Petroleum Refining Design and Applications Handbook, Volume 5

A. Kayode Coker PhD, is Engineering Consultant for AKC Technology, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wolverhampton, U.K., a former Engineering Coordinator at Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Company (SASREF) and Chairman of the department of Chemical Engineering Technology at Jubail Industrial College, Saudi Arabia. He has been a chartered chemical engineer for more than 30 years. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, U.K. (C. Eng., FIChemE), and a senior member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). He holds a B.Sc. honors degree in Chemical Engineering, a Master of Science degree in Process Analysis and Development and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, all from Aston University, Birmingham, U.K., and a Teacher’s Certificate in Education at the University of London, U.K. He has directed and conducted short courses extensively throughout the world and has been a lecturer at the university level. His articles have been published in several international journals. He is an author of 10 books in chemical engineering, a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design, Vol 61 and a certified train - the mentor trainer. A Technical Report Assessor and Interviewer for chartered chemical engineers (IChemE) in the U.K. He is a member of the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, U.K. (IBC) as Leading Engineers of the World for 2008. Also, he is a member of International Who’s Who of ProfessionalsTM and Madison Who’s Who in the U.S.

Preface xxiv

Acknowledgments xxvii

23 Pressure Relieving Devices and Emergency Relief System Design 1

23.0 Introduction 1

23.1 Types of Positive Pressure Relieving Devices (See Manufacturers’ Catalogs for Design Details) 2

23.2 Types of Valves/Relief Devices 6

Conventional Safety Relief Valve 6

Balanced Safety Relief Valve 7

Special Valves 7

Rupture Disk 7

Example 23.1 15

23.3 Materials of Construction 18

Safety and Relief Valves: Pressure-Vacuum Relief Values 18

Rupture Disks 19

23.4 General Code Requirements [1] 20

23.5 Relief Mechanisms 20

Reclosing Devices, Spring Loaded 20

Non-Reclosing Pressure Relieving Devices 21

23.6 Pressure Settings and Design Basis 21

23.7 Unfired Pressure Vessels Only, But Not Fired or Unfired Steam Boilers 24

Non-Fire Exposure 24

External Fire or Heat Exposure Only and Process Relief 24

23.8 Relieving Capacity of Combinations of Safety Relief Valves and Rupture Disks or Non-Reclosure Devices (Reference ASME Code, Par. UG-127, U-132) 24

Primary Relief 24

Rupture Disk Devices, [44] Par UG-127 25

Footnotes to ASME Code 26

23.9 Establishing Relieving or Set Pressures 27

Safety and Safety Relief Valves for Steam Service 28

23.10 Selection and Application 28

Causes of System Overpressure 28

23.11 Capacity Requirements Evaluation for Process Operation (Non-Fire) 29

Installation 34

23.12 Piping Design 37

Pressure Drops 37

Line Sizing 37

23.13 Selection Features: Safety, Safety-Relief Valves, and Rupture Disks 44

23.14 Calculations of Relieving Areas: Safety and Relief Valves 46

23.15 Standard Pressure Relief Valves Relief Area Discharge Openings 46

23.16 Sizing Safety Relief Type Devices for Required Flow Area at Time of Relief 47

23.17 Effects of Two-Phase Vapor-Liquid Mixture on Relief Valve Capacity 47

23.18 Sizing for Gases or Vapors or Liquids for Conventional Valves with Constant Backpressure Only 47

Procedure 48

Establish Critical Flow for Gases and Vapors 48

Example 23.2: Flow through Sharp Edged Vent Orifice (Adapted after [41]) 54

23.19 Orifice Area Calculations [42] 54

23.20 Sizing Valves for Liquid Relief: Pressure-Relief Valves Requiring Capacity Certification [5D] 60

23.21 Sizing Valves For Liquid Relief: Pressure Relief Valves Not Requiring Capacity Certification [5D] 61

23.22 Reaction Forces 66

Example 23.3 67

Solution 67

Example 23.4 69

Solution 70

23.23 Calculations of Orifice Flow Area using Pressure Relieving Balanced Bellows Valves, with Variable or Constant Backpressure 72

23.24 Sizing Valves for Liquid Expansion (Hydraulic Expansion of Liquid Filled Systems/ Equipment/Piping) 80

23.25 Sizing Valves for Subcritical Flow: Gas or Vapor But Not Steam [5d] 81

23.26 Emergency Pressure Relief: Fires and Explosions Rupture Disks 84

23.27 External Fires 84

23.28 Set Pressures for External Fires 85

23.29 Heat Absorbed 85

The Severe Case 85

23.30 Surface Area Exposed to Fire 86

23.31 Relief Capacity for Fire Exposure 87

23.32 Code Requirements for External Fire Conditions 87

23.33 Design Procedure 88

Example 23.5 88

Solution 88

23.34 Pressure Relief Valve Orifice Areas on Vessels Containing Only Gas, Unwetted Surface 92

23.35 Rupture Disk Sizing Design and Specification 93

23.36 Specifications to Manufacturer 93

23.37 Size Selection 94

23.38 Calculation of Relieving Areas: Rupture Disks for Non-Explosive Service 94

23.39 The Manufacturing Range (MR) 95

23.40 Selection of Burst Pressure for Disk, P b (Table 23.3) 95

Example 23.6: Rupture Disk Selection 98

23.41 Effects of Temperature on Disk 98

23.42 Rupture Disk Assembly Pressure Drop 101

23.43 Gases and Vapors: Rupture Disks [5a, Par, 4.8] 101

Volumetric Flow: scfm Standard Conditions (1.4.7 psia and 60°F) 102

Steam: Rupture Disk Sonic Flow; Critical Pressure = 0.55 and P 2 /p 1 is Less Than Critical Pressure Ratio of 0.55 103

23.44 API for Subsonic Flow: Gas or Vapor (Not Steam) 103

23.45 Liquids: Rupture Disk 104

23.46 Sizing for Combination of Rupture Disk and Pressure Relief Valve in Series Combination 105

Example 23.7: Safety Relief Valve for Process Overpressure 106

Example 23.8: Rupture Disk External Fire Condition 106

Solution 107

Heat Input 107

Total Heat Input (from Figure 23.30a) 107

Quantity of Vapor Released 107

Critical Flow Pressure 107

Disk Area 108

Example 23.9: Rupture Disk for Vapors or Gases; Non-Fire Condition 108

Solution 108

Example 23.10: Liquids Rupture Disk 109

Example 23.11: Liquid Overpressure, Figure 23.34 110

23.47 Pressure-Vacuum Relief for Low-Pressure Storage Tanks 110

23.48 Basic Venting For Low-Pressure Storage Vessels 111

23.49 Non-Refrigerated Above Ground Tanks; API-Std. 2000 112

23.50 Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosions (BLEVEs) 113

Ignition of Flammable Mixtures 116

23.51 Managing Runaway Reactions 116

Hydroprocessing Units 117

Acid/Base Reactions 118

Methanation 118

Alkylation Unit Acid Runaway 118

23.51.1 Runaway Reactions: DIERS 118

23.52 Hazard Evaluation in the Chemical Process Industries 120

23.53 Hazard Assessment Procedures 121

Exotherms 122

Accumulation 122

23.54 Thermal Runaway Chemical Reaction Hazards 122

Heat Consumed Heating the Vessel. The ɸ-Factor 123

Onset Temperature 124

Time-To-Maximum Rate 125

Maximum Reaction Temperature 125

Vent Sizing Package (VSP) 126

Vent Sizing Package 2 TM (VSP2 TM) 127

Advanced Reactive System Screening Tool (ARSST) 128

23.55 Two-Phase Flow Relief Sizing for Runaway Reaction 128

Runaway Reactions 131

Vapor Pressure Systems 132

Gassy Systems 132

Hybrid Systems 132

Simplified Nomograph Method 134

Vent Sizing Methods 138

Vapor Pressure Systems 138

Fauske’s Method 140

Gassy Systems 142

Homogeneous Two-Phase Venting Until Disengagement 143

Two-Phase Flow Through an Orifice 144

Conditions of Use 145

23.56 Discharge System 145

Design of The Vent Pipe 145

Safe Discharge 146

Direct Discharge to The Atmosphere 147

Example 23.12 147

Tempered Reaction 147

Solution 147

Example 23.13 149

Solution 149

Example 23.14 150

Solution 151

Example 23.15 152

Solution 152

DIERS Final Reports 155

23.57 Sizing for Two-Phase Fluids 155

Example 23.16 161

Solution 162

Example 23.17 164

Solution 164

Example 23.18 172

Example 23.19 177

Solution 178

Type 3 Integral Method [5] 179

Example 23.20 [76] 180

Solution 181

23.58 Flares/Flare Stacks 182

Flares 184

Sizing 184

Flame Length [5c] 186

Flame Distortion [5c] Caused by Wind Velocity 187

Flare Stack Height 189

Flaring Toxic Gases 194

Purging of Flare Stacks and Vessels/Piping 195

Pressure Purging 195

Example 23.21: Purge Vessel by Pressurization Following the Method of [41] 195

23.59 Compressible Flow for Discharge Piping 197

Design Equations for Compressible Fluid Flow for Discharge Piping 197

Critical Pressure, P crit 200

Compressibility Factor Z 201

Friction factor, f 202

Discharge Line Sizing 203

23.60 Vent Piping 204

Discharge Reactive Force 204

Example 23.22 205

Solution 206

Example 23.23: Flare and Relief Blowdon System 208

Solution 208

A Rapid Solution for Sizing Depressuring Lines [5c] 208

Codes and Standards 212

Discharge Locations 213

Process Safety Incidents with Relief Valve Failures and Flarestacks 214

A Case Study on Williams Geismar Olefins Plant, Geismar, Louisiana [95] 214

Process Flow of the Olefins 214

The Incident 216

Technical Analysis 219

Key Lessons 222

Explosions in Flarestacks 225

Relief Valves 227

Location 228

Relief Valve Registers 228

Relief Valve Faults [92] 229

Tailpipes [92] 230

GLOSSARY 230

Acronyms and Abbreviations 239

Nomenclature 240

Subscripts 244

Greek Symbols 244

References 245

World Wide Web on Two-Phase Relief Systems 247

24 Process Safety and Energy Management in Petroleum Refinery 249

24.1 Introduction 249

24.2 Process Safety 250

24.2.1 Process Safety Information 253

24.2.2 Conduct of Operations (COO) and Operational Discipline (OD) 254

Process Safety Culture: BP Refinery Explosion, Texas City, 2005 257

Detailed Description 257

Causes 258

Key Lessons 260

Process Safety Culture 260

Selected CSB Findings 260

Selected Baker Panel Finding 261

Process Knowledge Management 261

Training and Performance Assurance 261

Management of Change (MOC) 261

Asset Integrity and Reliability 261

24.2.3 Process Hazard Analysis 262

Safe Operating Limits 263

Impact on Other Process Safety Elements 264

24.3 General Process Safety Hazards in a Refinery 265

Desalters 266

Critical Operating Parameters Impacting Process Safety 266

The Quality of Aqueous Effluent from Desalters 267

Desalter Water Supply 267

Vibration within Relief Valve (RV) Pipework 267

Example of Process Safety Incidents and Hazards 267

Hydrotreating [2] 267

24.4 Example of Process Safety Incidents and Hazards 267

Catalytic Cracking [2] 270

24.5 Process Safety Hazards 270

Reforming 271

Alkylation [2] 271

Hydrotreating Units 271

24.5.1 Examples of Process Safety Incidents and Hazards 272

HF release, Texas City, TX, 1987 [2] 272

HF release, Corpus Christi, TX, 2009 272

HF release at Philadelphia Energy Solutions Refining and Marketing LLC (PES), Philadelphia 2019 273

Post-Incident Activities 276

Coking [2] 277

Equilon Anacortes Refinery Coking Plant Accident, 1998 277

Design Considerations 278

24.6 Hazards Relating to Equipment Failure 278

24.7 Columns and Other Process Pressure Vessels and Piping 279

Corrosion 279

Corrosion Inhibitors 280

24.8 Inadequate Design and Construction 290

Corrosion within “dead legs” 290

24.9 Inadequate Material of Construction Specification 290

24.10 Material Failures and Process Safety Prevention Programs 291

Piping Repair Incident at Tosco Avon Refinery, CA, USA 291

Lessons Learned from this accident 297

24.11 Hazard and Operability Studies (HAZOP) 297

Study Co-ordination 303

24.11.1 HAZOP Documentation Requirements 303

24.11.2 The Basic Concept of HAZOP 304

24.11.3 Division into Sections 304

Use of Guidewords 304

24.11.4 Conducting a HAZOP Study 305

Define Objective and Scope 306

Prepare for the Study 307

Record the Results 307

24.11.5 Hazop Case Study [8] 307

24.11.6 HAZOP of a Batch Process 308

Limitations of HAZOP Studies 315

Conclusions 315

24.12 Hazan 315

24.13 Fault Tree Analysis 317

24.14 Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) 318

Methodology of FMEA 318

Definition of System to be Evaluated 318

Level of Analysis 318

Analysis of Failures 318

24.15 The Swiss Cheese Model 319

24.16 Bowtie Analysis 320

Validity Rules for Barriers 320

Example 322

Process Safety Isolation Practices in Petroleum Refinery and Chemical Process Industries 322

24.17 Inherently Safer Plant Design 325

Inherently Safer Plant Design in Reactor Systems 327

24.18 Energy Management in Petroleum Refinery 330

Total cost of energy 331

Energy Policy 331

Crude Distillation Unit 332

Heat Exchangers 332

Steam Traps 333

Optimization of Refinery Steam/Power System 333

Reducing fouling/surface cleaning/surface coating in heat exchanger/furnace 333

Pumping System 333

Electric Drives 334

Furnace System 334

Compressed Air 335

Flare System 335

24.18.1 Environmental Impact of Flaring 336

24.18.2 Environmental Impact of Petroleum Industry 337

24.18.3 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) 339

24.18.4 Pollution Control Strategies in Petroleum Refinery 340

24.18.5 Energy Management and Co2 Emissions in Refinery 345

24.19 Benchmarking in Refinery 345

Glossary 346

Acronyms and Abbreviations 354

References 354

25 Product Blending 357

25.0 Introduction 357

25.1 Blending Processes 360

25.1.1 Gasoline Blending 361

25.2 Ternary Diagram of Crude Oils 361

25.2.1 Elemental Analysis and Ternary Classification of Crude Oils 361

25.2.2 Reading a Ternary Diagram 363

Solution 364

Example 25.1 364

References 464

Bibliography 466

26 Cost Estimation and Economic Evaluation 467

26.1 Introduction 467

26.2 Refinery Operating Cost 468

26.2.1 Theoretical Sales Realization Valuation Method 470

Example 26.14 538

Solution 538

Product Quality 539

Standard Density 539

Blending Components 539

Constraining Properties 539

Quality Premiums/Discounts 539

A Case Study [44] 540

Problem Statement 540

Process Description 542

Catalytic Reformer 542

Naphtha Desulfurizer 544

Summary of Investment and Utilities Costs 545

Calculation of Direct Annual Operating Costs 545

On-Stream Time 546

Water Makeup 546

Power 546

Fuel 546

Royalties 547

Catalyst Consumption 548

Insurance 548

Local Taxes 548

Maintenance 548

Miscellaneous Supplies 548

Plant Staff and Operators 548

Calculations of Income before Income Tax 549

Summary of Direct Annual Operating Costs 549

Calculation of ROI 550

Carbon footprint 558

Global Warming Potential (GWP) 558

An Improved Method of Using GWPs 560

Solution 562

Carbon Dioxide Equivalent 565

Carbon Credit 566

Carbon Offset 566

Carbon Price 567

Nomenclature 567

References 568

Bibliography 569

27 Sustainability in Engineering, Petroleum Refining and Alternative Fuels 571

27.0 Introduction 571

27.1 Impacts on the Overall Greenhouse Effect 576

27.2 Carbon Capture and Storage in Refineries 578

27.3 Sustainability in the Refinery Industries 580

27.4 Sustainability in Engineering Design Principles 582

27.5 Alternative Fuels (Biofuels) 587

27.6 Process Intensification (PI) in Biodiesel 589

27.7 Biofuel from Green Diesel 592

Analysis 592

Processing of Biodiesel 592

27.7.1 Specifications of Biodiesel 596

Advantages 597

Disadvantages 597

27.7.2 Bioethanol 597

27.7.3 Biodiesel Production 601

Application 601

Process 602

Reaction Chemistry 603

Economics 603

27.7.4 An Alternative Process of Manufacturing Biodiesel 604

Reaction Chemistry 607

27.7.5 Biofuel from Algae 607

27.7.6 Economic Viability of Algae 608

27.8 Fast Pyrolysis 609

27.8.1 Fast Pyrolysis Principle 609

27.8.2 Fast Pyrolysis Technologies 610

27.8.3 Minerals of Biomass 611

27.8.4 Applications of Fast Pyrolysis Liquid 611

Heat and Power 611

27.8.5 Chemicals and Materials 613

27.8.6 Bio-Fuels-Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil (FPBO) from Biomass Residues 613

Feedstocks 614

27.8.7 Properties of Pyrolysis Oil 615

Main advantages 616

27.9 Acid Gas Removal 617

Chemical Solvent Processes 617

Physical Solvent Processes 617

27.9.1 Process Description of Amine Gas Treating 618

Chemical Reactions 618

For hydrogen sulfide H2 S removal: 618

For carbon dioxide (CO2) removal 618

Amines Used [48] 621

27.9.2 Equilibrium Data for Amine–Sour Gas Systems 625

27.9.3 Emerging Technologies [48] 625

Chemistry 627

27.9.4 Advanced Amine Based Solvents 627

Chemistry 628

Disadvantages of Amine Solvents 628

27.10 Alkaline Salt Process (Hot Carbonate) 629

Split Flow Process of Potassium Carbonate Process 630

Two Stage Process 630

27.11 Ionic Liquids 632

Disadvantages 632

Viscosity 633

Tunability 633

Design Suite R470 Technology) 634

Learning Objectives 634

Building the Simulation 636

Defining the Simulation Basis 636

Amines Property Package 636

Column Overview 636

Contactor 636

Adding the Basics 636

Adding the feed streams 636

Physical Unit Operations 638

Separator Operation 638

Contactor Operation 639

Valve Operation 641

Separator Operation 641

Heat Exchanger Operation 642

Regenerator Operation 643

Mixer Operation 644

Cooler Operation 646

Pump Operation 646

Adding Logical Unit Operations 647

Set Operation 647

Recycle Operation 648

Save your case 649

Analyzing the Results 649

Systems Thinking 657

Global Mechanisms 657

Best Available Techniques 657

Innovation 657

27.29 Conclusions 722

Glossary 723

References 729

Bibliography 732

Appendix D 733

Glossary of Petroleum and Petrochemical Technical Terminologies 809

About the Author 937

Index 939