Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Haribabu Chittibabu, Amudha Valli and Vineet Khanna Bechtel india PVE Ltd
Dipanjan Bhattacharya Bechtel Corporation
E
mergency relief in the process because of compositional changes method for determining relief load
industries aims to protect along the column height. The under abnormal conditions.
equipment, the environment conventional method of estimating This article considers different
and operating personnel from relief load (unbalanced heat methods for estimating relief load
abnormal conditions. Appropriate method) is normally conservative for a distillation column — a debu-
estimation of relief loads under and leads to bigger relief valves taniser in this case — and discusses
extreme conditions is important for and flare headers, but it is the the strengths and weaknesses of
the correct sizing of relief valves approach most widely practised. each method. There are many emer-
and flare headers, and for the selec- With increasing computing speed gency cases that apply to a
tion of disposal media. In addition, and software reliability, process distillation column, and estimation
during debottlenecking or revamp- simulation is increasingly used as of the maximum possible relief load
ing of process units, adding a new an important tool for estimating requires an understanding of plant
relief valve and modifying the relief relief load and properties. Steady- behaviour and identification of the
system can be very costly and, in state simulation can also be used to worst case.
terms of construction, difficult to estimate the relief load within limi-
implement. tations and can overcome some of Case study: a debutaniser
Estimating accurate relief loads the assumptions envisaged in the The debutaniser column separates
for distillation columns under vari- conventional method. Dynamic liquified petroleum gas (LPG)
ous conditions is more complex simulation provides an alternative components from light naphtha.
PDC
To flare, R 135°F PC
174 psia Off gas
Pset = 214 psia
CWS CWR
FC
LC
LC
Debutaniser
196000 lb/hr
Reflux Reflux Sour water
pump drum
Feed, F FC
673700 lb/hr, 301°F Distillate, sour LPG, D
Feed TC FC
58120 lb/hr, 104°F
pump
Reboiler
LC
412°F Steam
Condensate
391°F
391°F FC
178 psia Bottom, naphtha product, B
615600 lb/hr, 391°F
CWS CWR
Product
pump
Therefore:
O O O OO O
Qunbalanced = F hF - B hB - D hD + QR - QC - (F - B - D) hL
2ELIEF PRESSURE
2ELIEF VALVE SET PRESSURE Site-wide power failure (SWPF)
2ELIEF VALVE ACCUMULATED • All electrical equipment fails,
PRESSURE
therefore the feed pump, the debu-
taniser bottom pumps and the
4IME MIN reflux pumps stop
• Assuming all cooling water
Figure 4 Loss of reflux: relief pressure vs time pumps are electrically driven, the
condensing duty is also immedi-
ately lost
• Steam is assumed to flow contin-
uously to the reboiler. Therefore:
Reflux drum fills
O O O O OO
Qunbalanced = F hF - B hB - D hD + QR - QC - (F - B - D) hL
(OLDUP LEVEL
• The feed is pumped and suffi- term enables the dynamic model to
cient head is available to maintain Loss of feed rigorously calculate compositional
the feed flow rate at relief • Feed stops immediately changes at each stage and to modify
condition • After some time, when the vapour/liquid equilibrium over
• Bottom product continues at the column level drops, the bottom time.
same rate. Therefore: product decreases to maintain the Unlike steady-state simulation,
dynamic simulation works within a
Relief load calculated by conventional method Pressure-Flow (P-F) network with
two basic equations: resistance and
volume balance. The resistance
Upset condition Relief load, lb/hr Temperature, °F Molecular weight equation defines flow between pres-
Loss of reflux 124 980 164 49.28
Loss of feed 43 650 164 49.28
sure hold-ups, and the volume
Site-wide power failure 342 796 164 49.28 balance equation defines material
balance at pressure hold-ups.
For the case under consideration,
Table 1 the accuracy of dynamic simulation
-OLECULAR WEIGHT
relationships for rotating equipment
$UTY "45HR
• Specific conductance for control
valves (Cv value) for pressure flow
relationships, and an actuator mode
and rate for valve actuator
dynamics
2EBOILER DUTY
• Detailed exchanger thermal #OLUMN SUMP
design for calculation of pressure MOLECULAR WEIGHT
FROM COLUMN
Credit is not taken for the control Relief valve
action, which reduces the relief
open
Relief valve
load; for example, the column close
bottom temperature controller
Bottom & distillate
flow zero
reduces the steam flow rate when
the column bottom temperature
rises at the relief condition. Relief flow
starts to open. Note that the
pressure did not reach the maxi-
mum accumulated pressure for
2EBOILER SUMP
2EFLUX DRUM the boiling temperature of the
#OLUMN SUMP
column bottoms, finally resulting
in reduced reboiler duty.
After 17 minutes, when the path
for the overhead vapour was
blocked (condenser flooded), lighter
components started to fill the
column sump and reboiler duty
again started to increase. After 21
4IME MIN
minutes, when the relief valve
started to open, reboiler duty
Figure 9 Loss of feed: holdup level vs time settled, based on the column sump
composition at relief condition.
column sump level. As the column
overhead vapour starts to decrease
Condenser (see Figure 7), the reflux drum level
duty
decreases and the distillate flow
reduces to maintain the reflux drum
level. After 20 minutes, when distil-
late and bottoms stop completely,
only the vapour generated by the
reboiler is condensed by the
4IME MIN condenser. Figure 10 shows the
pinched reboiler duty, condenser
Figure 10 Loss of feed: reboiler duty and molecular weight vs time duty and column sump molecular
weight.
During loss of feed, the column
sump molecular weight increases,
&EED
resulting in reduced reboiler duty.
"OTTOMS Since the top reflux is maintained
2EFLUX at normal flow, the lighter compo-
Site-wide power failure $ISTILLATE
2ELIEF nents start migrating towards the
/VERHEAD bottom. The column profile starts
&LOW RATE LBHR
FROM COLUMN
becoming lighter and the tempera-
ture profile starts lowering. This
also results in the lower molecular
Relief valve open weight of the column overhead
vapour. After about 11 minutes, the
condenser is not able to fully
condense the overhead vapour due
to its lower molecular weight,
resulting in a rise in column pres-
sure (see Figure 8). When the
4IME MIN column reaches the set pressure,
after about 23 minutes, the relief
Figure 11 Site-wide power failure: flow vs time valve starts to open. Note that the
2ELIEF PRESSURE PSIA
normal, and the column stabilises
at total reflux mode.
Site-wide power failure condition
Assume that site-wide power fail-
2ELIEF VALVE SET PRESSURE
ure occurs after five minutes (see 2ELIEF PRESSURE
Figure 11). During the power fail-
2ELIF VALVE
ACCUMULATED PRESSURE
ure, the feed pump, column bottom
pump, reflux pump and cooling
water pump stop, and their respec- 4IME MIN
tive flows become zero immediately.
The column sump level increases Figure 12 Site-wide power failure: relief pressure vs time
immediately as the tray inventories
are dumped to the bottom (see
Figure 13).
As the flows of feed, distillate,
bottoms and cooling water are cut,
the vapours generated by the
reboiler cause the column pressure Column sump
level increases
to increase (see Figure 12). After 11
minutes, the relief valve opens.
(OLDUP LEVEL
$UTY "45HR
The time taken to pressure up the
column is much higher in the loss
of feed scenario because the
condenser is available, compared to
the loss of power condition, Reboiler duty
where condensing duty was lost decreases
immediately.
Summary
Loss of reflux condition 4IME MIN
load has limited applicability. For
grassroots designs, the conventional
method may be the most appropri-
ate, as detailed design and/or
complete vendor information may
not be available at the time of the
relief system’s design. It also helps
Dynamic simulation to build in inherent design margins
for any possible future expansion/
debottlenecking operation, and to
4IME MIN minimise changes during the late
stages of the project due to any
unforeseen design development.
Figure 17 Site-wide power failure: relief load vs time Dynamic simulation models the
system rigorously and tends to
method, but validates the hypothe- much lower than by the conven- provide more accurate results,
sis that, if the pinched duty is too tional method. In reality, during taking into account actual system
low, the designer should re-evalu- this condition, after the trays dry dynamics and configuration. It tries
ate the reboiler duty, assuming up the column simply acts as a boil- to emulate plant behaviour, which
lighter composition in the column ing pot without mass transfer. usually results in lower relief loads.
bottoms. The reboiler duty continuously Dynamic simulation also provides
decreases as the contents become relief loads based on time, which
Site-wide power failure heavier with time. According to the can be further analysed for optimis-
Figure 17 shows a comparison of conventional approach, reboiler ing the relief system’s design.
relief load obtained for site-wide duty and relief rate are calculated Dynamic simulation can be particu-
power failure. In dynamic simula- at one instant, which is at the start larly useful in unit revamps, to
tion, the relief load obtained is of the emergency (not at the start of limit the capital cost involved in
relief system modifications.