Case studies reveal common design, equipment errors in revamps

Journal Article · Mon Apr 07 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Oil and Gas Journal

OSTI ID:462710

Golden, S W ^[1]

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1. Process Consulting Services Inc., Houston, TX (United States)

Revamps of the product recovery section of fluid catalytic cracking units (FCCUs) are common. Failure to thoroughly evaluate the existing process flow scheme and equipment design often results in unit operating problems after a revamp. This first of two articles discusses FCC revamps and describes a common revamp and its associated problems and solutions. The second article covers two additional revamp situations. The examples of FCC revamps illustrate how fundamental errors in process system design or equipment resulted in performance that did not meet the stated objectives. The examples illustrate recurring problems for refiners in main fractionator and gas plant revamps. The intent of each revamp was to increase the equipment capacity in order to increase recovery of light products. In each case, the revamp had operating problems after start-up. Eliminating the bottlenecks in these cases would have required a very small incremental investment during the revamp.

• OSTI ID: 462710
• Journal Information: Oil and Gas Journal, Journal Name: Oil and Gas Journal Journal Issue: 14 Vol. 95; ISSN OIGJAV; ISSN 0030-1388
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
CAPACITY
CATALYTIC CRACKING
DESIGN
FLOWSHEETS
MATERIALS RECOVERY
MODIFICATIONS
PETROLEUM REFINERIES