Unisim Based Simulation and Analysis of Crude Oil Distillation

Abstract

Crude distillation is the process of separating the hydrocarbons in crude oil based on their boiling point. Though refining process consists of a wide variety of units the major part is done in Crude Distillation Unit (CDU). In this study an attempt is made to make a train of heat integration network for the crude distillation process. Steady state simulations of cases with different arrangement of heat exchangers were studied in this work. Since the cost of energy has increased dramatically in last year’s, the ability to optimize the use of resources and in particular of energy is becoming an extremely important skill for chemical engineers. Steady state simulation and dynamic simulation of crude plant with optimized heat exchanger design were then performed using Unisim software.