4 simple ways to convert turnarounds into profitable tower upgrade opportunities

With planned outages commonly occurring at intervals of 2-5 years, a refinery turnaround is a prime opportunity to replace column and separator internals with the newest available technology. Planning for an outage with a “replacement-in-kind” strategy will address lost performance from refinery equipment due to normal wear and tear. However, most column internals can be upgraded for higher capacity, more flexibility, or greater efficiency at close to the same cost ...

About Axens

Axens is a group providing a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates as well as all of natural gas' treatment and conversion options. The offer includes technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts, adsorbents and related services. Axens is ideally positioned to cover the entire value chain, from feasibility study to unit start-up and follow-up throughout ...

Anti-fouling trays maximize coker main fractionator profitability

The Coker Main Fractionator is systematically subjected to harsh operating conditions that can lead to deteriorating efficiency and performance due to coking and fouling. Poor reliability results in loss of profitable coking margins for the refinery. The main fractionator vapor feed from the coke drum overhead is characterized by a tendency for further cracking, as well as the presence of fine coke particles carried from the drums. The hottest zones of the column (bottom quench, ...

Axens overview

Axens is a group providing a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates as well as all of natural gas' treatment and conversion options. The offer includes technologies, equipment, furnaces, modular units, catalysts, adsorbents and related services. Axens is ideally positioned to cover the entire value chain, from feasibility study to unit start-up and follow-up ...

Beyond the column: Sulzer ESR

New bypass line between diesel draw-off line to side stripper, new bypass valve, incl. update of P&ID, piping isometrics and pipe

Caustic tower revamp

A customer contacted Sulzer to increase capacity while improving the CO2 removal in the existing CO2 absorption column of their ethylene plant. This was the third revamp for this particular column and continued improvements can be hard to find. A proper caustic tower design requires a proper understanding of CO2 absorption with caustic. CO2 + 2NaOH Na2CO3 + H2O Sulzer replaced the conventional random packing with NeXRing and modified the operating parameters to match the ...

Channel baffles: improving efficiency on trays with low vapor loading

Sour water strippers, wastewater benzene strippers, or any other column that operates with low vapor rates often have active areas that are easily oversized for the actual operating vapor traffic. For optimum tray efficiency, good contacting of the liquid flowing across the tray deck with the vapor flowing up through the tray orifices is critical. Channel baffles are a very straight-forward design modification that improve vapor/liquid contact, increasing tray efficiency in low ...

Diagnostics™ Leak Study Optimise Ammonia Synthesis Loop

How can Tracerco help optimise performance in my ammonia synthesis loop? If you are trying to determine why the ammonia synthesis line is not performing as efficiently as expected, a series of tracer tests can be carried out for troubleshooting the different processing loops of ammonia synthesis and converter lines. Tracerco Diagnostics™ Leak studies have proven invaluable in identifying potential areas or locations of leakage within an ammonia synthesis processing loop, converter, ...

Droplet Separators (Demister)

For many decades, VFF droplet separators have been successfully used in a large variety of applications and design forms — up to 18 m in diameter. Wire mesh droplet separators (Demister) are used for the removal of small liquid droplets (aerosols) from exhaust gases, exhaust air and steam. VFF’s portfolio includes a wide range of practical experience in the following applications and devices: - Absorbers - Seawater desalination equipment - Washers - Sulphuric acid plants - ...

DURANIT® Maximum compression strength for maximum operational safety

When using catalyst supports, a high degree of operational safety through stability and homogeneity of the support material is an important factor for the customer. The specially developed manufacturing process from VFF means that the compression strength of the Duranit® X500 inert balls is significantly higher than that of comparable products. The mean compression strength of the 1“ balls is well above 1000 kg, guaranteeing VFF customers an unsurpassed level of operational ...

Effective water removal creates extra capacity in your absorber-stripper

Free or soluble water carrying over from the FCC or Coker Main Fractionator overhead systems can cause foaming problems and flooding in the Absorber-Stripper columns. Column designs that incorporate effective water removal can free-up capacity for valuable naphtha or LPG production. The Problem Even with bulk water removal in the overhead knockout drums or high pressure receivers, water carryover can go hand-in-hand with capacity creep. Higher charge rates can create superficial ...

Expertise beyond the column LPG Treating

DC Coalescer™. Composite two-material design with very different surface free energies — typically metal and plastic. This simple principle offers notable advantages over conventional, single medium alternatives. The combination of both high and low surface energies gives effective separation irrespective of which phase is dispersed. The rate of coalescence is significantly increased.

FCC Main Fractionator Coking

One common cause for coking is poor vapor distribution. Packing selection in the Slurry P/A section is critical to ensure good distribution and reliable performance. Mellagrid™ combines the performance of Mellapak™ with the robustness of traditional grid. Resists coking and fouling due to its smooth surface and geometrical. Better de-entrainment and separation efficiency than traditional grid. Efficient dissipation of temperature. Excellent mechanical strength.