(381d) Crude Oil Distillation:General Heat Integration Considerations

Crude oil distillation, by itself, is one of the single largest industrial energy consumers. Even small improvements in energy efficiency have large benefits in crude distillation. The major energy recovery step in crude distillation is heat recovery from distillation towers to preheat the feed. Heat recovery mainly uses pumparounds on the tower or heat integration from the overhead condensers. How many heat integration levels and what types to use have significant consequences on unit investment and energy efficiency. Understanding the general issues involved is critical to maximizing unit performance.

Topics covered here include:

• General heat integration levels
• Constraints from desalter operating temperatures and desalter control
• Service order criteria
• Pump versus exchanger investment and product yields
• Split flow loops