Petroleum Refining – Mechanical Separations, Distillation, Packed Towers, Liquid–Liquid Extraction, Process Safety Incidents

A. Kayode Coker PhD, is Engineering Consultant for AKC Technology, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wolverhampton, U.K., a former Engineering Coordinator at Saudi Aramco Shell Refinery Company (SASREF) and Chairman of the department of Chemical Engineering Technology at Jubail Industrial College, Saudi Arabia. He has been a chartered chemical engineer for more than 30 years. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Chemical Engineers, U.K. (C. Eng., FIChemE), and a senior member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE). He holds a B.Sc. honors degree in Chemical Engineering, a Master of Science degree in Process Analysis and Development and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, all from Aston University, Birmingham, U.K., and a Teacher's Certificate in Education at the University of London, U.K. He has directed and conducted short courses extensively throughout the world and has been a lecturer at the university level. His articles have been published in several international journals. He is an author of six books in chemical engineering, a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Chemical Processing and Design, Vol 61 and a certified train - the mentor trainer. A Technical Report Assessor and Interviewer for chartered chemical engineers (IChemE) in the U.K. He is a member of the International Biographical Centre in Cambridge, U.K. (IBC) as Leading Engineers of the World for 2008. Also, he is a member of International Who's Who of Professionals(TM) and Madison Who's Who in the U.S.

Preface xxii Acknowledgments xxiv 18 Mechanical Separations 1 18.1 Particle Size 1 18.2 Preliminary Separator Selection 6 18.3 Gravity Settlers 16 18.4 Terminal Velocity 19 18.5 Alternate Terminal Velocity Calculation 24 18.6 American Petroleum Institute's Oil Field Separators 28 18.7 Liquid/Liquid, Liquid/Solid Gravity Separations, Decanters, and Sedimentation Equipment 28 18.8 Horizontal Gravity Settlers or Decanters, Liquid/Liquid 29 18.9 Modified Method of Happel and Jordan 33 18.10 Decanter 36 18.11 Impingement Separators 42 18.12 Centrifugal Separators 68 References 246 19 Distillation 249 19.1 Distillation Process Performance 249 19.2 Equilibrium Basic Considerations 252 19.3 Vapor-Liquid Equilibria 253 19.4 Activity Coefficients 262 19.5 Excess Gibbs Energy?G^E 263 19.6 K-Value 264 19.7 Ideal Systems 266 19.8 Henry's Law 268 19.9 K-Factor Hydrocarbon Equilibrium Charts 269 19.10 Non-Ideal Systems 277 19.11 Thermodynamic Simulation Software Programs 280 19.12 Vapor Pressure 283 19.13 Azeotropic Mixtures 296 19.14 Bubble Point of Liquid Mixture 311 19.15 Equilibrium Flash Computations 316 19.16 Degrees of Freedom 325 19.17 UniSim (Honeywell) Software 326 19.18 Binary System Material Balance: Constant Molal Overflow Tray to Tray 333 19.19 Determination of Distillation Operating Pressures 343 19.20 Condenser Types From a Distillation Column 344 19.21 Effect of Thermal Condition of Feed 348 19.22 Effect of Total Reflux, Minimum Number of Plates in a Distillation Column 352 19.23 Relative Volatility alpha Separating Factor in a Vapor-Liquid System 355 19.24 Rapid Estimation of Relative Volatility 366 19.25 Estimation of Relative Volatilities Under 1.25 (alpha 19.26 Estimation of Minimum Reflux Ratio: Infinite Plates 368 19.27 Calculation of Number of Theoretical Trays at Actual Reflux 370 19.28 Identification of "Pinch Conditions" on an x-y Diagram at High Pressure 373 19.29 Distillation Column Design 376 19.30 Simulation of a Fractionating Column 378 19.31 Determination of Number of Theoretical Plates in Fractionating Columns by the Smoker Equations at Constant Relative Volatility (alpha = constant) 396 19.32 The Jafarey, Douglas, and McAvoy Equation: Design and Control 401 19.33 Number of Theoretical Trays at Actual Reflux 411 19.34 Estimating Tray Efficiency in a Distillation Column 413 19.35 Steam Distillation 422 19.36 Distillation with Heat Balance of Component Mixture 432 19.37 Multicomponent Distillation 453 19.38 Scheibel-Montross Empirical: Adjacent Key Systems: Constant or Variable Volatility 494 19.39 Minimum Number of Trays: Total Reflux.Constant Volatility 497 19.40 Smith-Brinkley (SB) Method 512 19.41 Retrofit Design of Distillation Columns 514 19.42 Tray-by-Tray for Multicomponent Mixtures 517 19.43 Tray-by-Tray Calculation of a Multicomponent Mixture Using a Digital Computer 531 19.44 Thermal Condition of Feed 532 19.45 Minimum Reflux-Underwood Method, Determination of alphaAvg for Multicomponent Mixture 533 19.46 Heat Balance-Adjacent Key Systems with Sharp Separations, Constant Molal Overflow 539 19.47 Stripping Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC) from Water with Air 542 19.48 Rigorous Plate-to-Plate Calculation (Sorel Method) 547 19.49 Multiple Feeds and Side Streams for a Binary Mixture 551 19.50 Chou and Yaws Method 558 19.51 Optimum Reflux Ratio and Optimum Number of Trays Calculations 561 19.52 Tower Sizing for Valve Trays 574 19.53 Troubleshooting, Predictive Maintenance, and Controls for Distillation Columns 589 19.54 Distillation Sequencing with Columns Having More than Two Products 622 19.55 Heat Integration of Distillation Columns 630 19.56 Capital Cost Considerations for Distillation Columns 634 19.57 The Pinch Design Approach to Inventing a Network 644 19.58 Appropriate Placement and Integration of Distillation Columns 644 19.59 Heat Integration of Distillation Columns: Summary 645 19.60 Common Installation Errors in Distillation Columns 645 References 693 Bibliography 699 20 Packed Towers and Liquid-Liquid Extraction 703 20.1 Shell 707 20.2 Random Packing 708 20.3 Packing Supports 709 20.4 Liquid Distribution 734 20.5 Packing Installation 739 20.6 Contacting Efficiency, Expressed as Kga, HTU, HETP 755 20.7 Packing Size 756 20.8 Pressure Drop 757 20.9 Materials of Construction 759 20.10 Particle versus Compact Preformed Structured Packings 759 20.11 Minimum Liquid Wetting Rates 760 20.12 Loading Point Loading Region 761 20.13 Flooding Point 772 20.14 Foaming Liquid Systems 773 20.15 Surface Tension Effects 773 20.16 Packing Factors 773 20.17 Recommended Design Capacity and Pressure Drop 776 20.18 Pressure Drop Design Criteria and Guide: Random Packings Only 778 20.19 Effects of Physical Properties 781 20.20 Performance Comparisons 784 20.21 Capacity Basis for Design 784 20.22 Proprietary Random Packing Design Guides 796 20.23 Liquid Hold-Up 822 20.24 Packing Wetted Area 824 20.25 Effective Interfacial Area 826 20.26 Entrainment from Packing Surface 827 20.27 Structured Packing 830 20.28 Structured Packing: Technical Performance Features 849 20.29 New Generalized Pressure Drop Correlation Charts 855 20.30 Mass and Heat Transfer in Packed Tower 855 20.31 Number of Transfer Units, NOG, NOL 856 20.32 Gas and Liquid-Phase Coefficients, kG and kL 868 20.33 Height of a Transfer Unit, HOG, HOL, HTU 869 20.34 Distillation in Packed Towers 874 20.35 Liquid-Liquid Extraction 893 20.36 Process Parameters 908 20.37 Solvents Selection for the Extraction Unit 911 20.38 Phenol Extraction Process of Lubes 913 20.39 Furfural Extraction Process 914 20.40 Dispersed-Phase Droplet Size 916 20.41 Theory 920 20.42 Nernst's Distribution Law 921 20.43 Tie Lines 921 20.44 Phase Diagrams 929 20.45 Countercurrent Extractors 931 20.46 Extraction Equipment 935 References 956 Glossary 961 Appendix D 1087 Appendix F 1163 About the Author 1179 Index 1181