The steam cracking unit is highly energy demanding, requiring high-severity pyrolysis furnaces to break the carbon-carbon bonds, as well as high pressure for the purification of its products.
Uniform flow distribution inside process equipment is desirable for maximizing performance.
In an olefins plant, the reliability of ethylene cracking furnaces is one of the deciding factors used to indicate whether or not the plant can be operated at its design productivity.
Kumar, S.,
Nanoti, S. M.,
Garg, M. O., CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum;
Amutha, R.,
Nandagopalu, N. V. N., Chennai Petroleum Corp. Ltd.
Solvent deasphalting (SDA) is emerging as a low-cost, bottom-of-the-barrel upgrading process to recover valuable oil from short residue. This oil can either be further processed to make lube-oil-based stocks or cracked in secondary processing units.
From 2008 to date, 45 twisted tube heat exchangers and bundles have been installed at BAYERNOIL refineries in different units and services, allowing higher heat recovery and contributing to BAYERNOIL’s energy targets.
Fired process heaters are one of the most critical pieces of equipment within many refinery and petrochemical facilities. Proper instrumentation and control of the equipment has direct bearing on the successful operation of the process, as well as on overall facility process safety.
Piping and process equipment that operate at high temperatures experience thermal expansion. If free thermal expansion is restrained, mechanical stresses are created within the component.
A few years ago, managers at a US-based oil refinery called in an expert to inspect their oil furnaces with an infrared (IR) camera.
Hay, G.,
Rasouli, G.,
Carbognani-Arambarri, L., Virtual Materials Group Inc.;
Suzuki, R.,
Urata, K.,
Inoue, M., JX Nippon
Steam cracking furnaces produce olefins, which are high-value feeds in the petrochemical industry. Coke formation is an unavoidable part of a thermal cracking furnace.
The crude oil refining and petrochemical industries make extensive use of condensers that operate under vacuum (i.e., below atmospheric pressure). Distillation is the most common process using these condensers, either as a process precondenser ahead of an ejector system, or as an intercondenser within an ejector system.