29
total trays 34
E ) U + 0.7 ∑Hsi (5)
around circuit between draws in the same way as in
step 4. If not, stop. where U is the minimum heating utility obtained using
At this stage, once this procedure is repeated for straight pinch analysis and ∑Hsi is the summation of
different crudes, one is left with heat removal targets energy flow of all steam streams. Because low-pressure
from the condenser, the products, and several pump- steam is cheaper than fuel gas with the same amount
around circuit streams. Typically, because the light of heat content, a weight factor of 0.7 is used for the
crude is the one that needs a larger reflux, it exhibits a steam. The total energy consumption is used as an
larger amount of pump-around circuit duties. After objective function.
these targets are determined, it is shown that there is Simulation results for the initial scheme with no
still some flexibility to move heat from one pump-around pump-around circuits are shown in Table 6. Note the
to another, a feature that may be helpful in the final product gaps are well above the specifications.
design of the heat exchanger network or for retrofit. The The heat demand-supply diagram corresponding to
above procedure is illustrated first. The results of this the solution in Table 6 is shown in Figure 4. There is a
targeting procedure are used as motivating material for huge heat surplus in the condenser region, which results
discussing the goals of the multipurpose heat exchanger in a large cooling utility. Meanwhile, a large heat deficit
network, which is presented in Part II. exists above 155 °C. As the total heat supply is almost
constant, the way toward energy savings is to change
Illustration the heat supply profile. That is, instead of supplying
all heat at a low temperature, some heat can be supplied
The properties of the light crude, intermediate crude, at a higher temperature where the heat demand is
and heavy crude are shown in Tables 1-3. Table 4 larger than the heat supply. In other words, transfer
indicates the specifications of the products. The product some heat from the condenser to a pump-around circuit,
withdraw locations are determined according to Wat- as indicated by the arrow in Figure 4.
kins’ guidelines, and the results are shown in Table 5. One Pump-Around Circuit. If a pump-around is
There are 34 trays in the main column and 4 trays in above all of the side-withdrawal product lines, the heat
each stripper. The flow rates of stripping steam streams that can be transferred from the condenser will be the
622 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001

Figure 5. Heat demand-supply diagram for crude distillation

Figure 4. Heat demand-supply diagram for crude distillation
with a top pump-around.
without pump-around circuits.

maximum. Therefore, the first pump-around has to be Table 7. Effect of Increasing PA2 Duty without
Changing Steam Flow Rates
above the kerosene withdrawal tray. The question is the
number of trays that one should put between the 1 2
condenser and the top pump-around region. We recom- duty of PA2 29.31 MW 33.71 MW
mend that the top pump-around region be adjacent to duty of PA1 32.83 MW 28.43 MW
the condenser. No tray is put in between. This recom- duty of condenser 41.94 MW 42.03 MW
mendation is based on the observation that the trays (5-95) kerosene-naphtha gap 18.49 °C 16.60 °C
below a product withdraw line and above an adjacent (5-95) diesel-kerosene gap 1.63 °C 1.48 °C
(5-95) gas oil-diesel gap 1.22 °C 1.23 °C
pump-around circuit receive little reflux and barely energy consumption 70.59 MW 67.35 MW
contribute to separation. The pump-around stream is
withdrawn from tray 4, cooled in the heat exchangers, of PA1, a second pump-around is installed at the
and returned to tray 2. The return temperature is 104.4 position indicated in Figure 5.
°C, which is optimized after the duty is determined. Two Pump-Around Circuits. The second pump-
The duty of the top pump-around (PA1) is increased around (PA2) is positioned between tray 10 and tray
gradually, and product gaps are examined in each 12, just below the kerosene withdrawal tray. The return
simulation. The kerosene-naphtha gap decreases with temperature is chosen to be approximately equal to the
the increase in the PA1 duty but remains well above withdrawal temperature of PA1. A lower temperature
the specification, while the other gaps are almost would result in a heat surplus in the region of PA1,
unchanged. The heat shift continues without violating whereas a very high return temperature would not alter
the gap specifications until the reflux ratio is around the energy savings but would result in heavier liquid
0.1. Further heat shift would result in liquid drying up traffic in the PA2 region. With the increase in the PA2
on the top tray. Thus, the limit of the heat shifting has duty, the gap between kerosene and naphtha decreases
been reached. The duty of 62 MW represents the total quickly. Table 7 shows the change in the gaps as a
amount of heat one could obtain from all pump-around function of the duty of pump-around PA2.
circuits. The following steps consist of distributing this When the duty of PA2 is larger than 33.7 MW, the
amount of heat properly among several pump-around kerosene-naphtha gap does not satisfy the specifica-
circuits. The main operation variables of the scheme tion. To recover this gap, one could increase the strip-
with one pump-around are shown in Table 6. ping steam flow rate or increase the number of trays in
The major conclusions are as follows: (1) The total the naphtha-kerosene section. The former option is
energy consumption (E) decreases by 7 MW compared used in this work, as the latter might not be sufficient
to the no pump-around scheme. (2) The kerosene- or even practical on its own. The kerosene and diesel
naphtha gap is reduced from 25 to 23 °C, remaining stripping steam flow rates are adjusted with a controller
well above the specification of 16.7 °C. (3) The yield in which the gap specifications are defined.
of naphtha decreases, and the yield of kerosene in- With the help of the stripping steam, it is possible to
creases. This is because some light components of the move more heat from PA1 to PA2. The trade-off between
vapor are absorbed by the cold pump-around stream and increasing the energy recovery and spending more
carried to the kerosene withdrawal tray. Note that the steam is evaluated using eq 5. Heat shifting continues
total yield of the two products remains constant. (4) until the liquid reflux at the kerosene withdrawal tray
Little change takes place below the kerosene withdrawal is small and/or the kerosene-naphtha gap cannot be
tray. recovered even with increased amounts of stripping
We now turn our attention to the resulting heat steam. This is a limit imposed by the separation
demand-supply diagram (Figure 5). The shaded area requirement. The limiting case is shown in Table 9 (first
is the energy savings achieved by adding PA1. The heat column) and should be compared with the second
surplus in the condenser region is greatly reduced, but column of Table 6.
it is still significant. However, it is impossible to shift The major changes from one pump-around to two
more heat from the condenser to PA1. pump-around circuits are: (1) The net energy consump-
The return temperature of PA1 is not important in tion decreases sharply by 32 MW. (2) The flow rate of
terms of energy consumption, because the heat surplus the kerosene stripping steam is nearly doubled. The
is larger than the demand below the PA1 withdrawal large amount of extra steam is used to strip a significant
temperature. To reduce the heat surplus in the region amount of light components in the kerosene withdrawal
 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001 623

Table 9. Comparative Results for Two and Three

Pump-Around Circuits
two three
product pump-around pump-around
naphtha flow rate 244 m3/h 244 m3/h
kerosene flow rate 145.6 m3/h 145.5 m3/h
diesel flow rate 73.6 m3/h 72.5 m3/h
gas oil flow rate 121.6 m3/h 123.85 m3/h
residue flow rate 210.5 m3/h 209.7 m3/h
kerosene stripping steam ratioa 19.02 18.04
diesel stripping steam ratio 8.11 12.54
gas oil stripping steam ratio 7.84 7.71
residue stripping steam ratio 10.20 10.24
(5-95) kerosene-naphtha gap 16.7 °C 16.7 °C
(5-95) diesel-kerosene gap 0 °C 0 °C
(5-95) gas oil-diesel gap -2.0 °C -2.9 °C
kerosene withdrawal temperature 202.2 °C 212.7 °C
Figure 6. Heat demand-supply diagram for crude distillation diesel withdrawal temperature 291.2 °C 289.9 °C
with two pump-around circuits. gas oil withdrawal temperature 336.1 °C 338.9 °C
residue withdrawal temperature 347.9 °C 348.2 °C
Table 8. Effect of the Duty of PA3 on Energy condenser duty 42.4 MW 43.3 MW
Consumption condenser temperature range 143.6-43.3 °C 143.5-43.3 °C
pump-around 1 duty 22.3 MW 22.3 MW
PA3 duty (MW) energy consumption (MW) pump-around 1temperature range 169.2-104.4 °C 169.4-104.4 °C
pump-around 2 duty 42.5 MW 33.7 MW
6.45 61.96 pump-around 2 temperature range 257.9-171.1 °C 255.3-171.1 °C
8.79 61.64 pump-around 3 duty - 8.8 MW
13.19 61.67 pump-around 3 temperature range - 310.6-232.2 °C
23.45 63.76 flash zone temperature 358.7 °C 359 °C
26.67 64.56 energy consumption 64.73 MW 61.64 MW
a Steam amount in lb/h over the amount of product in bbl/h.
stream. The top section of the column becomes less hot
because of the increased stripping steam. The kerosene
withdrawal temperature drops by 33 °C. (3) The yield
of diesel increases while the yield of naphtha decreases.
The heat demand-supply diagram (Figure 6) shows
a good match, and the pinch temperature increases to
the value of the PA2 withdrawal temperature. The heat
surplus in the region of PA1 is still high, but further
shifting would cost too much steam to be beneficial.
Therefore, this remaining heat surplus is useless.
Now, the only heat surplus transferable is located in
the PA2 circuit, shown as the shaded area in Figure 6.
To make use of this heat surplus, it is necessary to add
a third pump-around circuit.
Three Pump-Around Scheme. The third pump-
around (PA3) is located between tray 17 and tray 19. Figure 7. Heat demand-supply diagram for crude distillation
The return temperature is 232 °C. Heat is shifted with three pump-around circuits.
gradually from PA2 to PA3, with the gaps maintained
by adjusting steam flow rates. The effect of the duty of changes as a function of the duty of the third pump-
PA3 on energy consumption is shown in Table 8. A around. With the increase in these duties, the temper-
summary of all of the variables is given in Table 9. atures of the products and the pump-around circuits
At the beginning, the energy consumption decreases decrease.
with the increase in the duty of PA3. However, when Finally, the effect of the pump-around return tem-
the PA3 duty exceeds 8.8 MW, the energy consumption peratures is briefly explored. As the pinch temperature
stays constant in a rather wide range (Table 8). This is is located in the region of PA2, its return temperature
because little heat surplus exists in the region of PA2. affects the energy consumption. Figure 9 shows this
Therefore, more heat shifting makes no difference. effect. In this figure, PA3 is not shown for simplicity.
Beyond this stable range, increased heat shifting to PA3 The dotted line is the new PA2 region with a higher
results in an increase in energy consumption because return temperature, and the shaded areas are the
of the increased use of steam, which means that the cost changes incurred. When the PA2 duty is constant, a
of additional steam consumption outweighs the gain in higher return temperature results in a lower with-
energy recovery. Clearly, 8.8 MW is the right point at drawal temperature. The total effect depends on the
which to stop. This effect cannot be captured with other trade-off between these two effects or the area difference
design procedures. between the shaded triangle and the shaded rectangle.
Figure 7 is the heat demand-supply diagram. The The trade-off is shown in Table 10. The optimal return
heat surplus previously in the region of PA2 (Figure 6) temperature is found to be 177.8 °C.
has been moved to the PA3, which accounts for the At this point, we have reached the best scheme for
decrease in energy consumption. the light crude. Next, we perform the same analysis for
It should be pointed out that the distribution of pump- the heavy crude.
around duty has a remarkable effect on the column Heavy Crude. The total energy consumption and the
temperature profile. Figure 8 shows stream temperature pump-around duty distribution are shown in Table 11.
624 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001

Figure 10. Heat demand-supply diagram for heavy crude

distillation.

Table 12. Results for Heavy Crude

Figure 8. Pump-around withdrawal temperatures and product product heavy crude
temperatures as a function of the duty of the third pump-around naphtha flow rate 55.37 m3/h
(light crude). kerosene flow rate 48.64 m3/h
diesel flow rate 69.36 m3/h
gas oil flow rate 29.37 m3/h
residue flow rate 592.51 m3/h
kerosene stripping steam ratioa 1.63
diesel stripping steam ratio 2.98
gas oil stripping steam ratio 37.9
residue stripping steam ratio 2.68
(5-95) kerosene-naphtha gap 26.07 °C
(5-95) diesel-kerosene gap 0.86 °C
(5-95) gas oil- diesel gap -5.84 °C
kerosene withdrawal temperature 259.7 °C
diesel withdrawal temperature 317.4 °C
gas oil withdrawal temperature 344.4 °C
residue withdrawal temperature 366.7 °C
condenser duty 14.8 MW
condenser temperature range 123.3-18.5 °C
PA1 duty 20.8 MW
PA1 temperature range 175.7-104.4 °C
flash zone temperature 353.2 °C
energy consumption 81.49 MW
Figure 9. Effect of the return temperature of PA2 on energy a Steam amount in lb/h over the amount of product in bbl/h.
consumption.
Table 13. Effect of the HRAT on Energy Consumption
Table 10. Effect of the Return Temperature of PA2 on (Light Crude)
Energy Consumption
HRAT PA1 duty PA2 duty PA3 duty energy consumption
PA2 return withdrawal diesel energy (°C) (MW) (MW) (MW) (MW)
temperature temperature stripping steam consumption
(°C) (°C) (MW) (MW) 5.6 22.3 34 8.8 61
22.2 22.3 29 8.8 69.8
171.1 255.3 2.15 61.64 44.4 22.3 23 13.2 81.2
177.8 254.4 2.17 60.91
193.3 251.9 2.25 61.96
crude require the PA2 and PA3 heat exchangers,
Table 11. Effect of Pump-Around Duties on Energy shifting heat from PA1 to PA2 and PA3 in the heavy
Consumptiona crude design might be necessary. (2) When heat is
PA1 duty PA2 duty PA3 duty energy consumption shifted to PA2 and PA3, more steam is needed for the
(MW) (MW) (MW) (MW) diesel stripper to regain the kerosene-diesel gap. The
diesel stripping steam flow rates for the designs with
0 0 0 24.27
6.10 0 0 23.88 one, two, and three pump-around circuits are 32.5, 48.5,
2.32 4.34 0 23.88 and 113.4 kg mol/h, respectively. Although the steam
2.32 2.20 2.14 23.79 consumption increases, the total energy consumption is
a Heavy crude, ∆T ) 5.6 °C.
barely affected because the heat from the extra steam
is utilized to cover the heat deficit in the condenser
The heat demand-supply diagram and the operation region. (3) The separation of kerosene and diesel in the
variables for a scheme with three pump-around circuits column is much easier than that of the light crude.
are shown in Figure 10 and Table 12. The following Before stripping, the gap between kerosene and naphtha
results are observed: (1) The energy consumption is 17.2 °C, satisfying the separation requirement.
changes very little when heat is shifted from the
condenser to the pump-around circuits, especially when Effect of the Minimum Temperature Approach
heat is shifted from PA1 to PA2 or PA3. This is because The effect of the HRAT on the optimal pump-around
there is no heat surplus in the condenser region (Figure duty distribution is shown in Tables 13-15. Note that,
10). However, because the light crude and the medium for the light crude, the PA3 duty increases with the
 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001 625

Table 14. Effect of the HRAT on Energy Consumption

(Heavy Crude)
HRAT PA1 duty PA2 duty PA3 duty energy consumption
(°C) (MW) (MW) (MW) (MW)
5.6 7.9 7.5 7.3 81.2
22.2 22.6 0 0 86.4
44.4 22.6 0 0 93.1

Table 15. Effect of the HRAT on Energy Consumption

(Medium Crude)
HRAT PA1 duty PA2 duty PA3 duty energy consumption
(°C) (MW) (MW) (MW) (MW)
5.6 15.2 26.4 0 63.1 Figure 11. Heat demand-supply diagram for light crude includ-
22.2 15.2 26.4 0 70.4 ing steam as cold stream.
44.4 15.2 26.4 0 79.9
If one assumes that steam is another heat sink, then
increase in the HRAT. This can be explained using the the location of the pinch changes. Figure 11 shows the
heat demand-supply diagram (Figure 7). When the demand-supply diagram of the light crude. The heavy
HRAT is 5.6 °C, there is almost no heat surplus in the solid curve represents the heat demand for both the
region of PA2. However, when the HRAT is increased, crude and the steam. The heat demand for the crude is
the crude demand curve is moved to the right, and heat shown as a broken curve for comparison. In this figure,
surplus appears again. Thus, the heat surplus needs to a heat surplus can be observed in the PA2 region. To
be reduced to achieve the maximum energy savings. The utilize the heat surplus, there are three options: shift
heavy crude behaves differently. As there is no heat the heat to the third pump-around, produce low-pres-
surplus in the region of the condenser and PA1, shifting sure steam, or install a reboiler for stripping kerosene.
heat from PA1 to PA2 or PA3 does not reduce the net Each option has its advantage. Shifting the heat
heat demand but does require more stripping steam to surplus to the third pump-around can reduce the duty
keep the product gaps. At low HRATs (e.g., 5.6 °C), most of the furnace. Heat provided by the furnace is relatively
of the heat coming from the condenser can be used expensive, because the furnace is usually less efficient
because of the heat deficit in the condenser region. than a boiler. However, heat shifting from PA2 to PA3
However, when the HRAT is raised, the overlap between deteriorates the separation, and consequently, extra
the crude curve and the condenser curve reduces, and steam is needed for stripping gas oil. Thus, the choice
part of the heat from the condenser is at a temperature between the first two options is a matter of a cost-
that is too low to be used. In such a case, the heat from benefit analysis, and it cannot be determined merely
the increased steam cannot be used. Therefore, heat on energy savings considerations.
shifting to the lower pump-around circuits is not The choice between producing steam versus installing
beneficial. a reboiler depends on the quantity of light components
These calculations were also performed for the inter- to be stripped. The use of steam is more efficient for
mediate crude (Table 15). In this case, the heat distri- stripping a small amount of light components, whereas
bution does not change with the HRAT. This is because a reboiler is better for removing a relatively large
there is always a heat surplus in the region of PA1 and number of components.4,9 It is also possible that a
a heat deficit in the region of PA2. The heat surplus in combination of these options offers an optimal solution.
the region of PA1 prompts maximum heat shift to PA2, To find the best design, all options should be carefully
while the heat deficit in PA2 excludes the need for evaluated.
shifting heat to PA3. Thus, the optimal solution is to When steam is considered free or is priced as it is
maximize the duty of PA2. proposed in this article, without allowing its production
to participate in the design procedure, then the instal-
Flexibility lation of reboilers should be analyzed using the demand-
The basis of this design procedure is the transferring supply diagram offered in Figure 6 or 7. In this case,
of heat duty from the condenser to the lower pump- the shifting of heat to PA3 is energy-savings-related,
around circuits. In doing so, limits to this transfer are and reboilers needs to be included by using some other
encountered. In addition, heat surplus can be trans- external heat source because process heat is no longer
ferred back. For example, the heat surplus observed in available in this case. Thus, the installation of reboilers
the pump-around PA1 for the light crude (Figure 7) can only influence the steam consumption, but it is
could, in principle, be transferred back to the condenser replaced by a similar duty. The choice is, therefore, not
without affecting the utility consumption. Such flex- driven by energy savings, but by a cost-benefit analysis
ibility is further discussed in Part II. that depends on the cost of installing the reboilers and
their efficiency relative to that of direct steam.
Reboilers
Applicability to Other Crudes
Reboilers are rarely used in conventional crude distil-
lation because their installation is expensive and some- The light and heavy crude represent two extremes in
times they are less efficient than steam stripping. the raw material spectrum. Any other crude can be
However, Liebmann et al. 9 suggested that the use of thought of as a mixture of the two crudes. Based on the
reboilers could lead to energy savings. This conclusion above information, we can design an optimal HEN that
is made by analyzing a scenario in which water to allows several crudes to be processed at optimal condi-
produce steam is considered as another cold stream. We tions. The conjecture is that building a network that
now revisit this analysis. addresses the extremes also allows for the processing
626 Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., Vol. 40, No. 2, 2001

of a crude of intermediate density at maximum energy VO

FZ ) hydrocarbon vapor flow rate at flash zone
efficiency. This possibility is explored in more detail in Vj ) vapor flow rate at tray j
Part II. VjO ) hydrocarbon vapor flow rate at tray j
U ) minimum heating utility excluding steam, MW
Conclusion
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The Design Of Crude Fractionation Units With Pre-Flashing.
S ) steam Proceedings of Escape 10. Florence, Italy, 2000.
SD ) diesel stripping steam
SG ) gas oil stripping steam
SK ) kerosene stripping steam
Received for review March 7, 2000
SR ) residue stripping steam
Accepted October 3, 2000
VWj ) water (steam) flow rate at tray j
VFZ ) vapor flow rate at flash zone
VWFZ ) water (steam) flow rate at flash zone IE000302+