(194d) Liquid Cracker Quench Water Tower Choice of Internals and Operation I

Quench tower in a liquid based olefins plant refers to both Quench Oil tower and Quench Water tower. Gas cracker may have only Quench Water towers. Generally, the Quench Oil tower is subjected to heavy fouling tendency depending on the nature of feed used for cracking. However, the Quench Water tower has much lower potential for fouling in liquid cracker. Large number of Quench Water towers in liquid crackers that are in operation worldwide today are equipped with random packing. While generally agreed that random packing is suitable to handle the fouling tendency, another option is available when studying the problem in detail. In this paper, a different design concept is introduced, which uses structured packings to achieve a great success for the Quench Water tower in liquid crackers for more than 10 years in operation. Based on the recent site inspection, the original structured packings are still in good working conditions to achieve its heat transfer requirement and operable without any fluctuation in the pressure drop. No replacement of either the structured packings or the liquid distributors and other column internals were needed to-date. Besides using the right choice of tower internals, operational excellence which includes running and maintaining the tower by the end-user with the highest standards and broad experience in the Olefins plant operation determines the success of the Quench tower.