2015 AIChE Spring Meeting and 11th Global Congress on Process Safety
(216b) Crude Unit Heat Integration - Feed Composition Effects and Current Best Practices
Heat integration provides the bulk of the energy required for atmospheric distillation of crude oil. Heat integration effectiveness must balance multiple factors. These factors include;
- Energy costs.
- Capital costs.
- Operability and control.
- Integration with other units and shutdown scheduling.
- Corrosion.
- Feed flexibility.
- Product types and conditions.
The emphasis of this paper is on the analysis of a well heat-integrated atmospheric-vacuum distillation unit. Comparisons for different types of crude oils covering the range from 20 to 50 API degrees are shown. These comparisons identify best-practice targets for heat integration in crude units running a variety of feeds.