Overview

A SONG webinar with a technical presentation by the technical professional team from PETRONAS.

Optimizing the operation of a column is normally inevitable to ensure the viability of a brownfield project, especially for the case of a Vacuum Distillation Unit (VDU) column, as it avoids major modifications to the column and its associated auxiliary units. This technical presentation discusses how optimization was done on the operation of an existing VDU column in an oil refinery, avoiding major modification of the associated ejector, steam, cooling water, and sour water systems, allowing a brownfield project to stay commercially viable.

A case study of an existing VDU column at an existing refinery in Malaysia will be deliberated in detail. The VDU column was designed to be debottlenecked from a throughput capacity of 3.5 kbpd of Low Sulfur Waxy Residue (LSWR) to allow higher LSWR throughput of 17.5 kpbd to the unit. The higher LSWR throughput led to higher non-condensable and condensable flows at the top of the column, increasing the column operating pressure and causing additional burden to the overhead steam ejector system. Major modifications to the existing steam ejectors and condensers are expected and the replacement of the equipment will require massive structural modification within an existing congested operating plant. On top of that, with the larger steam ejectors and condensers, major modifications to the existing steam generation system, cooling water system, and sour water treating unit are expected and the cost is expected to be in the order of USD25 million.

One way to allow the project to still be economically viable is by optimizing the column operating conditions and exhausting all available heat duties within the pump around and heat integration network to reduce the impact on the existing ejector system and minimizing the modifications to the VDU unit. Optimizing the column operating conditions includes adjusting the operating pressure, the pump around flow and temperature profile, and the column inlet temperature. The final modification requirements with and without the optimization being done on the column will be compared and discussed.

In conclusion, optimization of a column operating conditions is critical, particularly for a complex column like a VDU column, especially when the column is already operating at its rated capacity in a brownfield project. Massive modifications are required if optimization is not done which adds unnecessary capital expenditures and may render the project economically unviable. However, the optimization of the operating conditions should be done cautiously with adequate verification work being performed. This is to ensure that the column performance is not jeopardized and performance guarantee can still be met by the project.

Speaker

Ir. Saiful Anuar, Process Design Principal Engineer, PETRONAS

Ir. Saiful Anuar Mohd Mokhtar has over 18 years work experience in the refinery, gas and LNG, and petrochemical industry as an engineering manager and head process engineer for various PETRONAS capital projects. A Chartered Chemical Engineer (CEng) with IChemE and a Professional Engineer (PEng) with the Board of Engineers Malaysia (BEM), his experience covers the full cycle of the engineering process from business case development (FEL1), detailed feasibility study (FEL2), front-end engineering design (FEL3), execution, bidding and technical evaluation, commissioning, operation, and performance test runs.

Ir. Saiful was the head process engineer for MRCSB Diesel Euro 5 Project and was responsible to develop the FEED package of the project which consists of both brownfield modifications and greenfield process units including a new diesel hydrotreaters and hydrogen production unit. Currently, Ir. Saiful is the head process engineer for the Titanium program which is a strategic planning initiative for Petronas Chemical Group (PCG) to enhance the value chain of the petrochemical products.

Time

The event will start at 18:00 MYT (Kuala Lumpur, GMT +8).

To avoid any unexpected technical issue, please enter the room up to 10 minutes before the scheduled start time.

Sponsors

IChemE gratefully acknowledges:

• PETRONAS Group Technical Solutions (GTS) sponsorship of SONG evening talks.
• EAST One-Zero-One organizers of SONG evening talks.

Get involved

Would you like to give a talk at a SONG event in Kuala Lumpur, or online to a wider audience of chemical engineers in the Asia Pacific region? We would like to hear from you. Please contact Avinash Ravendran with details about yourself and proposed a presentation.