A simple ejector modification

A vacuum column’s economics can be greatly improved with a low cost

modification to the ejector system

JIM LINES
Graham Corporation

R
efiners can benefit from Ejector systems ity. This pressure reduction and
improved yield and lower Ejector systems are a combination of expansion to supersonic flow is
vacuum residuum, thus ejectors and condensers that evacu- what creates the vacuum. The low
improving refinery economics with ate and maintain sub-atmospheric pressure region exiting the converg-
minor modifications to the ejec- pressure in a vacuum distillation ing-diverging nozzle is lower than
tor system. Refiners continually column. Column overhead vapours the distillation column pressure,
optimise their crude slate, push consisting of non-condensable thereby inducing flow from the col-
the vacuum column for greater gases, hydrocarbon vapours, and umn and pulling the non-conden-
throughput and, for a variety of steam are evacuated continually sable gases plus saturated vapours,
other reasons, operate the vacuum from the column and compressed both steam and hydrocarbons, into
distillation unit under conditions above local barometric pressure, the ejector. The vacuum column
differing from the design basis. typically to 2-5 psig. discharge is referred to as suction
This can lead to dramatic increases It is helpful to understand the load or overhead loading to the
in vacuum column pressure, espe- operating principle of an ejector first stage ejector. The suction load
cially during summer months where the compression ratio is is entrained by and mixes with the
when cooling water is warmest. nominally two or greater and dis- high velocity motive steam, and the
Refiners have benefitted from mod- charge pressure is greater than two combined flow remains supersonic.
ification to the first stage ejector times the suction pressure. Ejectors Again, compressible flow the-
motive steam nozzle (see Figure 1) are static equipment with no mov- ory is applied where the super-
to overcome losing millions of dol- ing parts. The operating principle sonic mixture of overhead load
lars during summer months when follows compressible flow theory. and motive steam passes through
column pressure abruptly rises, Medium or low pressure steam, another converging-diverging con-
yield declines and vacuum resid- typically less than 250 psig, is the duit, referred to as a diffuser, where
uum increases. In the parlance of energy source that performs the high velocity is converted back to
ejector systems, during the sum- work and creates the vacuum. pressure. A fundamental princi-
mer months ejector performance Steam is expanded isentropically ple for compressible flow, which
breaks, shockwave is lost and vac- across a converging-diverging noz- may be counter-intuitive, is that
uum column pressure increases zle where its pressure is reduced when flow is supersonic and the
dramatically. and converted to supersonic veloc- cross-sectional area of a flow path

Figure 1 Crude distillation vacuum column twin element ejector system

www.digitalrefining.com PTQ Q1 2022 43

 pressure above the MDP of the ejec-
Motive Mixture tor. Suction pressure and therefore
steam
140 psig
77 Torr distillation column pressure may
surge or become unstable once the
Suction load
shockwave is no longer present.
7.5 Torr
Pressure profile This broken ejector operation is
what can be remedied inexpen-
sively and will provide enormous
payback when ejector break is
caused by:
• Cooling water temperature above
Velocity profile design
• Excessive condensable hydrocar-
bon loading
• Fouling above the design basis
These three are rather common
causes for performance shortfall
by the vacuum distillation ejector
systems.
Consider Figure 1 where the
design basis for the vacuum column
overhead and first stage ejector suc-
tion pressure is 7.5 torr and the first
intercondenser when supplied with
85ᵒF cooling water will operate at 75
torr. It is common in June-August to
Shockwave in diffuser throat have refiners frustrated because the
column overhead pressure is not 7.5
Figure 2 Ejector pressure profile and shockwave torr in this case, but much higher
such as 20-25 torr. This results in
is progressively reduced, veloc- overhead load to the operating pres- tremendous lost profit due to sub-
ity actually decreases. The throat sure of a downstream condenser. stantial reduction in yield with
of the converging-diverging dif- If the pressure of the condenser is commensurate increase in vacuum
fuser section of the ejector is where below the discharge capability of column bottoms or residuum.
cross-sectional area is the smallest the ejector, the ejector will not cause During the hottest days of sum-
and a shockwave is established, the condenser to operate at a higher mer a refiner’s cooling tower may
which serves to boost pressure. pressure. Conversely, if the operat- be strained, and supply temperature
Figure 2 illustrates pressure and ing pressure of a condenser down- to the first intercondenser exceeds
velocity profiles across an ejector stream of an ejector is above the 85ᵒF. This can cause the first stage
with a clear step up in pressure at discharge capability of that ejector, to break performance. As cooling
the throat where a shockwave is referred to as a maximum discharge water temperature rises above the
established. pressure (MDP), the performance of 85ᵒF design basis, the first intercon-
An ejector, unlike a piston reduc- the ejector breaks down, the shock- denser pressure rises. When it rises
ing volume to increase pressure, wave is lost, and typically suction above the discharge capability of
does not create a discharge pres- pressure moves sharply higher. This the first stage ejector, performance
sure. Motive steam provides the breakdown happens because there breaks, the shockwave is lost, and
energy necessary to compress and is insufficient energy provided by vacuum column pressure rises
flow the mixture of motive and the motive steam to compress to a dramatically.

95
90
85
80
Deg F

75
70
65
60
3/6/2017 4/25/2017 6/14/2017 8/3/2017 9/22/2017 11/11/2017 12/31/2017

Figure 3 Cooling water inlet temperature to first intercondensers

44 PTQ Q1 2022 www.digitalrefining.com

 250 84

225 HS temp CS temp 82

200 80

175 78

150 76

125 74

100 72

75 70
0 20,000,000 40,000,000 60,000,000 84.5 85 85.5 86 86.5 87 87.5 88 88.5
10,000,000 30,000,000 50,000,000 70,000,000
Cooling water temperature, ˚F

Figure 4 Left: If the inlet cooling water temperature rises above 85ºF, assuming no other changes, the condenser rises to increase the
temperature at which condensation occurs, thus increasing the LMTD Right: If the cooling water inlet temperature rises from 85ºF to
87ºF then first condenser pressure will rise from 75 torr to 79.5 torr. This exceeds the MDP of the first stage ejector and performance
breaks down. A 7.5 torr vacuum column pressure jumps to c20 torr, thereby substantially increasing residuum or lowering yield

This particular refiner provided or unchanged for all intent and to elevate the LMTD to compensate
output from the data historian for purposes for warmer water temperature. That
actual cooling water supply temper- • Area is the heat exchange area of is 4.5 torr above the design basis,
ature. It was evident that summer the intercondenser in ft2, which is resulting in breakdown in the first
months would present a perfor- fixed for the installed exchanger stage ejector shockwave thus sub-
mance risk for the ejector system • Heat transfer rate is the overall stantially increasing vacuum col-
as more than 27 days had periods heat transfer rate in Btu/hr ft2 ᵒF, umn pressure. The first stage ejector
where the water temperature was which is essentially constant pro- has a maximum discharge capabil-
above the design basis of 85ᵒF (see vided overhead load composition is ity of 77 torr and cannot compress
Figure 3). unchanged to 79.5 torr, thus breaking ejector
The impact of a warmer cooling • LMTD is the logarithmic temper- performance.
water inlet temperature is that con- ature difference between the hot A simple way to think about
denser pressure must rise. The heat side and cold side fluids in ᵒF the thermodynamic aspects of the
load at the ejector exhaust will be If duty, area and transfer rate are interplay between water tempera-
condensed when an intercondenser fixed, the only variable to affect is ture and intercondenser pressure
is present. The critical variable LMTD. As cooling water temper- is for this particular example, at 75
becomes at what pressure must the ature rises above the design basis torr operating pressure with 85ᵒF
condenser operate to condense the of 85oF, condenser pressure rises cooling water the initial steam dew-
ejector exhaust. The standard ther- which increases the initial dewpoint point or condensing temperature
mal duty equation follows: and condensing profile such that is 113.8ᵒF. When the water tem-
LMTD is increased, permitting the perature is 87ᵒF not 85ᵒF, to adjust
Thermal Duty = Area * Heat Transfer Rate * load to be rejected. upward the LMTD to compensate
LMTD Figure 4 illustrates how condenser for the hotter water temperature,
pressure is impacted by cooling the pressure rises to 79.5 torr where
Where: water temperature. When the cool- the initial steam dewpoint increased
• Thermal duty is the condensation ing water inlet is 87ᵒF, to condense to 115.8ᵒF, 2 degrees warmer.
and cooling load from the ejector the ejector exhaust pressure in the Similarly, hydrocarbon loading in
exhaust in Btu/hr, and this is fixed intercondenser must rise to 79.5 torr the vacuum column overhead can
be considerably above the design
basis. This happens due to changes
in feedstock, operating overhead
78 temperature warmer to avoid pre-
77.5 cipitating corrosive products or to
77 improve throughput or yield over-
76.5 head droplet or mist elimination is
76 removed. When hydrocarbon load-
75.5 ing increases appreciably above
75 the design basis it lowers the over-
74.5 all heat transfer rate for the first
0% 50% 100% 150% 200% 250% 300%
intercondenser (the condenser to
Hydrocarbon loading as a percentage of design
which first stage ejectors discharge).
Referring back to the thermal duty
Figure 5 Hydrocarbon loading effect on condenser pressure equation, the variable that adjusts

46 PTQ Q1 2022 www.digitalrefining.com

is LMTD. It must increase to over-
come a reduction in overall heat 16 90
transfer rate due to excessive hydro-
14 85
carbon loading in the overhead
stream. Once again, intercondenser 12 80
pressure rises to effectively increase 10 75
LMTD such that the intercondenser
8 70
can reject the ejector exhaust duty.
Figure 5 illustrates how intercon- 6 65
denser pressure rises to increase Suction pressure (LHS)
4 60
LMTD when hydrocarbon loading Suction pressure (LHS)
Discharge pressure (RHS)
exceeds design. This illustration is 2 Dischagre pressure (RHS) 55
indicative for this particular refin- 0 50
er’s operating conditions. 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
When intercondenser pressure
rises in response to excessive hydro- Figure 6 First stage ejector performance with original and new motive geometry
carbon loading, a pressure can be
reached where first stage ejector dis-
charge capability is exceeded, shock-
wave breaks down, and vacuum
column pressure rises dramatically.
The same tendency occurs when
fouling becomes excessive, causing
pressure in the intercondenser to
rise, thereby increasing LMTD to
compensate for the resultant lower-
ing in overall heat transfer rate.

A low cost fix

Reconfiguring the first stage ejector Figure 7 Original ejector and nozzle geometry and new nozzle geometry
motive steam nozzle can be a low
cost solution that pays back tremen- Recent projects where new, dollars in lost profit. By tailoring
dously. It is possible to replace the different motive nozzles were new motive nozzles, the refiner
existing motive steam nozzle with a installed increased first stage ejec- accepted a 1.5 torr loss in suction
new, different geometry tailored to tor discharge pressure to over- pressure at design loading, 9 torr in
achieve greater discharge capabil- come the effects of warmer cooling lieu of 7.5 torr, while having 5 torr
ity without using anymore motive water, excessive hydrocarbon load- greater discharge capability to run
steam. For the same energy input ing or a combination of both. In well through the summer months
or mass flow rate of motive steam, the case of excessive hydrocar- without a break in performance (see
higher discharge pressure can be bon loading, the refiner added Figure 7).
achieved by accepting minimally mist elimination devices as well. This type of low cost fix can have
higher vacuum column overhead Feedback has been positive and a large economic benefit. Don’t let
pressure. The trade-off is some lost revenue remedied with a cus- summer time vacuum column per-
modest increase in vacuum column tomised, low cost fix. formance frustrate and result in
pressure, however the installed Figure 6 shows the first stage ejec- economic losses when it is possible
ejector will have greater maximum tor performance curves for the sys- to remedy the issue in a low cost
discharge pressure capability. tem noted in Figure 1. Performance manner.
Each case must be analysed and curves are provided for the original
Jim Lines is an engineer recently retired
performance testing undertaken to installation and after a tailored new
from Graham Corporation. He held various
optimise the new nozzle geometry nozzle geometry was installed to engineering and management positions
for the installed diffuser configura- compensate for elevated intercon- during 37 years with Graham and has
tion. The general rule is that if the denser operating pressure caused authored numerous articles related to heat
motive nozzle is pushed in toward by cooling water temperature or transfer, vacuum process condensers and
the diffuser throat then discharge hydrocarbon loading above design ejector systems.
capability will increase while suc- conditions or a combination of
tion capacity decreases slightly. both. LINKS
The ejector nozzle mouth can be When the summer months
increased to extract more energy arrived and the original ejector sys- More articles from the following
from the motive steam in the form tem broke operation and vacuum categories:
Crude and Vacuum Units
of greater velocity to increase some- column overhead pressure rose to
Pumps, Valves and Seals
what the suction capacity. 18-24 torr, resulting in millions of

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