The fractionation tower experienced 4 backflows per day
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When the distillation tower experienced a surge, there was no oil at the bottom of the tower; the amount of gasoline produced increased from the normal 15 tons to around 97 tons. There was no pressure at the top of the distillation tower, as indicated by the instruments on site as well From time to time, there are issues with the tower. In the earlier stages, the dry point of the gasoline was excessively high and wouldn’t come down; either the dry point of the gasoline was too high or the flash point of the diesel was too low. Now, there is suspicion that there is some problem inside the tower
The tower stops and reorganizes the feed
There is a high likelihood of water being involved. Was the tower treated previously, and did flooding of the tower occur during operation?
During startup, there was no tower flushing; at one point the dry point of gasoline was extremely high and could not be reduced
Severe flooding of the tower can lead to deformation or even detachment of the tray plates. In the past, during the drying process in coking units, water in the diesel reflux stream caused all the tray plates inside the tower to be washed away and fall to the bottom of the tower. Mild flooding of the tower may result in malfunctions in some of the tray plates, and the dry point of gasoline and the flash point of diesel are good indicators of this
Is there a problem with the tray? Water is carried back by the reflux stream; this dehydration process should work quite well – there’s no water even when gasoline is used as a sample
Is it possible for the feed to the distillation column to contain water directly? Is it necessary to adjust the temperature of the stripping column?