(124b) What is the right Gasoil Cutpoint?

In almost every refinery, the debate is had on what the right vacuum gasoil cutpoint target is in the crude/vacuum unit. The easy answer is “as deep as possible”. The real answer is that it is a complex combination of vacuum tower design, impact of that cutpoint material on the gasoil and resid processing trains, facility configuration, and economic and strategic targets. With the advent of Light Tight Oil (LTO), this decision has become even more complicated, as bottom-of-the-barrel economics are becoming more challenging and crude/vacuum units are being operated on different crude slates.

• The focus of this paper will be to outline a systematic approach for determining the right gasoil cutpoint for a given facility. The approach will include:
• A review of vacuum tower design and operating considerations
• Various analytical and simulation methods for tracking and calculating the yield, property, and operating condition impacts on the downstream hydrotreating, FCC, and Coker units
• Highlighting potential performance and economic alternatives that having the right gasoil cutpoint can open up
• Recommendations for sustaining the right gasoil cutpoint