Special Focus Refinery of the Future

G. SAIDULU, M. K. YADAV, V. K. SATHEESH,

A. S. SAHNEY and D. BHATTACHARYYA,
Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. (IOCL), Haryana, India

Design and troubleshoot the orifice chamber

in an FCCU
The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process remains one of ing the coke using air in the regenerator. The coke burning
the most important secondary conversion processes due to its process is highly exothermic, which meets the heat demand
inherent capability to upgrade residual streams and its flexibil- for feed vaporization, endothermic cracking reactions and the
ity to maximize the desired product, depending on market dy- increase in sensible heat for all incoming streams, such as air,
namics. Data on global capacities indicated that FCC capacity steam, purge gas and losses.
(approximately 840 MMtpy) in 2010 exceeded the combined The flue gas from the regenerator is passed to a cooler via
capacity of hydrocrackers and delayed cokers. In general, FCC the DDSV and OC—the DDSV controls the pressure of the
units (FCCUs) are significant contributors to refinery mar- regenerator, while the OC kills the pressure before venting
gins and usually operate under constraints that push their op- through the flue gas stack. In some units that process resid
erational boundaries. feed, regeneration is carried out in two stages. Regenera-
FCCUs are highly versatile with respect to handling a vari- tors are typically operated at a temperature of 650°C–760°C
ety of feedstocks, adjusting the operating severity and catalyst (1,202°F–1,400°F) and a pressure of 1.8 kg/cm2(g)–3.5 kg/
composition without requiring shutdown of the unit to meet cm2(g), depending on the configuration.
the changing market demands. The units are often revamped The reactor effluent is fed to the main fractionator for sepa-
significantly beyond their original design capacities and regu- ration of the liquid products, depending on the boiling points
larly debottlenecked to push higher throughputs. as side draws. The top stream from the main fractionator is
Continual advances in zeolite-based catalyst have signifi- passed through the gas concentration plant for further sepa-
cantly contributed to enhancing FCCU performance. Depend- ration based on molecular weight. Debottlenecking in an R-R
ing on unit configuration, operating conditions and feedstock section is more complex compared to a separation section due
quality, FCCUs are operated with bottlenecks. While debottle- to the involvement of simultaneous cracking and combustion
necking results in improved operation, it also generates/hits a reactions in the presence of circulating catalyst.
new bottleneck. Regular debottlenecking essentially leads to
an extreme operating environment for the unit hardware, es- Orifice chamber. The OC contains perforated plates de-
pecially the internals. signed to progressively reduce the flue gas pressure while
Erosion in cyclones, air distributors, standpipes, double- achieving stable pressure downstream of the DDSV. Without
disc slide valves (DDSVs) and orifice chambers (OCs) in an OC, the flue gas velocity through the DDSV would be very
the reactor-regenerator section is quite common due to con- high, generating considerable noise and causing faster erosion.
tinuous contact with circulating catalyst. Erosion challenges Pressure drop across the OC and DDSV varies in proportion to
are aggravated when the units are operated beyond 120% of the square of the velocity. Typical orifice velocities across the
original design capacity. Restoring damaged cyclones, air dis- DDSV and OC are approximately 250 m/sec and 150 m/sec,
tributors and slide-valve discs is generally carried out during respectively. Theoretically, it is possible to operate the DDSV
maintenance and inspection shutdowns. However, the resto- and OC at much higher velocities, but increased noise and ero-
ration of partially eroded nozzles in an OC is difficult within sion can cause mechanical damage.
the limited shutdown period. Preferably, the orifice should be circular, as it greatly influ-
ences the discharge co-efficient and the pressure drop. Due
FCC process. An FCCU encompasses two main sections, the to a lack of adequate maintenance for restoring the eroded
reactor-regenerator (R-R) section and the separation section, nozzles in the OC, the load—in terms of pressure drop on the
which comprises the main fractionator and gas concentration DDSV—often increases. This essentially erodes DDSV discs,
plant. In the R-R section, the hydrocarbon feed (with steam) is resulting in a reduction in feed throughput and the eventual
contacted with up-flowing hot solid catalyst in the riser, where replacement of the DDSV discs. Since refiners generally do
it cracks into smaller and more volatile compounds. During not have the facilities to fully repair damaged DDSV discs, the
the reactions, catalyst is deactivated due to the deposition of debottlenecking of the OC through the incorporation of ad-
coke on the active sites. The catalyst is rejuvenated by burn- ditional grids is recommended.
Hydrocarbon Processing | JULY 201739
 Refinery of the Future

Design principles. An OC typically contains four to eight in downstream equipment—DDSVs, OCs, CO boilers/flue gas
grids with nozzles of 1-in. to 2-in. diameter, depending on unit coolers—can be caused by high gas velocities and the presence
capacity and the required pressure drop. The pressure drop of catalyst fines. Erosion of orifice nozzles further aggravates
across each grid can be calculated using Eq. 1 and Eq. 2: catalyst loss from the regenerator and can be caused by inferior
fresh catalyst properties, pressure fluctuations and damage of
( )
2
v 2

1
A f
A p  R-R hardware internals, among others. An active open area in
∆P =   (1) the orifice grids increases due to erosion, which reduces the OC
2g cC 2Y 2 pressure drop. This increases the pressure drop requirement
where: across the DDSV.
ΔP Pressure drop through plate, kg/cm2
v Velocity through orifice, m/sec Troubleshooting through debottlenecking. Debottleneck-
ρ Gas density at upstream condition conditions, kg/m3 ing is the removal of any obstacles or constraints in any equip-
Af Orifice plate free area, m2 ment, plant or process to increase efficiency and workability,
Ap Orifice plate area, m2 improve conversion, selectivity and reliability, and troubleshoot
gc 9.81 m/sec2 specific problems. The most important aspect of debottleneck-
C Discharge coefficient ing any equipment or unit is the capture of performance data
Y Compressibility factor through a controlled and comprehensive test run. Three case
studies on the debottlenecking of OCs in different Indian Oil
0.586339 + 0.658563 (t / D)
Corp. FCCUs are presented here.
0.34458 (t / D)2
0.057288 (t / D)3
C= (2) Case study 1. The first case study is on the reliability improve-
(P / D)0.1 ment of an FCCU operated in distillate mode with a partial
where: combustion regenerator. The unit was revamped to 150% by ex-
t Plate thickness panding the regenerator capacity and associated modifications,
D Hole diameter including the feed injectors. Furthermore, the main fractionator
P Hole pitch. and gas concentration sections were debottlenecked to enhance
Eq. 2 is valid for a t/D ratio between 0.4 and 2.4, and a feed throughput by an additional 20%.
Reynolds number between 4,000 and 20,000. The volumetric The unit was experiencing high catalyst loss due to higher su-
flowrate of flue gas increases from one orifice grid to the other perficial velocity in the regenerator due to higher feed through-
due to pressure reduction. Accordingly, the required number of put. Apart from severe erosion in cyclones due to high catalyst
nozzles are kept open to maintain uniform velocity across the loss, the unit was also facing the challenge of a low DDSV open-
orifice grid. Excessive velocity at the orifice grid is avoided to ing. The pressure drop across the DDSV was almost twice the
minimize damage of the OC grids. design value. As the problem was aggravated over a period of op-
The quantity of flue gas passing through the DDSV and eration, the DDSV opening gradually reduced to 3%–4%, lead-
OC can be estimated by material and energy balance calcula- ing to an unplanned unit shutdown. The DDSV discs and sup-
tions. Similarly, pressure drop across the DDSV and OC can be port guider were severely damaged. Due to the erosion of the
worked out based on single-gauge pressure survey data. Erosion guider, one of the discs was dislodged downward, increasing the

TABLE 1. Case 1: Plugging of grid nozzles TABLE 2. Case 2: Plugging of grid nozzles
Before modification Recommended Before modification Recommended
Feed throughput, 120 120 Feed throughput, 105 105
% of design % of design
Reg. pressure, kg/cm2g 3.2 3.2 Air to reg., kg/h 14,400 13,000
3 2
Air to reg., Nm /h 108,000 108,000 Reg. pressure, kg/cm g 1.95 2.2
Opening, % 4 25 Opening, % 5 30
DDSV DDSV
2 2
ΔP, kg/cm 1.45 1.2 ΔP, kg/cm 0.8 0.72
ΔP across OC, kg/cm2 2.35 2.64 ΔP across OC, kg/cm2 1.1 1.35
No. of nozzles ΔP No. of nozzles ΔP No. of nozzles ΔP No. of nozzles ΔP
2 2
Open Closed kg/cm Open Closed kg/cm Open Closed kg/cm Open Closed kg/cm2
2

Grid-1 54 36 0.37 46 44 0.48 Grid-1 14 16 0.21 10 20 0.37

Grid-2 56 34 0.38 48 42 0.5 Grid-2 16 14 0.21 12 18 0.28
Grid-3 56 34 0.43 56 34 0.42 Grid-3 18 12 0.08 14 16 0.22
Grid-4 60 30 0.44 55 35 0.51 Grid-4 19 11 0.28 16 14 0.19
Grid-5 74 16 0.36 73 17 0.36 Grid-5 20 10 0.13 18 12 0.16
Grid-6 80 10 0.37 80 10 0.37 Grid-6 24 6 0.19 20 10 0.14

40JULY 2017 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
 Refinery of the Future

vertical gap between the discs. This essentially provided more After examining the unit operating data, unlike Case 1, the
flow area, as compared to the indication of the DDSV opening. pressure drop across the OC was found to be higher, even at
The higher pressure drop across the DDSV was mainly due normal feed throughput. The blockage of some nozzles was the
to higher regenerator pressure to accommodate incremental suspected cause of the higher pressure drop. During an inspec-
feed throughput. Incidentally, measures such as the inclusion tion of the OC, it was found that the nozzles were blocked by
of an additional orifice and the plugging of nozzles in an exist- refractory debris. The orifice grid before and after cleaning is
ing OC were not implemented during the revamp to achieve shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, respectively.
the required pressure drop. Due to the passing of catalyst fines During subsequent operation, the DDSV opening was grad-
with flue gas, severe erosion of nozzles in the OC was observed, ually reduced to 3%–7%, along with an increase in pressure
particularly on the initial grids. An increase in active flow area drop across the OC that clearly indicated the erosion of DDSV
reduced the pressure drop across the OC, thereby increasing discs. Based on plant operating data, plugging 21 nozzles in the
the DDSV pressure drop. OC was recommended (TABLE 2), and this was implemented
The Indian Oil refinery was looking for a solution to the during the next opportunity shutdown. These resulted in the
problem of the low DDSV opening. Within the limited shut- restoration of feed throughput, while maintaining the opening
down time, modification of the 3rd and 6th grids was not pos- of the DDSV around 30% and an increase in OC pressure drop
sible due to inadequate accessibility. To overcome this prob- from 1.1 kg/cm2 to 1.5 kg/cm2.
lem, some of the nozzles on the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th orifice
grids, as shown in TABLE 1, were plugged as a temporary solution Case study 3. Another case of OC operation debottleneck-
rather than nozzle restoration. The nozzles were made circular ing was carried out in a resid reactor plus two-stage regenera-
by welding externally machined plates with the required orifice tor (R2R)-type FCCU with two DDSVs and one OC placed
size. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 show the nozzles before and after repair of
the OC, respectively. Installation of an additional three grids
was recommended as a long-term solution for healthy opera-
tion of the OC and DDSV.
After implementation, the DDSV opening was found to
improve from 3%–4% to 25%–30% due to an increased pres-
sure drop across the OC. The pressure across the DDSV was
reduced from 1.45 kg/cm2 to 1.2 kg/cm2. Stable opening of the
DDSV was also noticed, and the same operation continued for
more than 3 yr without additional maintenance.

Case study 2. Following an FCCU maintenance and inspec-

tion shutdown in another refinery, the DDSV opening was
found to reduce drastically to 7%. The lower DDSV opening
resulted in intermittent, high catalyst loss due to pressure fluc-
tuation. Regenerator pressure was reduced to bring the open-
ing of the DDSV to more than 15%, necessitating a reduction
in feed throughput of approximately 40%.
FIG. 2. Repaired grid.

FIG. 1. Damaged grid. FIG. 3. Orifice grid before cleaning.

Hydrocarbon Processing | JULY 201741

 Refinery of the Future

TABLE 3. Case 3: Plugging of grid nozzles

Before modification Recommended
Feed throughput, 100 100
% of design
Reg. 1 pressure, kg/cm2g 2.83 2.97
Air to Reg. 1, Nm3/h 36,740 37,265
Opening, % 12 21
DDSV-1
2
ΔP, kg/cm 0.88 0.75
Opening, % 12 23
DDSV-2
2
ΔP, kg/cm 0.77 0.6
DP across OC, kg/cm2 1.13 1.42
No. of nozzles ΔP No. of nozzles ΔP
Open Closed kg/cm2 Open Closed kg/cm2
Grid-1 20 22 0.29 18 24 0.32
Grid-2 24 18 0.23 20 22 0.3 FIG. 4. Orifice grid after cleaning.
Grid-3 27 15 0.2 23 19 0.25
Grid-4 31 11 0.16 26 16 0.22 G. SAIDULU is Chief Research Manager at the Indian Oil Corp.
Ltd. (IOCL) R&D Centre in Faridabad, India. He is engaged
Grid-5 35 7 0.14 30 12 0.18 in refinery technical services in the areas of FCCU with regard to
Grid-6 40 2 0.11 34 8 0.15 process optimization, troubleshooting and revamp, as well as
the development and commercialization of INDMAX technology.
Prior to joining IOCL, he was a production engineer
in series in the flue gas line of Regenerator 1 (RG 1). The for 3 yr for India’s Department of Atomic Energy. Mr. Saidulu
has seven patents to his credit and has published numerous research papers
flue gas produced in RG 1 contains a considerable amount of in international conferences and journals. He earned his MTech degree in chemical
carbon monoxide (CO), which is burned in a CO boiler to engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras in Chennai.
generate steam. Regenerator 2 (RG 2) is operated at a dense
bed temperature exceeding 710°C (1,310°F) to ensure com- MANOJ KUMAR YADAV is a Research Manager at the
IOCL R&D Centre. He has more than 10 yr of experience
plete combustion. in catalyst selection, process design, optimization,
Increased feed throughput was not achieved due to the troubleshooting and revamps of FCC/RFCC/INDMAX units.
higher catalyst slide valve opening (> 70%). Although the re- He has been engaged in the commercialization of the INDMAX
placement of slide valves by higher capacity can increase feed unit at the Paradip refinery, and worked as a process engineer
with Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. for 2 yr. He has published several
throughput, it is time-consuming, as standpipes must be re- papers at various international conferences, and holds an MTech degree in
placed. Another option is to increase the RG 2 dense bed tem- chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.
perature so the additional heat demand in the riser can be met
at the prevailing catalyst circulation rate. V. K. SATHEESH is Deputy General Manager at the IOCL
R&D Centre. He has more than 17 yr of experience in the
Typically, 30% of the coke is burned in RG 2. If this amount development, design, troubleshooting and modeling of refining
is increased by 7%, the RG 2 dense bed temperature is ex- processes. Mr. Satheesh leads a group engaged in technology
pected to increase by 25°C (77°F) at a given riser outlet tem- licensing, technical services and process development in the
area of catalytic cracking. He holds five patents and has
perature (ROT); the catalyst circulation rate will also increase published research papers in industry publications and at
considering a 10% increase in feed throughput. To enable this, various national and international conferences. He earned his MTech degree
some amount of RG 1 air must be diverted to RG 2. A lower in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.
air rate to RG 1 is expected to further reduce the opening of
A. S. SAHNEY is General Manager at the IOCL Paradip refinery.
the RG 1 DDSV. To achieve a healthy DDSV opening with He has more than 23 yr of functional experience in operations
reduced air to RG 1, plugging some of the nozzles in the RG and technical services at various IOCL refineries. He has also
1 OC was recommended (TABLE 3). When implemented, this commissioned and operated several refinery process units,
created a feed throughput increase of 10%. including INDMAX, RFCC, hydrocracker, various hydrotreaters,
hydrogen generation, isomerization and delayed coker units.
Mr. Sahney earned a BTech degree in chemical engineering
Takeaway. As the major secondary conversion unit in a pe- from Harcourt Butler Technical University (HBTI) in Kanpur.
troleum refinery, the FCCU presents many challenges to the
operator while maximizing the margin and achieving longer DEBASIS BHATTACHARYYA is Chief General Manager at
the IOCL R&D Centre. With more than 25 yr of experience,
turnaround periods. The inspection of the DDSV and OC is Mr. Bhattacharyya is the head of the refining technology group
critical and as important as the inspection of other internals and responsible for the development and commercialization
for improving an FCCU’s overall reliability. The debottleneck- of new technologies and value-added technical services.
He has more than 30 patents and several technical papers in
ing of an OC not only improves unit reliability, but also gener- journals and conferences to his credit. He holds a BTech degree
ates cushion to increase feed throughput and, thereby, higher in chemical engineering from Calcutta University, and an MTech degree from
refinery margins. the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur.

42JULY 2017 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com