Abstract
The vacuum distillation unit (VDU) is the key unit to produce vacuum gas oil and vacuum residue, which has a very important impact on the downstream secondary processing units. The optimization of deep-cut vacuum distillation seeks to improve the yield of heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) and its dry point temperature, which is related to the economic benefits of the refinery. In this study, we first established a simple model of a VDU by using the Aspen HYSYS Process simulation software. Then, we built a rigorous model with fast convergence by using the initial values obtained by the simple model. The rigorous model can accurately reflect the refinery’s operation and can make predictions. Then, based on the rigorous model, we increased the flash section temperature (FST) to 420 °C and the steam flow rate (SFR) of the stripping to 26 t/h. We eventually increased the yield of HVGO by 6.3 percentage points to 43.4%, while increasing its D86 95%-point temperature by 31.9 °C to 570.9 °C. In this way, the refinery can effectively optimize the deep-cut vacuum distillation and obtain greater economic benefits.
Highlights
Enhancing Deep-Cut Effect of theThe vacuum distillation unit (VDU) is the key component of the crude oil distillation process and the leading device of the refinery [1,2]
The distillation curves of the vacuum distillate oil (VDO), heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) and vacuum residue (VR) are in good agreement with each other, which further indicates that the simulations obtained a qualified product that matches the properties of the actual product
VDUis is difficult and canbe consistent with reality, a new simulation method rigorous not be consistent with reality, a new simulation methodfrom fromaasimple simplemodel model to to aa rigorous model is proposed in this article
Summary
The vacuum distillation unit (VDU) is the key component of the crude oil distillation process and the leading device of the refinery [1,2]. KBC [10] simulated the VDU through the Petro-SIM simulation software to increase the cutting point temperature of vacuum distillation to a higher temperature [11]. Through the adjustment of operating parameters such as operating pressure and feed temperature, the crude oil extraction rate can be increased by 6.8 percentage points to maximize the economic benefits. Few scholars have used Aspen HYSYS to model the VDU, and even if they have, there are many deviations from the actual refinery operating environment This has a certain adverse effect on deep-cut vacuum distillation operation optimization. HYSYS to find two efficient and convenient methods for optimizing deep-cut vacuum distillation, which are increasing the flash section temperature (FST) of the vacuum column and increasing the steam flow rate (SFR) of the stripping. Within a certain control range, this method can safely, reliably and economically improve the production efficiency of the refinery
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