(60a) Performance Enhancement & Profitability Improvements of Refinery Operations Using 3-D Flow Modeling Techniques

Efficient operations of Refinery processes rely on optimal flow distribution, fluid mixing and phase separation. Poor flow, mixing or separation bottlenecks a process, reduces its efficiency and can result in frequent shut downs for maintenance. Optimizing flow can debottleneck a process, lead to an enhancement of the process performance, reduce frequency of shut down and possibly avoid need for new process equipment. This then improves the profitability of the refinery operations. Advancement in simulation technology has enabled building reliable computational models of refinery process units. This presentation discusses the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques to improve refinery operations. The presentation focuses on three case studies:

• Analysis & optimization of crude blending operations
• Design improvements to vapor horns for efficient removal of entrained liquids in a vapor fractionator
• Retrofit of a Flare Knock Out Drum to increase capacity

The case studies illustrate the opportunity to improve performance and avoid need to purchase new equipment through use of flow modeling techniques.