Erbil Polytechnic University
Erbil Technical Engineering College
Mechanical and Energy Engineering Department
Fractionation of Crude Oil
By:
Nabaz Muhammed Hamadameen
Supervisor:
Dr. Hindren Ali Sabir
Submited date: 30/ 5/2024
Academic year: 2023-2024
Table of Contents
DISTILLATION (FRACTIONATION) ....................................................................3
Principles of Distillation ........................................................................................4
Components of Distillation Tower...........................................................................10
TOWER HARDWARE ...........................................................................................12
Trays Type ...........................................................................................................12
Selection of Tray Type.........................................................................................16
Summary ..............................................................................................................17
DISTILLATION (FRACTIONATION)
Distillation is a separation process requires differences to be recognized and
utilized. We separate many things by detecting a difference in a physical
property, color, size, weight, shapes for example it also requires acting
according to such information. Separation by distillation implies a difference
in boiling points of two or more materials. The components or compounds making
up crude oil are numbered in thousands. Many of these components have similar
physical properties including boiling points that may differ by only a few degrees.
Therefore, it is difficult to separate some pure compounds from the complex mixture
of components in crude oil by distillation alone. There are other methods of
separation used in a refinery for example, extraction with a solvent,
crystallization, and absorption. However distillation is the most common
method. Fortunately, rarely need pure compounds and it is often enough to
separate groups of compounds from each other by boiling range.
If crude oil were a final product, it would have just been a low-grade fuel
struggling to establish itself against coal. If we separate the many compounds
in crude oil into groups we find that these groups have characteristics that
make them considerably more valuable than the whole crude oil.
Some of these groups are products some may be feedstock to other
processing units where they are chemically changed into more valuable
products. These products, in turn, are usually separated or purified by
distillation.
Principles of Distillation
The basic principle of distillation is simple when a solution of tow or more
components is boiled, the lighter component the one most volatile or the one with
the greatest tendency to vaporize (vaporizes preferentially). This results in the vapor
above the liquid being relatively rich in the lighter, more volatile material. And the
liquid is left with proportionately more of the less volatile or heavier liquid. Thus a
separation, to some degree, has taken place. This process is shown in Fig 1.
A tow component mixture, comprising crosses and dots, is contained in a vessel. We
Heat is add until the more volatile material, in this case the dots, start to vaporize.
Now the vapor contains a higher proportion of dots than dose the original liquid. It
is important to note that equilibrium will be established. That is, at a given
temperature and pressure there is an equilibrium in composition reached. By
equilibrium we mean there is a given concentration as "dots" in the vapor and in the
liquid depending upon the original concentration of each component in the liquid
and their respective properties in relation to each other.
Fig 1
Now, let's develop this simple distillation concept into a practical operation as it is
used in the refinery. First, let’s separate and remove the product see Fig 2 By cooling
the over head vapor, we condense and remove it from the original mixture. Thus to
have made a partial separation, partial because you will note that there are a few
"crosses" in the distillate product. This has occurred because at the temperature and
pressure we are conducting the distillation; the heavier component still vaporizes to
some extent. This is because the components of interest in a given distillation usually
have fairly close boiling points
Fig 2
Therefore, to purify the distillate product, we may have to conduct a second
distillation as shown in Fig 3 Obviously, we can continue to cascade these simple
distillations until we achieve the desired purity of product. The distillations depicted
so far are those we call patch, and normally practical in the refinery, although it is
done frequently in the laboratory. Let us make our distillation equipment look more
like refinery pieces of equipment and let us make continuous instead of patch
operation.
Fig 3
This is called Flash Vaporization. As shown in Fig 4 The liquid is pumped
continuously through a heater and into a drum where the pressure is lower. The
lighter material flashes instantly, vapor and liquid flow from the drum continuously.
The same system is shown diagrammatically in the in the lower section of Fig 3
Suppose we have 50% of the charge taken overhead. That is, we set the temperature
and the pressure of the system in such a way that half the charge is boiled off. And
further, suppose the resulting overhead product does not contain the desired
concentration of the lighter product. As we have seen before, we can increase the
purity by adding a stage of distillation.
Fig 4
Suppose we add two more stages of distillation as shown in Fig 5.
Although this is accomplishing our goal of increasing the purity of the light
friction, we are also making large amounts of the intermediate product, each
of which contains the same light friction. If we compare feeds to and products from
two continues stages, we note that the liquid from the upper stage and the feed to the
lower stage are similar in that both are leaner in the lighter component than is the
feed to the upper stage. Therefore, we could combine each indeterminate product
with the feed to the next lower stage. This would improve the yield of the light
fraction and all the original feed would be recovered eventually in the overhead and
bottom products.
Fig 5
An obvious simplification in equipment can be made if we allow the hot vapor
from the stage above the next higher (the intermediate product). This eliminates the
need for the intermediate condensers and heaters. Now we have the continuous,
multi-stage distillation.
Generally the crude oil is fractionated to the following cuts:
1. Small alkanes (1 to 4 carbon atoms): Commonly known by the names methane,
ethane, propane, butane. Its boiling range = less than 104 ০F / 40 ০C. often
liquefied under pressure to create LPG (liquefied petroleum gas).
2. Naphtha or Ligroin: Intermediate that will be further processed to make
gasoline, mix of 5 to 9 carbon atom alkanes. Its’ boiling range = 140 to 212 ০F/ 60
to 100 ০C.
3. Gasoline: Motor fuel, liquid. It is a mix of alkanes and cycloalkanes (5 to 12
carbon atoms). Its’ boiling range = 104 to 220 ০F / 40 to 105 ০C.
4. Kerosene: Fuel for jet engines and tractors; starting material for making other
products. It is a liquid, mix of alkanes (10 to 18 carbons) and aromatics. Its’
boiling range = 220 to 370 ০F / 105 to 200 ০C.
5. Light Gas oil: It is diesel fuel. This alkanes containing 12 or more carbon atoms.
Its’ boiling range = 370 to 520 ০F / 200 to 270 ০C.
6. Heavy Gas oil: It is a heavy truck and train fuel used for distillate fuel Liquid.
This Alkanes containing 20 or more carbon atoms. Its’ boiling range 520 to 560 ০F
/ 270 320 ০C
7. Lubricating oil: It is used for motor oil, grease, other lubricants liquid. It is a
long chain (20 to 50 carbon atoms) alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics. Its boiling
range = 572 to 700 ০F / 300 to 370 ০.
8. Heavy gas or Fuel oil: It is mazod and used for industrial fuel and old ship fuel;
starting material for making other products. It is long chain liquid (20 to 70 carbon
atoms) alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatics. Its’ boiling range = 700 to 1112 ০F / 370
to 600 ০C.
9. Residuals: It is coke, asphalt, tar, waxes; starting material for making other
products solid. It is a multiple-ringed compounds with 70 or more carbon atoms.
Its’ boiling range = greater than 1112 ০F / 600 ০C.
Each of the previous products named cut and produced in specified locations in the
fractionation tower according to its’ boiling range.
Components of Distillation Tower
1. A vertical shell where separation of liquid components is done.
2. Column internals e.g. trays / plates which are used to enhance component
separations.
3. A reboiler to provide the necessary vaporization for the distillation process.
4. A condenser to cool and condense the vapour leaving the top of the column.
5. A reflux drum to hold the condensed vapour from the top of the column so that
liquid (reflux) can be recycled back to the column.
The crude oil fractionation towers consist of three sections:
1. Flashing Section where crude oil feed in to the tower.
2. Rectification Section.
3. Stripping Section
TOWER HARDWARE
In order for good separation (or fractionation) to occur in a distillation column,
the vapors must have good contact with the liquid on each tray. Look at the
following drawing. When the large bubble is broken into several smaller
bubbles, the smaller bubbles expose more surface area for vapor liquid
contact.
Trays Type
• Bubble Cap Tray
below Figure shows what happens when vapors pass through a bubble cap
tray.
The vapor is broken into small bubbles which increases the surface area for
vapor-liquid contact. The bubble cap sits on top of a riser. The riser
channels vapors into the bubble cap. Reflux flows down from one tray to the
next through downcomers below Figure. Downcomers must be large enough to
allow for drainage from one tray to the next or flooding might occur on some of the
trays. Downcomers can be designed in several different ways to provide smooth flow
from tray to tray. In a one-pass system, liquid flows completely across each tray. In
the twoand three-pass systems, liquid flows across the trays in different direction (s).
Trays have small holes drilled through them that allow for complete drainage
when a tower is shut down. These holes are called weep holes below Figure.
Most trays in the tower are level, but trays where a side stream is being drawn off
have a low place at the middle of the tray. These low areas on trays are called trapout
pans. Below Figure.
Liquid flows down into the trapout pan through a downcomer in the middle of the
tower. The risers on a tray where a side stream is being drawn off are much taller
than normal to prevent vapor-liquid contact on this tray. Because the tall risers and
caps look something like a "top hat", this type of tray is often called a hat tray.
The purpose of most trays in a distillation column is to provide maximum contact
between vapor and liquid phases. Different types of trays can be used to provide this
contact. The most common tray, a bubble cap tray, insures good vapor-liquid contact
by forcing the vapors to flow through small slots, or teeth, or holes in the body of
the bubble cap.
• Sieve Deck Tray
This tray (Figure 3.19) is a sheet of light metal with a large number of holes
drilled through it. Vapor rising through the holes keeps the liquid on the tray
and bubbles up through it. The overflow weir keeps a constant depth of
liquid on the tray. The sieve deck is equipped with downcomers and weirs
like the bubble cap tray. A sieve deck tray is inexpensive and easy to clean.
It maintains good liquid and vapor contact as long as it is operated at its
design load. Because the sieve deck tray has fixed openings and does not
have covers over the holes, it does not perform well if tower loads are
constantly changing.
• Valve Tray
A valve tray (Figures & ) has a variable opening for vapors to flow through. Look at
detailed drawing of a valve cap. The hole has a cover that consists of a cap held in
place by guides which go down through the plate, or tray and hook underneath it.
When there is no vapor flow, the caps sits over the hole and close it. Under low
pressure the cap start to rise. As the flow of vapors increases, the cap rise until it is
stopped by the guide tabs. The valve tray is similar to the babble cap tray. Both are
more adaptable to variations in tower loads than a sieve deck tray. The valve trays
and bubble cap trays are designed to perform well with variable tower loads.
Selection of Tray Type
1. Cost
2. Capacity
3. Operating range
4. Efficiency
5. Pressure drop
Summary
Sieve trays are the cheapest and are satisfactory for most applications. Valve trays
should be considered if the specified turn-down cannot be met with sieve trays.
Bubble-caps should only be used where very low vapour (gas) rates have to be
handled and a positive liquid seal is essential at all flow-rates.