Is it effective to use catalyzed oil slurry in the heating furnace of atmospheric and vacuum distillation units?
Thread Content
Our plant’s atmospheric and vacuum distillation units originally used crude oil as fuel; now we want to use the slurry from the catalytic unit instead. I would like to ask experts what the effects of using this slurry as fuel are What is the calorific value of the slurry fuel? How is it compared to the residue from atmospheric and vacuum distillation? Our idea is that the price of oil slurry is lower than that of crude oil, which can help save costs!
The slurry in the catalytic unit contains catalyst and is highly viscous; it needs to be heated to reduce its viscosity, and more steam may be required for atomization. The slurry causes significant erosion of the pipeline nozzles; maintaining these nozzles is a major issue. Additionally, ash accumulation in the heater is also severe due to the presence of catalysts. It’s better to burn the residue oil. Burn natural gas if conditions permit.
We have used catalytic slurry as fuel oil; the main problem is that it causes significant damage to the nozzles, results in poor atomization, incomplete combustion, and a large amount of smoke and dust. It’s not needed anymore.
The design uses slurry, which is actually not very effective. Our factory initially used slurry, along with fuel oil pumps; as a result, the pumps wore out frequently. It is recommended to use dry gas in normal operations, and if there isn’t enough dry gas, then residue oil can be used – simply connect the residue oil line to the pump outlet
The slurry in the catalytic unit contains catalyst, is highly viscous and has a high calorific value; therefore, a large amount of steam is required to heat it and reduce its viscosity. The slurry causes significant erosion of the pipeline nozzles, which requires these nozzles to be modified; moreover, more ash accumulates in the heater, necessitating improved dust removal. It is more difficult to burn than the residue oil from atmospheric and vacuum distillation. For the overall benefit of the company, face the challenges head-on.
It probably won’t work well; at least it contains a catalyst, and the wear and tear it causes on the equipment cannot be ignored.
You guys are going down our old path again； Now we mostly use gas produced locally; we only burn oil when it’s not enough.
Among the above three types, residue oil has the highest calorific value. Given the issue of crude oil waste, residue oil is generally used for combustion. Catalyzed slurry contains catalysts, which cause significant wear on pumps and machinery (our fuel pumps use triple-screw design). Additionally, slurry has a high volatility level, which can lead to clogging of nozzles and incomplete combustion. We use slurry in our 200,000-ton atmospheric and vacuum distillation units; it’s important to clean the tanks regularly. The nozzles in these units are relatively large, so they don’t get clogged, but the fuel pumps suffer severe damage and require their screws to be replaced every three months. Since oil slurry is difficult to handle, our small units generally have it burned in a heating furnace.
Our factory’s atmospheric pressure heating furnace has been used for this purpose. Since the catalytic slurry contains solid catalyst particles, the most obvious drawback is severe ash deposition in the furnace tubes, which requires frequent soot blowing.
We are still discussing the advantages and disadvantages of various options for burning oil slurry, crude oil, and residue. Thank you all for sharing your valuable experience! !
Theoretically, the catalytic slurry is best sent to coking, where it can replace part of the heavy residue oil and be used as fuel oil.