(187e) UOP High CondTM Tubes Debottleneck Fractionation Research Inc. (FRI) Condenser

Lack of condensing capabilities limit many fractionation units throughout the refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. This issue can be exacerbated, especially during the summer months, when cooling water temperatures rise and operators are forced to increase the column pressure to maintain the required temperature difference across the condenser. Increasing the operating pressure reduces the relative volatility between the key components, often resulting in higher energy consumption and lower production.

Fractionation Research Inc., located in Stillwater, Oklahoma and better known as FRI, is a non-profit consortium supported by memberships which include many of the largest petroleum, chemical, and engineering companies in the world. Founded the 1950’s, FRI conducts commercial scale distillation testing with various hydrocarbon systems at pressures from deep vacuum to 500 psia.

Over many years, FRI encountered the issue described above, with a significant condenser bottleneck limiting the ability to fully test the newest generation distillation internals in their 4 foot and 8 foot diameter test columns. With an original design duty of 15 MMBTU/hr, the low pressure condenser could not generate enough reflux to flood the newest high capacity devices.

In late 2017, FRI replaced their existing bare tubes condenser with UOP High Cond tubes condenser, providing a 67 percent increase in duty while maintaining the existing foundation, piping, and plot space. UOP High Cond tubes provide significant improvements in the heat transfer coefficient in horizontal cooling water condensers over bare tubes due to a proprietary surface enhancement.

This paper will discuss the UOP High Cond Tube performance, advantages and applications. The focus of the paper will be primarily on the design of experiments, the performance, and the results of FRI’s High Cond tube condenser. FRI, as a research facility, measured and quantified all performance variables by adding instrumentation not typical for commercial process equipment. The UOP High Cond Tubes condenser performance has exceeded FRI’s expectations, and has successfully eliminated their summertime cooling water limitations, and has enabled the FRI experimental unit to operate at lower column pressures than were previously achievable.