CHARACTERIZATION CRUDE OIL 319

Figure 11.12 (Continued)

The results can be seen by going to Components, Petro Characterization, and

Results on the Data Browser. Figure 11.15 gives a partial list of the pseudocompo-
nents. Note that each has a normal boiling point, density, molecular weight, and critical
properties.
This same procedure is repeated for a second crude called OIL-2 whose assay data are
given in Table 11.4. Note that this crude is somewhat lighter than OIL-1 (API gravity is

Figure 11.13 Petroleum characterization generation.

320 CONTROL OF PETROLEUM FRACTIONATORS

Figure 11.14 Completing petroleum characterization generation.

34.8 compared with 31.4 and 50% point is 450
F vs. 650
F for OIL-1). We will feed both
of these crude oils to a unit discussed in Section 11.3.
We are now ready to proceed with our simulation. We will start by looking at a simple
preflash column that is often used in refineries to remove some of the lightest material from
the crude before sending it into the pipestill.

Figure 11.15 Partial list of pseudocomponents.

 STEADY-STATE DESIGN OF PREFLASH COLUMN 321

TABLE 11.4 Crude Oil Assay Data for OIL-2 (34.8
API)
TBP Distillation Light Ends Analysis API Curve
Liq. Vol% Temp. (
F) Component Liq. Vol. Frac. Mid. Vol% Gravity
6.5 120 Methane 0.001 2 150.0
10 200 Ethane 0.002 5 95.0
20 300 Propane 0.005 10 65.0
30 400 Isobutane 0.01 20 45.0
40 470 n-Butane 0.01 30 40.0
50 450 2-Methyl-butane 0.005 40 38.0
60 650 n-Pentane 0.025 50 33.0
70 750 60 30.0
80 850 70 25.0
90 1100 80 20.0
95 1300 90 15.0
98 1475 95 10.0
100 1670 100 5.0

11.3 STEADY-STATE DESIGN OF PREFLASH COLUMN

The first petroleum fractionator simulated is a simple distillation column that removes
some of the light material in the crude. Figure 11.16 gives the Aspen Plus flowsheet of
this unit. There are two crude feed streams that are combined and heated in a furnace in
which the feed is partially vaporized before entering the bottom of the column. There is
no reboiler. Live steam is introduced in the bottom of the column to strip out some of the
light components in the bottoms stream, which is fed to a pipestill to be considered in
Section 11.4.
The valves and pumps are standard equipment, but the column is different than the
typical RadFrac used when specific chemical components are used. A petroleum frac-
tionator is selected from the model library menu on the bottom of the Aspen Plus window
by clicking Columns and then PetroFrac. Figure 11.17 shows the palette of possible
configurations. We choose fourth from the left on the top row, which is a rectifier with
a furnace.

Figure 11.16 Preflash column.

322 CONTROL OF PETROLEUM FRACTIONATORS

Figure 11.17 Types of petroleum (PetroFrac) columns.

It is a little tricky to attach the stream from the tee where the two crudes are mixed to the
furnace. When a material stream is selected at the bottom of the Aspen Plus window and the
cursor is moved to the flowsheet, a red input arrow appears at the bottom of the column, as
shown in the left picture in Figure 11.18. Place the cursor over the red arrow and drag it to

Figure 11.18 Attaching feed to furnace.

 STEADY-STATE DESIGN OF PREFLASH COLUMN 323

Figure 11.19 Column setup.

the left until it points to the furnace. Then click this arrow, which attaches the stream (see
the right picture in Fig. 11.18).
The total crude feed to the preflash column is 100,000 B/D, with each of the two crudes
(OIL-1 and OIL-2) set at 50,000 B/D. Their temperatures are 200
F. The furnace outlet
temperature is specified to be 450
F, which requires a heat input of 203 MMBtu/h
(203  106 Btu/h). The crude is about 30 wt% vaporized in the furnace.
Selecting Setup under the column block (PREFLASH) opens the window shown in
Figure 11.19. There are page tabs of Configuration, Streams, Pressure, Condenser, and
Furnace. The column is set up to have 10 stages, no reboiler and a partial condenser.
Both a gas stream and a liquid distillate are removed from the reflux drum. In addition,
since live steam is fed into the bottom of the column and separates into an aqueous phase in
the reflux drum, a water stream is removed from a small “boot” at the bottom of this drum that
serves as a decanter. The stripping steam flow rate is 5000 lb/h and its temperature is 400
F.
Both the gas and the liquid products contain some water. The water decanted is 244 lb/h.
The distillate rate is set at 20,000 B/D. This will be adjusted later to obtain a desired ASTM
95% point of 375
F for the liquid distillate product, which is a light naphtha stream. Note that
there is only one degree of freedom in this rectifying column since there is no reboiler. All of
the vapor coming up the column comes from the partially vaporized furnace effluent.
Clicking the Stream page tab opens the window shown in Figure 11.20 on which the
combined crude feed stream is specified to be fed to the furnace by using the drop-down
menu. The stripping steam is fed on Stage 10.
Opening the Pressure page tab (shown at the top of Fig. 11.21) permits setting pressures
in the column. The pressure in the reflux drum is specified to be 39.7 psia. The condenser
pressure drop is 2 psi, so the pressure on Stage 2 is set at 41.7 psia. The pressure at the
bottom of the column is specified to be 44.7 psia.
Clicking the Condenser page tab opens the window shown at the bottom of Figure 11.21
on which the condenser temperature is specified to be 170
F. This is high enough to permit
the use of air-cooled condensers, which conserves the use of cooling water.
Clicking the Furnace page tab opens the window shown in Figure 11.22 on which the
temperature is set at 450
F and the pressure is set at 44.7 psia. This is the same pressure as the
324 CONTROL OF PETROLEUM FRACTIONATORS

Figure 11.20 Stream locations.

Figure 11.21 Setting pressures.

 STEADY-STATE DESIGN OF PREFLASH COLUMN 325

Figure 11.22 Setting furnace conditions.

bottom of the column. If the pressure is set at a higher pressure, the steady-state simulation
will run, but an error occurs when exporting a pressure-driven dynamic simulation file.
The final job in the steady-state design is to achieve the desired specification of an
ASTM 95% point of 375
F (ASTM D-86). An initial guess of 20,000 B/D for the liquid
distillate flow rate gives an ASTM 95% point of 353
F. This is lower than the specification,
which indicates that more material can be taken overhead. Increasing the flow rate carries
more higher-boiling material into the naphtha product. To display the TBP and ASTM
boiling point values for the process streams, go to Setup, Report Options, Stream, Property
Sets and select Petro.
A “Design Specs” function can be used to achieve the specification. Clicking Design
Specs under the PREFLASH column block, clicking New and giving an identification label
open the window shown at the top of Figure 11.23. The Type is specified at ASTM D86
temperature (dry, liquid volume basis). The Target is 375
F at a Liquid % of 95%. Click
the Feed/ Product Streams and select NAPHTHA as the Selected Stream (see the bottom of

Figure 11.23 Design Specs.

326 CONTROL OF PETROLEUM FRACTIONATORS

TABLE 11.5 LIGHTS Composition

Mole Fraction lb mol/h lb/h
H2O 0.150 86.3 1,554
C1 0.0697 39.5 634
C2 0.0854 49.1 1,478
C3 0.144 82.8 3,652
iC4 0.0918 52.8 3,069
nC4 0.154 88.3 5,131
iC5 0.0555 31.9 2,302
nC5 0.115 66.2 4,777
Total 1.00 575 29,726

Fig. 11.23). Finally, the Vary page tab is clicked and Distillate flow rate is selected as the
Type (see Fig. 11.24). Run the simulation by clicking the blue N button produces at
NAPHTHA flow rate of 21,040 B/D to achieve the 375
F target.
One source of confusion is a difference between the B/D flow rates specified in the
original Setup and the Liq. vol. 60F bbl/ day reported in the Stream Results. The specified
20,000 B/D is at the actual flow conditions (temperature and pressure). The results given in
the Stream Results are at standard conditions (60
F and 1 atm).
The diameter of the column is calculated in the normal way by using the Tray Sizing
feature. The result is a diameter of 11.1 ft. The composition of the LIGHTS vapor stream
from reflux drum is given in Table 11.5. Most of the light hydrocarbons that are in the crude
oil feed streams are removed in this vapor steam. They are sent to downstream units for
separation into individual components.
The steady-state design is now complete. Figure 11.25a gives the flowsheet of the
PREFLASH column with conditions and properties of the various streams. All of the flow
rates are given in B/D at standard conditions.
Because Petroleum English units are not available in Aspen Dynamics, we will switch to
metric units when we look at dynamic control. Figure 11.25b gives the flowsheet of the
PREFLASH column in metric units (T ¼ 1000 kg).
It should be noted that there is no claim that the design of the preflash column presented
above is the economic optimum. It is presented for purposes of illustration. A modified

Figure 11.24 Set vary in Design Specs.

 STEADY-STATE DESIGN OF PREFLASH COLUMN 327

65.9 MMBtu/h
Lights
575 lb mol/h

170 °F
2 39.7 psia
ID = 11.1 ft PF-water
RR = 0.344 3724 lb/h

OIL-1
31.5 °API
50,000 B/D Naphtha
61.7 °API
17,550 B/D
200 °F 10
PF-steam
450 °F 5000 lb/h
400 °F

OIL-2 CDU-feed
203 MMBtu/h 25.7 °API
34.8 °API
50,000 B/D 443 °F 79,034 B/D
44.7 psia

(a)

19.3 MW
Lights
13.5 T/h

350 K
2 2.7 atm
ID = 3.39 m PF-water
RR = 0.344 1.64 T/h

OIL-1
0.868 sp. gr.
287 T/h Naphtha
0.732 sp. gr.
85.1 T/h
366 K 10
PF-steam
505 K 2.27 T/h
474 KF

OIL-2 CDU-feed
59.5 MW 0.90 sp. gr.
0.851 sp. gr.
281 T/h 501 K 470 T/h
3 atm

(b)

Figure 11.25 (a) PREFLASH flowsheet (engineering units). (b) PREFLASH flowsheet (metric units).

design was developed in a recent paper,2 which optimized the column. Changes from the
original design included

1. Reducing reflux-drum temperature from 170 to 130
F and raising pressure from 39.7
to 42 psia.
2. Reducing furnace outlet temperature from 450 to 400
F.
328 CONTROL OF PETROLEUM FRACTIONATORS

These resulting in a significant reduction in the vapor distillate from the reflux drum
(575 decreases to 251 lb mol/h), which reduces the compression costs of recovering the
valuable components in this stream.

11.4 CONTROL OF PREFLASH COLUMN

The reflux drum and column base are sized to provide 5 min of liquid holdup when half full.
The file is pressure checked and exported to Aspen Dynamics. The initial control scheme
that opens is shown in Figure 11.26. Note that there is a level controller (LCW1) that pulls
off free water from the reflux drum. The other level controller (LC12) manipulates reflux
flow rate to hold the liquid level of the organic phase in the reflux drum. Since the reflux
ratio is only 0.344 in this column, we change the control structure to hold reflux-drum level
with the NAPHTHA flow rate (valve V12). Pressure controller PC1 manipulates the valve
V14 in the vapor line.
Flow controllers are added to the two crude feeds and the stripping steam. A base-level
controller is added that manipulates bottoms flow rate. A temperature controller is added
that holds the furnace outlet temperature by manipulating furnace heat input.
The only remain loop is a controller that manipulates the flow rate of the NAPHTHA to
maintain a 95% point at 375
F (191
C in the metric units used in Aspen Dynamics). The
default properties available in Aspen Dynamics for any stream do not include boiling point
information. To obtain these data, we must turn on the “Stream Sensor.” Select the
NAPHTHA stream, right click, select Forms, and select Configure Sensor. The view shown
at the left in Figure 11.27 shows the window that opens on which we click the Sensor On
and Calculate Phase Properties boxes, specify the Valid Phases to be Liquid-Only and
select the additional properties we wish to have available. In our case, the ASTM D86
temperature is the item of interest, so it is moved to the right column under Selected
Properties. The number “95” is entered in the Liquid Volume % Distilled box. Now this
property is reported in the stream results for the NAPHTHA stream (see the right side
of Fig. 11.27). This property is also available to be selected as an input to a controller
(“95% boiling point”), which will manipulate reflux flow rate to maintain the desired
ASTM 95% boiling point of the naphtha.

Figure 11.26 Initial control scheme.