Thread Content
“This technical upgrade has been in operation for over half a year. After the modification, we made some adjustments to the operating procedures; now, around 8 tons of raw material can be processed per hour, and the operation of the facility as well as its production volume have remained stable. ”On March 15, in the reformation workshop of Yumen Refinery, chief operator Zhu Lixia checked the temperature and pressure of Tower C-801 on the DCS while explaining the details of the technical upgrades. With the improvement in oil quality, increasing the added value of products and producing more high-efficiency products have become important means for this factory to enhance quality and efficiency. However, in the reforming workshop of the Yumen Refinery, everyone is worried about the \"inventory backlog\" problem caused by the high hydrogen sulfide content in the reformate oil, which makes it difficult to export this oil. In an era of ongoing improvements in oil quality, reducing the sulfur content in oil is undoubtedly a key aspect. To this end, Yumen Refinery, in collaboration with the reforming workshop, conducted a feasibility study on technical upgrades to reduce the sulfur content in the reforming overhead oil. “Our workshop has a C-801 distillation tower for an isomerization unit, which has been out of use for several years. If it can be converted into a desulfurization tower, the problem of high sulfur content might be solved. ”After discussing the matter with the factory’s production department, Zhou Tong, the director of the reprocessing workshop, proposed a viable solution. Through further analysis and evaluation, the C-801 tower can not only reduce the sulfur content in the overhead oil, but also, by optimizing the production process, ensure that the isopentane oil at the top of C-801 is fed steadily into the catalytic unit for processing. This not only reduces the production of low-efficiency naphtha-based oils but also allows those high-octane components, namely isopentane oil, to be incorporated into gasoline, thereby increasing gasoline production. However, through comparative analysis, Yumen Refinery found that the octane number of the overhead oil was high, as was its saturated vapor pressure. By sending all of this overhead oil first to column C-801 for stripping, and then feeding the stripped oil into the gasoline hydrogenation unit, it was possible to maintain a stable octane number in the refinery’s gasoline pool, ensure that the saturated vapor pressure met the required standards, and increase gasoline production. Since the plan was proven feasible, the various departments at the Yumen Refinery promptly began the renovation work. Five additional processes were added, along with some auxiliary equipment and a DCS; the entire renovation took less than 1 month and the cost was only a few thousand yuan. However, through this technical upgrade and optimization, Yumen Refinery is able to produce about 60 tons more gasoline per day. The renovation cost of several thousand yuan not only solves the problem of where to dispose of the oil extracted from the machinery once and for all, but also generates additional profits of tens of millions of yuan per year. Date: March 25, 2019 Source: China Chemical Industry News