02.understanding Process Equipment For Operators & Engineers-3

Chapter 1 • Basics of Process Operations and Engineering 3
engineer, is still largely a matter of time and determination. And, I suspect, that will always
be true as long as we try to alter the nature of hydrocarbons, minerals, water, and air to our
own human purposes.
Things I Worry About

Troubleshooting Refinery Process Equipment is the most complex activity that mankind
can undertake. I’ve been at it for 54 years, and I barely know what I’m doing. The main
problem is that process equipment is normally not designed correctly in the first place.
The original design errors are then compounded with:
• Corrosion
• Foulings
• Mis-operation
• Variable ambient condition
• Unexpected feed stocks
• Altered product spec’s
In spite of my very long experience to the contrary, I often pray for help to solve process
problems. However, instead of waiting for divine intervention, I’ve found it’s better to
understand some basic process principles such as:
• How wind affects draft?
• How reboiler duty affects thermosyphon circulation?
• How noncondensables cause vapor binding in steam condensers?
• What determines tray fractionation efficiency?
• The real function of steam in a steam stripper.
• How centrifugal pumps convert power to pressure?
• How steam turbines and steam engines are explained by thermodynamics?
• Effect of reflux on vapor flows in a distillation column.
• What causes centrifugal compressors to surge?
• How not to blow up a fired heater which has become flooded with fuel, and with fire
and black smoke being emitted from its stack?
I also talk a lot about safety, and the last chapter in this text addresses that particular prob-
lem based on my many bad refinery experiences.
The Future Without Refineries

My world, the world dominated by vehicles burning hydrocarbons, will be gone in 20 or
30 years. Much of what I know about delayed cokers, visbreakers, fluid catalytic crackers,
hydrocracking, and naphtha reforming will no longer be relevant to mankind’s future in
transportation.
4 UNDERSTANDING PROCESS EQUIPMENT FOR OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS
I suppose even after gasoline and diesel will no longer be required, the human race will
still need to process hydrocarbons for:
• Jet fuel
• Asphalt roads
• Lube oils
• Plastics
• Petrochemicals
• Carbon anodes
• Roofing shingles
• Baby oil
• Waxes
Still, the majority of petroleum refining process technology will be lost and forgotten—a
relic of the past. However, I am quite sure that the human race will persist, as long as we
require industrial technology as a species, to use:
• Centrifugal pumps
• Heat exchangers
• Gas compressors
• Vapor-liquid separators
• Electric motors
• Distillation columns
• Control valves
• Pipes, valves, and fittings
I imagine, if by chance, that I am reincarnated as a Process Engineer, in the year 3018, I will
not feel out of place, or the skills I acquired in my current life cycle will be entirely
outmoded.
If, on the other hand, I find myself in the netherworld, and am greeted by the Devil
himself, I will also feel quite at home. Once Satan realizes my vast experience in Sulfur
Plants and Fired Heaters, I am confident he will enroll me in Hell’s Process Engineering
Department.
Safety Note
Hydrocarbon leaks in water cooling service can cause explosive mixtures to form below
the distribution decks in cooling towers. Especially when cooling butane streams, this
can, and has (Amoco Oil—Texas City), caused cooling towers to ignite. Check your cooling
water outlets for combustible vapors perhaps once a month. The instrument that the
operators use to issue vessel entry permits can be employed for this purpose. Vapors tend
to accumulate beneath the distribution decks. Sludge buildup on these decks is another
indication and result of hydrocarbon leaks into the cooling water return.
Note From Author: If you have questions relating to this text or your work in general,
please email me at [email protected].
2
Factors Affecting Tray Fractionation
Efficiency
I was working on improving a refinery waste water stripper a few months back. The prob-
lem was about 1000 ppm of aromatics dissolved in the stripped water. Also, I needed to
increase the unit capacity from 50 to 80 GPM.
The tower was equipped with 30 valve type trays (see Fig. 2.1). I’ve shown a sketch of
the stripper in Fig. 2.2.
The experienced process design engineer should always begin any design retrofit project
by running a plant test. In this case, I asked Jerry, the panel operator, to increase the feed rate
from 50 to 60 GPM, and the reboiler duty from 4000 pounds per hour of steam to 4800
pounds per hour. That is, to increase both the water feed and the reboiler steam, by 20%.
Jerry objected to the 20% increase in reboiler duty. “Mr. Norm, that’s an awful lot of
extra steam! But, if that’s what you want, I’ll do it.”
I was surprised by Jerry’s caution. What would be more natural than to increase the
reboiler duty in proportion to the feed rate?
Jerry’s caution, I discovered, was based on the capacity of the boiler, in which the sour
water stripper vapors were burned. This boiler was limited by combustion air supply from
its forced draft air blower (see Fig. 2.2). A sudden surge in combustible hydrocarbons
could overwhelm the boiler’s combustion air supply.
Effect of Incremental Reboiler Steam

I had anticipated that increasing the water feed rate and the reboiler duty by 20% would
result in an increase of 20% in the fuel flow to the boiler and a 20% increase in its com-
bustion air rate. But, this was not the case. The fuel rate and combustion air rate both
surged by about 40%. Twice what I had anticipated!
What had happened?
Entrainment and Tray Efficiency

The only possibility for the disproportionate stripping effectiveness of the reboiler steam
was an improvement in contacting between the steam and the sour waste water. Since the
“STRIPPING FACTOR” is constant:
VK
S¼ , where K ¼ VPH:C: PT (2.1)
L
Understanding Process Equipment for Operators and Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816161-6.00002-3 7

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
8 UNDERSTANDING PROCESS EQUIPMENT FOR OPERATORS AND ENGINEERS
Valve caps
Downcomer
Weir
Tray
support
ring
FIG. 2.1 Distillation tray.
• V ¼ moles of steam
• L ¼ moles of water
• VPH.C. ¼ vapor pressure of the dissolved hydrocarbons
• PT ¼ tower pressure
The only possibility was that stripping efficiency must have been improved due to better
vapor-liquid contact. That is, better tray fractionation efficiency.
Tray Efficiency Calculations

In university, I was taught several methods to calculate tray fractionation efficiency. Along
with partial differential equations, particle quantum mechanics, and the history of the
house of Hapsburg, I have forgotten them all. In ordinary process applications, tray frac-
tionation efficiency is mainly a matter of:
• Tray deck levelness or sagging.
• Tray deck dumping, weeping, or leaking.
• Outlet weir levelness.
• Entrainment.
• Flow path length.
• Loss of downcomer seal.
• Tray deck hydraulic gradient.
Chapter 2 • Factors Affecting Tray Fractionation Efficiency 9
Steam
Sour off-gas
Boiler
Water
Sour water
Air
Blower
Steam
Stripped
water
FIG. 2.2 Sour water stripper.
In my experience, it is the combination of the first two factors that account for much of
poor fractionation efficiency in refineries and chemical plants. This problem of tray leak-
age, due to the tray deck being out of level or sagging, cannot be reasonably accounted for
by calculation, when the out of levelness is not known. Even it was measured during a
tower turnaround, it would change due to thermal expansion of a tray deck after the tower
was restreamed.
Before the 1950s, when bubble cap trays were used (see Fig. 2.3), this was not a prob-
lem. Bubble cap trays don’t leak even when moderately out of level. But now, we use valve
trays (see Fig. 2.4) in most distillation towers. Valve trays have a movable cap that is
pushed up by the force of the upflowing vapor. When that upward force is too little, the
valve cap is supposed to fall closed to prevent the tray from leaking.

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Chapter 1 • Basics of Process Operations and Engineering 3

Things I Worry About

The Future Without Refineries

Effect of Incremental Reboiler Steam

Entrainment and Tray Efficiency

Understanding Process Equipment for Operators and Engineers. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816161-6.00002-3 7

Tray Efficiency Calculations

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