Column Object - Startup and Tuning Guide

 1. Configuration options for the object.

The Distillation Column object can be configured in two ways in the current version of Advanced Objects:

l To drag and drop the Distillation Column object from the Advanced Objects palette.

l By importing the exported MiMiC model file, Column_Typ_Startup.xml from the Sample Models folder of the
MiMiC installation directory

In first case, Distillation Column object is an“equipment only” object for typical refinery column configuration. This col-
umn includes the typical design parameters of the industrial column with Reboiler, Condenser and Reflux drum. The
object serves as a starting point for the user column configuration, providing him/her with some ideas about relative
sizes of the column elements and recommended modeling options. The user has to:

(a) modify the configuration according to his/her own specification of the column; and

(b) specify the Component Set, composition of the inlet feed streams, the energy streams to Condenser (cool-
ing agent) and Reboiler (heating agent), and initial conditions for the column cold startup.

In second case, Distillation Column object is preconfigured as a “ready to go” industrial Debutanizer column. In addition
to the column design parameters the object is preconfigured with all needed component and stream related infor-
mation:

(a) defined component set DIST_SET and tuned values of the component activities;

(b) initial composition, flow rate and temperature of the feed stream;

(c) initial values –flow rate, temperature and pressure, for the streams of cooling water to Condenser and heat-
ing agent (steam) to Reboiler; and

(d) initial values –composition, levels, temperature and pressure, for the column Cold Startup procedure.

The preconfigured option for the Cold Startup is “Do Steady State Transition”. The object is still needed to be connected
to the column externals, i.e. to the column inlet/outlet streams, valves and vessels, but also can be tested and tuned
autonomously (see section 2.c below).

 2. Startup options for the object.

In order to start the Distillation Column the user has to download and start the MiMiC model, containing the object.
The configured Distillation Column object can be started in one of the following ways:

l Cold Startup initiation with Direct Online transition

l Cold Startup with Steady State Transition

MiMiC uses the tab “Cold Startup Config” in both startup options. Therefore, make sure that this tab is configured prop-
erly. Value Sump Liquid Composition should be equal, usually, to composition of the bottom product at the process
nominal mode. This is also acceptable to use the liquid feed composition if the option with steady state transition is
selected. The Sump and Reflux Drum levels should be in range of 30–50% in order to make reasonable compromise
between having sufficient initial liquid holdup and adequate speed of the composition update in the course of transition
to steady state.

 2.a. The option Cold Startup initiation with Direct Online transition is set by unchecking the Do Steady State Tran-
sition check box (checked by default). MiMiC in this case uses the initial data mostly from the Cold Startup Config tab
and works as follows.

(a) The Column Sump and Reflux Drum are initiated with liquid holdups according to specified level values
and with the same composition,specified in Sump Liquid Composition popup window.

(b) Then MiMiC calculates the column pressure and vapor phase composition using given values of the liq-
uid composition, column temperature, and component activities (the last are specified at the Composition
tab). These values of vapor/liquid compositions, pressure, and temperature are assigned to both, Sump
and Reflux Drum, along with the column trays.

(c) The trays are initialized also with minimal values of the liquid holdups, equal for all the trays; the flow
rates for all column streams are set to zero.

After this initialization the Column object immediately goes online, i.e. all external streams of the column start per-
forming according to the wired connections and the parameter references,specified by the MiMiC Input Tags(see Over-
head and Reboiler configurations),become active.

 2.b. The option Cold Startup with Steady State Transition is set by checking the Do Steady State Transition check
box at the “Cold Startup Config” tab.In this case, MiMiC will perform the initialization of the Column object exactly as
described above, but before going online it will work offline for the definite time period at the specified Initial Values of
the column inlet streams.

The offline transition time is set by the parameter Number of Loops at the “Cold Startup Config” tab.Its default value is
equal to 540.The value of transition time is equal to Number of Loops*20* Execution Rate seconds. Therefore,the
default transition time value at the recommended Execution Rate =0.5 secis 540*20*0.5 = 5400 sec = 90 minutes.The
transition time depends on the column size and usually is in the range of 60–240 minutes that corresponds to 360 –
1440 loops.

The initial values should be set for the following streams:

 l Feed stream (or streams, if more than one are specified at the tab “Feed/Draw Setup” of the Column Con-
figuration view ) with its composition, temperature and flow rate

l Side withdraw stream– optional if configured(streams, if more than one withdraw are specified at the tab
“Feed/Draw Setup” of the Column Configuration view) with its flow rate.

l Heat stream to the column sump depending on the Reboiler Type option at the “Reboiler Design and Initial-
ization” view. If the option is Reboilerthe Heating agent Valve Opening fraction (range 0–1.0) has to be set. If the
option is External Heater the Heat Input from External Heater (kJ/s) has to be set.

l Cooling Agent stream (specified at the tab “Overhead Section Variables Configuration” of the Column Overhead
view ) with its temperature and flow rate

l Reflux Liquid stream (specified at the tab “Overhead Section Variables Configuration” of the Column Overhead
view ) with its flow rate (kmol/s)

l Vapor Product stream (specified at the tab “Overhead Section Variables Configuration” of the Column Over-
headview ) with its flow rate (kmol/s)

Remember that all values of flow rates, temperatures and composition listed above have to be set at the field “Initial
Values” of the tab. The values from the referred MiMiC Input tags shown at the same tab will be used by MiMiC only
when the offline transition is finished and the Column object goes to online mode. At the online mode the initial values
will be overridden with values from the referred tags, if the tags are configured and usable. Otherwise, MiMiC will con-
tinue using the initial values. The usable tag is one that is located at the node, which is currently running.

The MiMiC procedure for offline transition to steady state is designated to provide fast transition of the Column object
into the vicinity of the process steady state and then smooth proceeding to online mode when transferring control to
DCS or to MiMiC internal emulation of the process control loops. The offline transition procedure consists of the fol-
lowing steps:

(a) Cold Startup initiation according to description in section 2.a above.

(b) Running the column model for 50 loops (500 seconds of the offline time at Execution Rate =0.5 sec) at
zero flow rates of all inlet/outlet streams and reflux flow to make consistent initialization of the object.

(c) Assigning the initial values of flow rates, temperatures and composition for the inlet/outlet streams,
mentioned above, and running the column model for (Number of Loops – 50) loops at the given initial
values. The procedure has its own simple controls for flow rates of Distillate and Bottom products pro-
viding not less than minimal levels at the Reflux drum and Column sump, respectively.

(d) Going online after running the Column object for the offline time duration equal to Number of Loops.
Starting at this moment the object begins communications with external wired streams and configured ref-
erence tags and, therefore, the input/output information of the Column changes every second.
The real time duration of the offline transition procedure depends on the column complexity (configured model
options, number of trays and components) and specified transition time. For the typical refinery column with 10 com-
ponents and default transition time of 540 loops (equivalent to 90 minutes) it takes about 10–12 seconds of the real
time before the column goes online.

 2.c. Using Column View graphics with the startup options. The Column View graphics is a valuable tool for startup
and tuning of the Column object.The Column View contains live strip charts of pressure, temperature, flow rates and
compositions at the Column object elements – tray sections, condenser, reflux drum, reboiler, and column sump. It
presents also the real time profiles of these parameters along the column.

The Column View can be started at any moment when the Column object is online by using the sequence: Right click at
the Column object →Launch Column View → Transition (or Online). Note that only one view, Transition or Online can
exist for the object at the time, i.e. if one view has been already set up the second one will not be created. If the Column
View was started in the Transition mode, the strip charts will be frozen at the end point of the offline transition (for the
default value– at 540 loops), and the time scale up to this moment is in loops. If the user clicks then on the highlighted
knob“Resume tracking of new data”, the strip chart will unfreeze and the time scale will change to seconds and continue
further be in seconds.

The Column View should be used in both startup modes providing valuable insight into the distillation column func-
tioning.This is especially helpful with option 2.b(“Cold Startup with Steady State Transition”), making the process of the
model tuning easier and faster. The course of action for the initial tuning in this case can be described as a following iter-
ative process:

(a) set /change the values of the tuning parameters for the Column object at the Edit mode of the model;

(b) Close the Column View of the object, if it is open;

(c) Save the object changes, download and go online with the model containing the Column object;

(d) After the model started launch the Column View in the Transition mode as described in previous par-
agraph;

(e)In the object Column View go to the tab of interest (Tray P-T, Input/output Flows, Column Flow Profile,
Column P-T Profile, Column X Profile, etc.) and zoom the view using the knob “Zoom Y–axis to fit”;

(f) Check the closeness of the of the offline transition end points to the desired steady state and chose the
tuning parameter changes according to recommendations(see section 3 below);

(g) return to step (a) if needed or continue online run of the initially tuned object (in this case the user can
observe the object online behavior by clicking on knobs “Resume tracking of new data” of the open view
tabs).

The initial tuning of the Column object can done autonomously even before connecting the object to the column exter-
nals, i.e. before wiring the column inlet/outlet streams and configuring the MiMiC Input Tags in the column elements.
This quickest way of the object initial prototyping can be implemented by starting with the preconfigured “ready to go”
 object (see second case in section 1 – industrial Debutanizer column) and editing it according the user specification. The
user, of course, can start with the first case of configuration (see an “equipment only” object configuration in section1)
and complement it with all the initialization information needed, but this is usually a more time-consuming way.The
course of action for the tuning is the same as described in previous paragraph except the branch “continue online
run...” in item (g), which has no sense if the object is not wired.

Note that the useful “side effect” of this initialization procedure can be in receiving the full reflux mode of the Column
object. In this case, the object should be allowed to go to online mode, and some adjustments of the energy streams
(flows of Cooling agent to condenser and Heating agent to reboiler) might be needed in order to get the desired profiles
of the pressure, temperature and compositions in the column.

 3. Main tuning parameters of the Distillation Column object.

The model tuning parameters provide a user with tools of impacting the main performance characteristics of the model,
such as, speed and stability of execution, accuracy and adequacy of the model dynamic and steady state responses.
These parameters are set at the object configuration phase and can be modified later online or offline. For the tuning
procedures, described in section 2.c above, all the tuning parameters should be modified offline, i.e. by going back to
the configuration mode. After the object goes online some of the parameters become accessible for online tuning if the
corresponding tag references were configured and are available. This is valid, particularly, for the following tags:

(a) Component activities (access path to tag reference is ConfigureColumn → tab Composition →Activity
Coefficients→ External);

(b) Condenser UA (access path to tag reference is Configure Overhead→ tab Overhead Section Variables
→MiMiC Input Tags→ Condenser UA);

(c) Reboiler UA (access path to tag reference is Configure Reboiler→ MiMiC Input Tags → Reboiler UA).

In this section we depict the main model tuning parameters, and offer brief guidelines how to choose these parameters.
We consider, also, the use of the model options and process design data as tools for the model tuning and adjust-
ment.The complete list of the design and tuning parameters,their expected range and default values are given in the
object help file.

 3.a. Tuning the Component Activities and Tray Efficiency. The component activity values have an essential impact
on the correct prediction of the column compositions and pressure. The equation for the vapor liquid equilibrium (VLE)
in the column model is the expression for phase separation ratio Ki of component i,

Ki = Yi/Xi = γi* P0i / P, (3.1)

where, P0i is a pure component pressure. The value P0i = P0i(T) is calculated using Antoine equation, Yi and Xi are the
mole fraction of the component in vapor and liquid at the stage (tray). The default value for the activity coefficient γi is γi
= 1 (ideal solution is assumed). The coefficient values, γi ≠ 1, can be considered as combined measure of non-ideality in
both, liquid and vapor phases.The simple rules of tuning can be obtained from equations (3.1):

l An increase of the activity coefficient γi leads to the increase in mole fraction Yi of the component i in the vapor
phase, and, respectively, to decrease in mole fraction Xi of the component in the liquid phase. If this component
is a light distributing one then it will lead also to rise of the overall column pressure (at the fixed values of the
other stream flow rates in the system).

l The default values of parameters is γi = 1. The recommended range for γi is 0.2–5.0. The tuning step is usually
0.05– in decreasing direction and 0.1–0.2 – in increasing (i.e. higher than 1.0) direction. To send the component
completely to the top product the activity γi can be increased even more – to 20 or 50. Respectively, in order to
send the component to bottom product its activity can be set less than 0.2, – to 0.05, for instance. Note, that the
activity value is not recommended to be outside the interval 0.05 –50, since it can cause problems with VLE cal-
culations at the trays.

l An increase of the activity coefficient γi of the key distributing component (with high values of the mole fraction
in both, vapor phase Yi and liquid phase Xi at the feed tray) leads to the increase in the vapor/feed ratio, leading
to the increase in the vapor flow to condenser and, correspondingly, decrease in the liquid flow to the column
sump.

Therefore, the component activity coefficients are applied to fit the model flow rates and compositions of the column
outlet streams to the real plant data and/or the design specifications.Manipulating by the activity values we can adjust
also the column pressure due to back propagation of the reflux drum pressure.Particularly, the reflux drum pressure is
calculated as a sum of the component partial pressures in vapor phase, which, in its turn, depend on the activities for
the non-ideal mixtures.

The Tray Efficiency value is used for tuning of separation in the column, complementing the results of non-ideality with
the tray mass exchange conditions.When the variable (Calculate radio button) tray efficiency option is selected the effi-
ciency coefficient is calculated individually for each tray depending on the tray conditions. The coefficient a_Eff(access
path to value Eff. Coefficient is Configure Column → tab Options and Tunings→ Tray Efficiency→ Eff. Coefficient) in semi-
theoretical formula for tray efficiency defines how the efficiency coefficient is sensitive to the tray conditions. Value a_Eff
impacts the Murphy tray efficiency coefficient η (η shows how the vapor phase is close to equilibrium with liquid on the
tray, range 0.0–1.0). Increase of a_Eff leads to decrease of η, alternatively, when a_Eff goes to 0 value η is close to 1.
Value a_Eff can be tuned to meet the real process data. The approximate range is 30–150, and the recommended values
are: a_Eff = 125 for sieve trays, and a_Eff = 65 for more efficient valve trays. Default value is 65.

 3.b. Tuning the Column Pressure and Temperature limits.The pressure and temperature limits(access path to
values is Configure Column → tab General →Feasibility Limits → Pressure Minimum (Maximum) OR Temperature Mini-
mum (Maximum)) for the column, P_min, P_max, T_min, and T_max are the constraints to provide the model “safety
jacket” in situations with sharp changes of the process / manipulated variables. These parameters are to be tuned to
comprise all the column operational modes. If some of the column pressure / temperature (including reboiler and over-
head sections) stay too long at the limit, it indicates the inconsistencies in specifying of the design / operational data for
the given section that should be taken care of.
The limits should be set wide enough to handle all possible transitions of the column including going to full reflux mode
or shutdown. But even the wide limits could be violated, if some of the other parameters or initial values of the object
are set incorrectly.This is particularly important for the startup option“Cold Startup with Steady State Transition”,
described in sections 2.b and 2.c above. The following checks and adjustments should be made in the course of this pro-
cedure:

l Make sure that the cold startup initial temperature (access path to value is Configure Column → tab Cold Startup
Config →Column Temperature) is inside of the range [T_min,T_max]

l Check if the initial value of the column pressure, calculated at Cold Startup is inside of the range [P_min,P_
max]:in the object Column View go to tab Tray P-T and check the Pressure value at the time interval 0–50. If the
column pressure is not in the expected limits the Cold Startup procedure should be redone with adjusted initial
values of temperature, composition, or component activities. Note that the column pressure will rise with
increase of temperature, concentration of the light components and its activities (and vice versa).

l Examine the values of the column pressure and temperature (including reboiler and overhead sections) at the
duration and at the end of the offline transition to steady state. Use for this purpose the tabs Tray P-T,Overhead
P-T, and ReboilerP-T of the object Column View (the strip chart time interval from 50 to Number of Loops).If some
of these values are at the limits, adjust the limit and/or the parameters that can cause the limit violation. The pos-
sible too high values of pressure and temperature can result from the incorrect setting of the inlet stream com-
position (high percentage of the light component), excessive heat stream to the reboiler, or insufficient cooling in
the condenser. The similar reasoning is applicable for too low values of pressure and temperature. Therefore, the
double check of the inlet stream flow rates (note that these flows should be in kmol/s) and adjustment of the
reboiler and condenser UA values can often fix the problem.

The factors, listed here for offline transition to steady state are relevant, evidently, to the online mode of the Column
object. In the online mode, additionally, the high pressure at the reflux receiver can be caused by accumulation of light
vapors when the liquid holdup of the vessel goes to zero. An insufficient heat stream to the reboiler can result from the
low liquid holdup at the column sump if it goes lower than value VOL_UA_100 (see Sump Levels specification in the
Reboiler Configuration). Therefore, in online mode the low liquid holdups could cause the violation of the pres-
sure/temperature limits, and the level adjustment should be made to avoid these situations.

 3.c. The parameters for tuning the Column pressure dynamics. Two parameters are influencing mostly the column
dynamics– tuning coefficient Pressure Change Gain(access path to value is Configure Column → tab Section Setu-
p→Pressure Change Gain) and the design parameter Total Volume(access path is Configure Column → tab Section
Setup → Total Volume). Total Volume is an estimation of the column overall volume (in m3). Its value can be used typ-
ically to alleviate possible oscillations of the pressure value due to discrete integration of the column vapor holdup. Pres-
sure Change Gain is a tuning coefficient for decreasing or accelerating the rate of the pressure change. Default value is
1.0;recommended range is 0.2–1.0 for decreasing rates and 1.0–5.0 for accelerating rates. The tuning step is usually 0.1–
in decreasing direction and 0.3–0.5 – in accelerating direction.

 3.d. The parameters for tuning the Column pressure drop. The column pressure drop is a sum of the pressure
drops of the individual trays that, in its turn, comprise of the drops at the dry tray and the tray liquid layer. The height
of liquid at the tray depends, mainly, on the weir height that at the normal operation is less variable than the dry tray
 pressure drop.According to Bernoulli equation, the dry tray pressure drop is defined by two factors –friction factor and
gas velocity the tray holes. Therefore, two main parameters can be recommended for tuning the pressure drop and
pressure profile at the column:

(a) Hydraulic Resistance Coefficient(access path to value is Configure Column → tab Options and Tuning
→Hydraulic Resist Coeff) that is a dry tray hydraulic resistance coefficient. An increase of its value leads to
increase of the pressure drop. See Help file for the coefficient typical value for different types of the tray.
The overall recommended range is 0.5– 10.0, the tuning step is 0.2– 0.5.

(b)Tray Hole Area(access path is Configure Column → tab Section Setup → Hole Area) is an overall area of
the holes at the tray (m2). This parameter directly impacts the gas velocity at the holes. An increase of its
value leads to decrease of the pressure drop and also makes the pressure drop less sensitive to the var-
iations of the column vapor flow.

These two parameters can be adjusted combined when the tray resistance is tuned to provide a specified pressure dif-
ference, while the increase of the area holes is used to alleviate a possible pulsation of the pressure along the column,
i.e. to make the pressure transitions smoother with the vapor load changes.

 3.e. Tuning the Heat exchange in Condenser and Reboiler.The coefficient-area products for heat transfer in con-
denser UA_Cond and reboiler UA_Reb influence the heat duty and, hence, the outlet heat exchanger temperatures.
These parameters can be modified at both phases – at the initial offline transition to steady state (access path to value
UA_Cond is Configure Overhead→ tab Overhead Section Design →Condenser UA) and at the online phase (access path
to the reference tag is Configure Overhead→ tab Overhead Section Variables Configuration →Condenser UA). The paths
for UA_Reb are similar in the Configure Reboiler branch of the access paths.

Since the parameters UA_Cond and UA_Reb are known approximately, their values can be used to tune the steady state
and dynamic responses of these heat exchangers(to fit the model gains to the real plant ones). The impact of the UA
change is straightforward: the increase of UA leads to increase of the heat duty and, respectively, to decrease of the tem-
perature differences at the ends of heat exchanger, and vice versa. Note that the Reboiler UA is affected also by the
design parameter VOL_UA_100 – the sump liquid volume, corresponding to 100% usage of UA. At the sump liquid vol-
ume below of VOL_UA_100 the MiMiC starts decreasing the value UA_Reband can reduce it by 95% if the liquid volume
gets lower than VOL_UA_min.

 3.f. There are some other tuning parameters, related to the column dynamics (Tray Dynamics and Reference Tem-
perature Dynamics) and to the tray hydraulics (Francis Alpha and Weeping), that described in the Column object help
file. For these parameters we recommend to use their default values, given in the help file, until you have the sound rea-
sons to change it.

 4. The recommended tuning techniques.

The tuning procedures for the Column object includes, usually, several steps depending on the process complexity and
expected operational modes. The typical sequence of the tuning steps can be suggested as follows:
 l Initial autonomous tuning of the object without any connection to the rest of the process, i.e. no wired streams
or referenced tags. The tuning sequence for this stage is described at the end of section 2.c and in section 2.b. All
tuning parameters of section 3 are available at this time for adjustment.

l Initial “fixed connection” tuning of the object. At this stage all connection to the rest of the process (wired
streams and referenced tags) are intact, but most of them have the fixed values that should be close to the initial
values. The object is allowed to go online after the initial offline steady state transition. The control loops are
used here only for liquid levels at sump and reflux drum. Only limited number of parameters, having configured
reference tags (activities, Reboiler UA and Condensed UA), can be adjustable after going online. The rest of tuning
parameters can be adjusted by the procedure involving the intermediate snapshots of the process, making small
changes to the object parameters in configuration mode, downloading and going back online for the model con-
taining the object, restoring the snapshot, and evaluating then the results of the changes. At this stage the long
term behavior of the object at the fixed values of the inlets can be examined.

l “Released connection” tuning of the object. At this stage the object is completely integrated into the process, all
wired streams are working with the adjacent process equipment and the reference tag values aren’t overridden
any more. The control loops for stabilization of the object inlets/outlets are working on auto. As in previous case,
only activities, Reboiler UA and Condensed UA can be adjustable after going online. The tuning sequence is as in
the previous case also. The fine tuning of the parameters and evaluation of the object behavior at the moderate
disturbances of the inlet flows and composition is performed at this point.

This approach usually provides an adequate basis for the next steps of the object model testing (and final tuning) in conjunction
with the rest part of the process and complete control system.