Overview of

CDU and VDU

Topics
•CDU and VDU Products and •Flash Calculations
Processes
•Overall energy requirements
•Overflash
•Energy Conservation Properties
•Furnace heater
•Side strippers
•Types of refluxes
•Vacuum Devices
•Material Balance
 Atmospheric Distillation Unit

To separate the mixture into several fractions like naphtha, kerosene, diesel and gas oil.
Purification of Crude Oil
Removal of Salts in the Desalter
 How?

Heat it to a temperature of around 1500C

 Why?

Crude enters a heat exchanger network

Heat exchanger network makes use of
 the vapors of the main column condenser
 the pump-around circuit streams (PA1, PA2 and PA3)
 the products that need to be cooled
Preheating Train
Obtaining the products
 The preheated crude enters the furnace, where it is heated to about
340-372 0C
 The partially vaporized crude is fed into the feed region (called flash
zone) of the atmospheric column, where the vapor and liquid
separate.
 The vapor includes all the components that comprise the products,
while the liquid is the residue with a small amount of components in
the range of gas oil.
 These components are removed from the residue by steam stripping
at the bottom of the column.
 Products are withdrawn from the side of the column and side
strippers are used to help controlling the composition of light
components.
Preheating light oils
Problem:
 In the preheating train, the crude is under pressure to suppress vaporization.
 In the case of a light crude, the pressure required to suppress vaporization is
too high.
Solution:
 Separate some light components before heating the crude further in the
preheat train .
 The light components separated in the pre-flash drum are sent to the column
directly.
Preflash Design 1
Preflash Design 2
 Stripping type design
 The crude is heated to a relative
low temperature (about 150°C)
and fed close to the top of the
column.
 Because the crude temperature is
low, the vapor ratio of the feed is
small.
 The crude goes down the column
and is heated consecutively in
three heaters (the upper heater,
middle heater and lower heater).
 Side products are withdrawn
from the vapor phases, and
rectified in side rectifiers.
Reflux: Top Tray
 Reflux is only at top tray only
 Reflux is cooled and sent into the Tower.
 Heat input: Through Tower bottom.
 Removal: at the top.
 Thus requires large tower diameter.
 Improper reflux and poor quality of fraction.
 Economic utilization of heat is not possible.
Pump back reflux
 Reflux is provided at regular intervals.
 This helps every plate to act as a true fractionator (because
there is always good amount of liquid).
 Tower is uniformly loaded, hence uniform and lesser diameter
tower will do.
 Heat from external reflux can be utilised as it is at
progressively higher temperatures.
 However design of such tower is costly, but provides excellent
service.
 Most common in refineries.
Pump around reflux
 In this arrangement reflux from a lower plate is taken, cooled
and fed into the column at a higher section by 2 to 3 plates.
 This creates local problem of mixing uneven composition of
reflux and liquids present on the tray.
 Designers treat all the plate in this zone as one single plate
 The result gives large number of plates and high tower
height.
Vacuum Distillation
 Need:
 The topped crude leaving the atmospheric tower still contains
significant amount of valuable oils.
 These oils cannot be distillated at atmospheric pressure because
the temperature required would be so high that severe thermal
cracking takes place.
Vacuum Distillation
Vacuum Distillation
 Construction:
 The vacuum distillation consists of the vacuum furnace, vacuum
tower and the vacuum producing system.
 The topped crude is heated up in the vacuum furnace to about
400 °C.
 The temperature is controlled to be just below the temperature of
thermal decomposition.
Vacuum Distillation
 Products:
 LVGO
 HVGO
 Vacuum residue
 Highlights:
 Does not have a condenser on the top
 Side strippers may or may not be used.
Product Specifications (VDU)
Catalytic Cracking Feedstock
 require a strict separation between distillate and residue.
 carbon content should be minimal
 Metal content should be minimal

Hydrotreater or Hydrocracker Feedstock

 Can tolerate high metal content
 carbon content should be minimal

Distillate Fuel Oils

 Can be used directly

Vacuum Residue
 Residue can be blended with residual fuels
Break up of complete crude
oil
ASTM ranges for the products
 Degree of separation:
Concept of Gap
GAP: Defines the relative degree of separation between adjacent
fractions.
The (5-95) Gap is the difference between the 5% ASTM
temperature of a heavy fraction (H) minus the 95% ASTM
temperature of the lighter fraction (L) of two adjacent side
products
Positive difference is called Gap.
Negative difference is called overlap.

Greater the degree of separation, greater will be recovery of the light component in
the distillate and the heavy component in bottoms.
Cut, Gap and Overlap
Cuts as per Watkins
Degree of difficulty of
separation
 Defined as the relative difficulty encountered in separating
the two compounds, regardless the purity requirements set
by process specifications
 Inversely proportional to the relative volatility between the
two components.
Degree of separation
 For a given system
 No. of trays required increases markedly as purity requirement
increases, but reflux requirements increases only a small amount.
 Tray and reflux requirements increases as relative volatility
decreases i.e separation becomes more difficult.

 For a fixed number of trays, reflux requirement is directly

proportional to the degree of difficulty of separation.

 At reflux condition exceeding minimum requirements =>Tray

requirements are directly proportional to the required degree
of separation.
 The degree of difficulty of separation inherent in the physical
chemical system under consideration.
Obtaining the cuts
Cuts are obtained using the following specs:
 95% ASTM point (usually the D86 point is used)
 Allowable Gaps.
 Minimum Flash point
 Desired pour point
 Desired cetane number.
 Sulfur content
Overflash
 Overflash is a term coined for the ratio of the volumetric
flowrates of liquid flowing from the tray above the feed and the
feed.
 This value is set to 2-3%.
 The purpose is to guarantee that the plates between the flash
zone and the first draw above it do not dry up.
 Over flash prevents coking of wash section plates and
carryover of coke to the bottom side streams by and the
tower bottom by providing reflux to the plates between the
lowest sidestream and the flash zone.
Flash zone
Flash Zone operating conditions temperature is limited by
advent of cracking.
Flash zone pressure is set by fixing the reflux drum pressure
and adding to it to the line and tower pressure drop.
Crude TBP provides estimate of total distillate.
EFV cruve of the crude is derived from the TBP and converted to
the flash zone pressure.
Overflash quantity is selected and included in this material
balance and heat balance around the bottom section including
feed section is done to fix the flash zone temperature.
Flash zone temperature thus fixed ensures desired total
distillate yield.
Crude Column Design
Inputs
 Crude TBP (essential)
 Density/API gravity (essential)
 Molecular Weight(optional)
 Viscosity(optional

Specification Required:
 Column Pressure
 Product specification can be given in terms of fix draw or distillation
point.
 Pump around duties need to be specified.
 Column top temperature can be specified.
Process Design
 Prepare TBP Distillation and equilibrium Flash Vaporisation
curves of crude to be processed.
 Using crude assay data construct TBP curves for all products
except gas and reduced crude.
 Convert these to ASTM & EFV.
 Convert TBP data to EFV curves.
 Prepare material balance of crude distillation column, on both
volume and weight basis.
Fractionation requirements
Gaps and overlaps
Correlate deviation or gap with F factor (product of number of
plates between two adjacent side draws off stream and internal
reflux ratio)
Packie method
 Degree of difficulty of separation : The difference between 50
vol.% temperatures of the fractions under study.
 Convert 50% TBP temp to ASTM.
 Separation Capability (F):defined as the product of the reflux to
feed ratio at the upper draw tray as calculated on the
volumetric basis and the number of actual trays in that section.
 F is the Factor related to gap and overlap
Packie method
Number of plates in particular section depends on gap and
reflux ratio.
F= Reflux ratio x Number of plates in that section.
F=(LN/DN)NT,(NT: No of trays of distillation column)
L/D= Reflux ratio
TBP vs ASTM 50 % B.P
Packie chart
Problem
In a refinery side stream operation the fraction to be collected is
diesel. The diesel entering the side stripper is 4000 bbl/h, the
50 percent point of the cut is 2750C and contained with Kerosine
whose mid boiling point is 1450C. If the stripper is having 4
plates find the actual amount of diesel coming out of the
stripper if the ASTM GAP is 200C.
Solution
Calculate F Factor from Packie method for side stream stripper.
ASTM ΔT50%=

ASTM GAP= 20 oC

F= (L/D)NT=>L/D=

V= L+D = 4000

Hence D( Actual amount of diesel )=

Solution
Calculate F Factor from Packie method for side stream stripper.
ASTM ΔT50%= 275145=
130oC (254 oF)
ASTM GAP= 20 oC = 36 oF
F= (L/D)NT=>L/D= 5/4= 1.25
V= L+D = 4000
Hence D( Actual amount of diesel )= 1778 bbl.