Crude distillation unit and the technology adopted in russia

Abstract

© 2019, International Multidisciplinary Scientific Geoconference. All rights reserved. The work is considering of technology of Crude distillation unit in general modern technology of refining process. Crude distillation unit (CDU) is at the front-end of the oil refinery. Oil topping column K-1 is especially important in the general crude distillation unit technology in Russia. The main purpose of K-1 column is separation of light gasoline and the main part of the dissolved gases from crude oil in order to normalize the amount of gasoline hydrocarbons following to the main column K-2 and to stabilize its operation mode in spite of the possible fluctuations of crude oil composition. The K-1 column increases the flexibility of CDU for any type of crude oil. At the Russian refinery K-1 is an additional column, which stands in front of K-2 (main column). The crude oil before the K-1 is usually heated in several successive preheat exchangers up to temperature of 200–220 °C. The topping column K-1 in most cases has simple design, although it fractionates the complex mixture (crude oil) having numerous components. All fractions or products that obtained by distillation of crude oil are called lights fractions. Distillation is mass transfer process, carried out in the Poppet or packing columns by multiple counter current contacts of steam and liquid phase. To carry out the process, it is necessary to provide a continuously rising vapour flow in the column from the bottom up and a continuous flow of liquid from the top down. The two types of crude distillation unit technologies are compared. In this work the advantages and disadvantages of the using of column K-1 in crude distillation unit are discussed. It was shown that products from CDU equipped with column K-1 differs from usual CDU. Increasing of some valuable products like methane, ethane and naphtha, when using column K-1 are observed.