(4c) Dividing Wall Column for Upgrading Naphtha Pool

The refinery has an existing a naphtha splitter followed by a Depentanizer column. The light Naphtha was separated into to a mix of C5 cut and C6+ naphtha. The new business objective required to produce three products: iC5, C5s & C6+ naphtha.

The paper explores the common distillation sequences to meet the new design objectives:

• Install a new deisopentanizer downstream of the existing depentanizer
• Revamp the existing depentanizer to a conventional side cut column
• Revamp the existing depentanizer to a dividing wall column.

The pros and cons in terms of CAPEX and OPEX are discussed for the each of the revamp scenarios.