Efficient Petrochemical Processes

FRANK (XIN X.) ZHU, PHD, is Senior Fellow at Honeywell UOP, Des Plaines, Illionis. He is a leading expert in industrial process design, modeling, and energy efficiency. He holds 60 US patents; is the co-founder for ECI International Conference: CO2 Summit and the recipient of AIChE Energy Sustainability Award. JAMES A. JOHNSON is the Director of Petrochemical Development in the R&D Department of Honeywell UOP. He has authored several publications and holds 36 US patents. DAVID W. ABLIN was a Fellow at the Aromatics Technology Center of Honeywell UOP before retiring in 2016. He holds 14 U.S. patents and earned several UOP Engineering awards. GREGORY A. ERNST is a Technology Specialist at Honeywell UOP, focusing on aromatics technologies with experience in commissioning, field services, and on-site troubleshooting of operating plants.

Preface xix Acknowledgments xxi Part I Market, Design and Technology Overview 1 1 Overview of This Book 3 1.1 Why Petrochemical Products are Important for the Economy 3 1.2 Overall Petrochemical Configurations 8 1.3 Context of Process Designs and Operation for Petrochemical Production 11 1.4 Who is This Book Written For? 11 2 Market and Technology Overview 13 2.1 Overview of Aromatic Petrochemicals 13 2.2 Introduction and Market Information 13 2.3 Technologies in Aromatics Synthesis 21 2.4 Alternative Feeds for Aromatics 27 2.5 Technologies in Aromatic Transformation 28 2.6 Technologies in Aromatic Separations 35 2.7 Separations by Molecular Weight 39 2.8 Separations by Isomer Type: paraXylene 39 2.9 Separations by Isomer Type: metaXylene 44 2.10 Separations by Isomer Type: orthoXylene and Ethylbenzene 45 2.11 Other Related Aromatics Technologies 46 2.12 Integrated Refining and Petrochemicals 57 References 61 3 Aromatics Process Description 63 3.1 Overall Aromatics Flow Scheme 63 3.2 Adsorptive Separations for paraXylene 64 3.3 Technologies for Treating Feeds for Aromatics Production 68 3.4 paraXylene Purification and Recovery by Crystallization 68 3.5 Transalkylation Processes 71 3.6 Xylene Isomerization 72 3.7 Adsorptive Separation of Pure metaXylene 76 3.8 paraSelective Catalytic Technologies for paraXylene 78 References 81 Part II Process Design 83 4 Aromatics Process Unit Design 85 4.1 Introduction 85 4.2 Aromatics Fractionation 85 4.3 Aromatics Extraction 88 4.4 Transalkylation 96 4.5 Xylene Isomerization 101 4.6 paraXylene Separation 105 4.7 Process Design Considerations: Design Margin Philosophy 106 4.8 Process Design Considerations: Operational Flexibility 108 4.9 Process Design Considerations: Fractionation Optimization 109 4.10 Safety Considerations 110 4.10.1 Reducing Exposure to Hazardous Materials 110 4.10.2 Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) 110 4.10.3 Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Study 110 Further Reading 111 5 Aromatics Process Revamp Design 113 5.1 Introduction 113 5.2 Stages of Revamp Assessment and Types of Revamp Studies 113 5.3 Revamp Project Approach 115 5.4 Revamp Study Methodology and Strategies 116 5.5 Setting the Design Basis for Revamp Projects 118 5.6 Process Design for Revamp Projects 121 5.7 Revamp Impact on Utilities 123 5.8 Equipment Evaluation for Revamps 124 5.9 Economic Evaluation 147 5.10 Example Revamp Cases 152 Further Reading 154 Part III Process Equipment Assessment 155 6 Distillation Column Assessment 157 6.1 Introduction 157 6.2 Define a Base Case 157 6.3 Calculations for Missing and Incomplete Data 159 6.4 Building Process Simulation 161 6.5 Heat and Material Balance Assessment 162 6.6 Tower Efficiency Assessment 164 6.7 Operating Profile Assessment 166 6.8 Tower Rating Assessment 168 6.9 Guidelines for Existing Columns 169 Nomenclature 170 Greek Letters 170 References 170 7 Heat Exchanger Assessment 171 7.1 Introduction 171 7.2 Basic Calculations 171 7.3 Understand Performance Criterion: UValues 173 7.4 Understand Fouling 176 7.5 Understand Pressure Drop 178 7.6 Effects of Velocity on Heat Transfer, Pressure Drop, and Fouling 178 7.7 Improving Heat Exchanger Performance 185 7.A TEMA Types of Heat Exchangers 186 References 188 8 Fired Heater Assessment 189 8.1 Introduction 189 8.2 Fired Heater Design for High Reliability 189 8.3 Fired Heater Operation for High Reliability 194 8.4 Efficient Fired Heater Operation 197 8.5 Fired Heater Revamp 201 References 202 9 Compressor Assessment 203 9.1 Introduction 203 9.2 Types of Compressors 203 9.3 Impeller Configurations 205 9.4 Type of Blades 207 9.5 How a Compressor Works 207 9.6 Fundamentals of Centrifugal Compressors 208 9.7 Performance Curves 209 9.8 Partial Load Control 210 9.9 Inlet Throttle Valve 212 9.10 Proc