Exergy Investigation of Single- and Two-Stage Crude Oil Distillation Units

Abatract：
In a refinery distillation plant, there are many components of interest to be
analyzed thermodynamically, e.g., the crude oil heating furnace, the distillation
column and a network of heat exchangers. Previous studies showed that the highest
energy losses occur when there is a heat transfer process especially in the crude oil
heating furnace where high quality fuel is used to heat the crude oil, which is a low
quality duty, beside the high temperature difference. Therefore, it is proposed in this
work to perform distillation in two stages rather than one to reduce heat duty of the
heating furnace and thus reducing irreversible losses. In this paper, energy and exergy
analyses of a traditional one-stage crude oil distillation unit and a newly proposed
two-stage crude oil distillation unit are conducted to study energy and exergy
efficiencies of these units and determine the exergy losses. The results are compared
for both one- and two-stage distillation units.
Key Words: distillation, exergy loss, exergy efficiency
1 Introduction
Simulation Model. SimSci/PROII software is used to simulate both single- and two-
stage distillation units to find the exact side cuts, temperature, pressure, enthalpy and
entropy. Its modeling capabilities address a wide range of applications from crude oil
characterization and preheating to complex reaction and separation units.
Energy and Exergy Modeling. There are three governing equations that are
commonly used in thermodynamic analysis of open systems. These are conservation
of mass equation, conservation of energy equation, and entropy generation equation.
. .
∑mi = ∑me
i e
（1）

. . . .
∑ Ei + Q cu = ∑ Ee + W cu
i e
（2）

.
. . . . .
∑ ≡ + ∑ (1 − T
i
i
j
0 / TJ ) Q cu = ∑ ≡ e + W cu + I cu
e
（3）

2 Analysis
2.1 Single-Stage Distillation Unit(Case I).
The model consists of a crude heating furnace and an atmospheric distillation
column. In our model, we have considered a crude oil flow of 420 kg/s, which is
heated in this furnace by burning the fuel. The crude oil starts vaporizing as heat input
increases. Typical outlet temperature values, as explained earlier, are 350°C. The
crude oil is directly supplied from storage tanks at atmospheric temperature at 25°C.
In the present study, we will approximate the heating furnace by a heat exchanger
whose cold side fluid is crude oil and hot side fluid is air that enters at 1100°C, a
typical value of exhaust gases. Air is used because its properties are close to the
properties of the exhaust gases. This assumption; however, excludes the exergy losses
associated with the combustion process itself which could reach up to 30–50% of the
fuel exergy input. The mass flow rate of air will be determined by heat balance of the
heat exchanger noting that rate of heat transfer to the crude oil is known and assuming
that the air outlet temperature is 20–50°C higher than the outlet temperature of the
crude oil. This last assumption is made to keep exergy losses associated with hot air
leaving the heat exchanger at a minimum.
The 27-tray atmospheric distillation column considered in this study （referring
to Fig. 1 ） operates at atmospheric pressure. The crude oil is introduced in tray
number 23. The sides cut trays are number 27 for residue, number 17 for heavy gas
oil, number 13 for light gas oil, number 8 for kerosene, number 4 for heavy naphtha
and number 1 for overhead vapors. It should be emphasized that in the model, 10 state
points are assumed for the heat exchanger and the distillation column. Important
parameters for our study are composition of crude oil and temperature, pressure and
flow rates as inputs. By defining those parameters, we can find enthalpy and entropy
to carry out both energy and exergy calculations. Table 1 gives the composition and
properties of the crude oil, while Table 2 summarizes the parameters used to simulate
different cases.

Fig. 1 Schematic of a Single-Stage Distillation Unit

Table 1 Composition and properties of crude oil

No. Substance Weight % Boiling Temp. (°C) Molecular Weight (kg/kmol) Density (kg/m )
3

1 LPG (Butane1) 2 40 52 500

2 Heavy Naphtha 20 190 114 750
3 Kerosene 20 220 170 800
4 Light Gas Oil 15 270 254 850
5 Heavy Gas Oil 23 320 310 900
6 Residue 20 360 426 950

Table 2 Parameters Presentation of Case I and Case II

Stat Substance Phase Case I Case II
e Temp.(°C) Press.(kPa) Flow(kg/s) Temp.(°C) Press.(kPa) Flow(kg/s)
1 Crude Oil Liquid 25 101 420 25 101 420
2 Crude Oil * 350 101 420 250 101 420
3 Butane1 Vapor/Gas 130** 102** 8.4 130** 102** 8.4
4 Heavy Naphtha Liquid 190** 103** 84 190** 103** 84
5 Kerosene Liquid 220** 104** 84 220** 104** 84
6 Light Oil Liquid 270** 106** 63 270** 102** 63
7 Heavy Oil Liquid 320** 108** 96.6 320** 104** 96.6
8 Residue Liquid 350** 110** 84 350** 106** 84
9 Air Gas 400** 101 * 300** 101 *
10 Air Gas 1100 101 * 1100 101 *
11 Residue T1 Liquid - - - 250 104** *
12 Residue T1 * - - - 350 104** *
13 Air Gas - - - 400** 101 *
14 Air Gas - - - 1100 101 *
* To be calculated by the program.
**Initial guess. Exact values to be calculated by the program.
2.2 Two-Stage Distillation Unit (Case II).
The model consists of a crude heating furnace, a first stage distillation column ,
another crude heating furnace and a second stage trays are needed here and assumed
to be having 13 trays (as shown in Fig. 2). The crude is introduced in tray number 12.
The sides cut trays are number 13 for residue, number 8 for kerosene, number 4 for
heavy naphtha and number 1 for overhead vapors. The residue from T1 will be
charged into E2 at 250°C. The outlet temperature will be assumed to be 350°C. Light
gas oil and heavy gas oil will be distilled in the second stage column T2 leaving a
residue at the bottom. Again, less number of trays are needed here and assumed to be
equal to 14 trays. The re-heated residue is introduced in tray number 12. The sides cut
trays are number 14 for residue, number 8 for heavy gas oil and number 4 for light gas
oil. In this case, 14 state points are assumed for the two heat exchangers and the two
distillation columns. These parameters are also shown in Table 2.

Fig. 2 Schematic of a Two-Stage Distillation Unit (Case II)

3 Results and Discussion

3.1Case I
The results of performance analysis of single-stage distillation unit (Case I)are
presented in Table 3. For this case, 419.5 MW of crude furnace heat duty is needed to
accomplish the distillation process. Very high exergy losses occur at the heat
exchanger with a value of 291.8 MW in addition to a low exergy efficiency of 50.5%.
This high loss, 68% of the total unit exergy losses, is due to the high temperature
difference across the furnace. As for the distillation column, the total exergy losses is
137.2 MW, 21% of which are contributed to chemical exergy losses associated with
separation process. The exergy efficiency of the distillation column is 46.1%. The
overall exergy losses are 429.0 MW and the overall exergy efficiency is 14.0%. It is
worth noting that the overall exergy efficiency is not simply the multiplication of the
individual components efficiencies, which is equal to 23.1% in this case.
Table 3 Performance Results of Single-Stage Distillation Unit (Case I)
Item Heat Exchanger(E1) Distillation Unit(T1) Overall(O)
Q(MW) 0 -194.3 -194.3
Heat Duty(MW) 419.5 N/A 419.5
Exergy Losses (MW) 291.8 137.2 429.0
Ψ(%) 50.3 46.1 14.0
3.2 Case II
The results of Case II, two-stage distillation unit are presented in Table 4. For
this case, 380.3 MW of crude furnaces heat duty is needed to accomplish the
distillation process. Again, high exergy losses occur at the heat exchangers E1 and E2
with a value of 71.5 MW and 48.0 MW, respectively; summing up to 119.5 MW, i.e.
50% of the total exergy losses. The exergy efficiencies of these heat exchangers are
74.6 and 78.6%, respectively. The distillation columns T1 and T2 exergy losses are
88.2 MW and 33.4 MW, respectively; summing up to 121.6 MW, of which the
chemical exergy losses are 45% in the first stage and 33% in the second stage. The
exergy efficiencies of the distillation units are 53.3 and 69.8%, respectively. Finally,
we see that the overall exergy losses are 241.1 MW and the overall exergy efficiency
is 31.5%.
Table 4 Performance Results of Two-Stage Distillation Unit (Case II)
Item Heat Distillation Heat Distillation Overall(O)
Exchanger(E1) Unit(T1) Exchanger(E2) Unit(T2)
Q(MW) 0 -82.2 0 -50.8 -133.0
Heat Duty(MW) 276.6 N/A 103.7 N/A 380.3
Exergy Losses 71.5 88.2 48.0 33.4 241.1
(MW)
Ψ(%) 74.6 53.3 78.6 69.8 31.5