Chemistry and Technology of Fuels and Oils, Vol. 41, No.

3, 2005

TECHNOLOGY

PRODUCTION OF HIGH-QUALITY PARAFFINIC DISTILLATES AND VACUUM RESID. REVAMPING OF THE AVT-2 UNIT VACUUM BLOCK N. I. Bilyk, Yu. N. Lebedev, I. P. Khashchivskii, T. M. Zaitseva, and Ya. P. Lozhkin UDC 66.048.037

The basic plan for revamping of the vacuum block was developed at Kedr-89 OTC and the engineering plan for the K-8 vacuum tower was drawn up at UkrNIIkhimmash Open Joint-Stock Company (Kharkov). A vacuum tower was manufactured and it was delivered with five blocks from Penzkhimmash OJSC. Preassembly and installation of the vacuum tower was executed by Galichina OTC OJSC with Universal LLC. The working plan for the vacuum-creating system was developed by Tekhnovakuum LLC (Moscow). Due to the good organization and high professionalism of the executors, all of the work, including drawing up the development documents, manufacture, preassembly, and installation of the vacuum tower, construction of the vacuum-creating system, and startupdebugging work was completed in nine months. The vacuum tower is designed for production of vacuum gasoil (VG), middle and heavy lube oil distillates (MOD and HOD), and vacuum resid. The goals of the revamping were to: Table 1
Indexes Cut points, (5 95%), Nominal [Engler] viscosity, E at 50C at 100C Density at 20C, kg/m Note.
3

VG 75 1.1 1.2 872 145**

MOD 115 1.7 2 898 193

HOD 75 1.5 2.3 915 243

Vacuum resid 103 140* 980 267

Flash point (open cup), C ** Closed cup.

* Nominal [Engler] viscosity at 60 C in sec

____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Kedr Oil Transhipment Co. Galichina Oil Transhipment Co., Drogobych, Ukraine. Translated from Khimiya i Tekhnologiya Topliv i Masel , No. 3, pp. 9 11, May June, 2005. 0009-3092/05/41030175 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 175

I
3000

II

III

VAKUPAK packing

IV

V
4000

KEDR packing
6 5 4 3 2 1

Slit tray

Fig. 1. Diagram of the K-8 vacuum tower 176

 increase the quality and takeoff of paraffinic distillates by increasing the efficiency of separation; decrease the power consumption per 1 ton of target product; improve the environmental situation. To solve these problems, computer modeling of the vacuum block was performed with Hysys software at Kedr-89 OTC OJSC. It was previously* shown that the operation of the entire heating furnacetransfer line vacuum tower vacuum-creating system manufacturing chain must be analyzed to select the optimum operating parameters of the vacuum block. The minimum relative investments, i.e., capital and operating, was used as the optimality criterion. The minimum relative investments are obtained with the following process parameters: residual pressure above the vacuum column of 2.66-3.99 kPa; pressure differential between the feedstock input zone and the top of the tower of 1.995-2.66 kPa; temperature of atmospheric resid at the inlet into the tower of 380-390C; consumption of steam fed in at the bottom of the tower of 0-1 wt. %. Note that the quality of all distillates is ensured in dry distillation of atmospheric resid and steam feed is only useful for regulating the quality of the vacuum resid. To attain these goals of revamping and ensuring the optimum process parameters, Kedr-89 Co. developed a modern vacuum tower design (see Fig. 1) equipped with efficient structured packing so that the diameters of the new tower (3000 mm at the top and 4000 mm at the bottom) are much smaller than the diameter of the old tower (6000 mm). The support of the new tower is cone-shaped, which allowed using the existing base of the old tower. Five sections (I-V) of VAKUPAK and KEDR structured packing were installed in the tower over the feedstock input zone. Low-pressure liquid distributors of the rectangular-cap type were used to irrigate the packing in each section. Collecting trays with steam nozzles were installed under each packing section. To prevent entrainment of condensed liquid from the vacuum tower, an ULTRASET safety trap developed at Kedr-89 Co. was installed under the steam outlet connection. Input of feedstock into the tower was organized with a special rotor structure that ensured efficient separation of liquid and vapor. Single-flow valve and slit trays highly recommended for low steam loads and relatively high liquid loads were installed in the lower part of the tower. The vacuum tower operates as follows. Atmospheric resid heated in the furnace enters the tower at a temperature of 380C. Due to the low residual pressure at the top of the tower and the low packing resistance in the feed zone, the pressure does not exceed 5.985-6.65 kPa. A high proportion of vapors is ensured in these conditions: 45-48 wt. %. Two circulating reflux streams are provided for organization of internal reflux: upper in packing section I and middle in section III. The target cuts vacuum gasoil, middle and heavy lube oil distillates are taken off from blind trays in sections I (upper), III, and IV. The zone (section V) for washing out resin and asphaltene vapors, which worsen the color of the target products, is positioned above the feedstock input. The dark product goes out from the blind plate in section V. Vacuum resid goes out at the bottom of the tower. For regulating its quality, steam is fed in at the bottom of the tower. Cooled vacuum resid (quench) is fed into the tower still to maintain the temperature below 350C. After revamping of the vacuum block was completed, a fixed run was conducted. The material balance and operating regime of the vacuum tower during the run are reported below:

*Yu. N. Lebedev, V. G. Chekmenev, and T. M. Zaitseva, Khim. Tekhnol. Topl. Masel, No. 9-10, 16 (1994).

177

Consumption, tons/h atmospheric resid steam Output, tons/h vacuum gasoil lube oil distillate middle heavy vacuum resid losses Temperature in tower, C at top at bottom Pressure in tower, kPa at top in feed zone Target product takeoff temperature, C vacuum gasoil lube oil distillate middle heavy

72.5 0.7 5.2 21.6 4.9 41.4 0.1 98 340 3.099 5.32 167 241 303

The quality of the target cuts (see Table 1) satisfy the requirements of the company specifications and standards. The results obtained showed that the vacuum block is operating stably and efficiently. The vacuum tower equipped with VAKUPAK and KEDR structured packing has an important output reserve and the pressure differential at maximum atmospheric resid loading does not exceed 2.128 kPa. Revamping of the AVT-2 unit thus introduced energy-saving technology, increased takeoff, and improved the quality of paraffinic distillates and vacuum resid. The real operating indexes of the vacuum block correspond to the current world level.

178