Less is more: how a dividing wall The patented separation

process with the DWC

concept through a

column maximises lpg recovery

non-cryogenic absorption
system is utilised here for
maximising LPG recovery
from the fuel gas of
refining units.

Manish Bhargava, Cole Nelson, Joseph Gentry and Vamshi Siddamshetti

GTC Technology US, LLC

SM
GT-LPG MAX of LPG range material beyond 95 wt%, while at
Maximising LPG Recovery from Fuel Gas Using a Dividing the same time being highly energy efficient.
Wall Column To cover this gap, a new solution has been
Refiners have a challenge to recover LPG from developed to maximise LPG recovery and lower
mixed fuel gas streams due to the difficulty of energy consumption. This document provides
separating the lighter components from bulk in-depth details of this novel process solution,
gas. As a result, many valuable components are with a case study comparing an existing refinery’s
lost to a fuel stream or flare. To maintain profit- LPG recovery scheme with the application of the
ability, it is essential to direct all of the crude oil new design to achieve a better process perfor-
components to the optimum disposition. This is mance and higher ROI. A key element of the
becoming more significant due to increasing technology is the use of a dividing wall column
LPG demand in some countries and the supply (DWC) to overcome the inherent inefficiency
of lighter crudes, as for example in the U.S. associated with the traditional methods of
In a refinery, fuel gases are produced from processing fuel gas for LPG recovery. Table 1
various types of units,
including fluid cata-
Fuel Gas
lytic crackers, catalytic Gas Liquefied
Merox Treaters Petroleum Gas
reformers, hydrotreat- Processing
Butanes
ers, delayed cokers,
and crude distillation Gas H2 Gas H2

units. A typical config- Light Straight-Run Naphtha C /C

uration of fuel Hydrotreater 5
Isomerization
6 Isomerate

gas-producing units in Gas H2 Gas H2

a refining complex is Heavy
shown in Figure 1. Naphtha Naphtha
Hydrotreater
Catalytic
Reformer Reformate Gas H2

There are many Atmospheric

Crude Kerosine Kerosene/
processes available for Distillation
Gas H2
Hydrotreating
Unit Jet Fuel
Column
LPG recovery, either
through cryogenic or Diesel Hydrotreating
Unit Diesel

absorption systems.
Gas H2
Some of these are Gas Gas H2
FCC
licensed from technol- FCC Feed FCC Unit
Naphtha FCC
Treater Hydrotreater Gasoline
ogy suppliers and Desalted
others are available in Crude Oil
Vacuum
FCC Fuel Oil

the public domain. Atmospheric

Distillation
Column
Gas

These conventional Residue

Delayed Coker Gas Oil
Coker
technologies have
major challenges to
maximise the recovery Figure 1 Typical Fuel Gas Producing Units in a Refining Complex

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001017 October 2014 1

 Variables Units GT-LPG MAXSM columns in a traditional LPG recovery
system are replaced with one column
Overall Propane Recovery wt % 97+ using a dividing wall to achieve higher
LPG Recovered BPD 1350
C3+ recovery at lower operating tempera-
tures and pressures. As a result, both
Number of Columns / Material of
Construction
1 / Carbon Steal capital investment and operating costs for
grassroots and revamped applications are
Turbo-Expander & Refrigeration reduced.
Not Required
System

Net Benefit $MM 10.1 Process Description

Total Installed Cost $MM 15 The patented separation process with the
DWC concept through a non-cryogenic
Simple Pay Back Months 18
absorption system is utilised here for
Table 1 Economics of DWC System maximising LPG recovery from the fuel
gas of refining units. A simplified flow
shows the basic process performance and a diagram of the process is shown in Figure 2. The
simple payback period for an investment using diagram shows a single column with a dividing
the DWC system. wall for deethaniser and depropaniser operation,
in the place of two conventional columns. The
GT-LPG MAX – a New Technology Solution vertical wall separates the top of the column into
GT-LPG MAX is a new process developed by two sections, with one side used as an absorp-
GTC Technology using DWC technology to opti- tion section while the other side is used for
mise the overall operation and enhance C3+ fractionation. The process is designed to sepa-
recovery. DWC can separate a multi-component rate lighter C2- components (non-condensables),
feed into three or more streams within a single intermediate C3 boiling range components and
column. The deethaniser and depropaniser heavier C4+ material in a single distillation
column. The butane-plus
material can be further
fractionated to produce
Fuel Gas (C2-)
butanes and C5 plus as
desired for specific
applications.
The feed is supplied to
Water the absorption section of
the dividing wall
LPG Product
column, where non-con-
Absorption by densables (C2- material)
condensate and water are concen-
Fuel Gas
trated in the overhead
and passed through a
partial condenser.
Condensed vapours are
collected in the overhead
drum for separating out
the sour water, and then
circulated back to the
column as reflux.
Heavies Slip Stream for Non-condensables from
Absorption C4 and Heavies
the overhead drum are
removed as vapour
Figure 2 Simplified Flow Diagram for Maximising LPG Recovery from Fuel Gas Using product and routed to
Single Column the refinery fuel gas

2 October 2014 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001017

header. The section above the
feed location acts as an Design Basis
absorption section, where a 1. Feed rate at 10,000 BPD
separate heavy liquid stream
is introduced to recover C3 2. Cooling water to be used for overhead condensation (no refrigeration)
and C4 components from the 3. Minimise operating pressure
C1, C2 components. The liquid,
which serves as a solvent for 4. Utilise existing columns for new design; if not feasible, design new columns
minimising C3 loss, can simply 5. Minimise H2S in LPG product
be the heavier components
(C5+ or heavier) from the feed Table 2 Design Basis
stream. In this case, this
heavy liquid for absorption is
a slip stream from the Feed Composition
bottoms material of the divid- Flow rate [bbl/day] 10,000
ing wall column
The other side at the top of Liquid Volume %
the dividing wall column is
Hydrogen 0.05
referred to as the fractiona-
tion section, which is H2O 0.01
concentrated with C3 compo- CO 2
0.01
nents. The vapours from the H2S 1.23
overhead of the fractionation Methane 0.60
side are condensed in a water
C2 5.12
cooled condenser and
collected in an overhead C3 14.95
receiver. A portion of this C 4
28.19
liquid is circulated back to the C5 36.06
column as reflux, while the C6+ 13.81
remaining liquid is withdrawn
TOTAL 100
as LPG product. The overhead
pressure of the column is Table 3 F uel Gas Composition of the Feed to DWC
controlled by a pressure
control loop installed on the line to the fuel gas been created to review the existing LPG recovery
header at the absorption side; the pressure in scheme, the previous process’s disadvantages,
the overhead receiver on the fractionation side and the application of a dividing wall column to
is controlled by a hot vapour bypass pressure enhance the overall process performance. After
control loop. A single thermosiphon reboiler is an in-depth study and detailed analysis of the
provided at the bottom of the column to supply simulation results, the key advantages of the
the duty required to distil C3 components. The advanced DWC process show great improvement
heat input to the reboiler is regulated by in LPG recovery and a dramatic reduction in
controlling the steam flow cascaded to the both capital and operating costs compared to the
column bottom tray temperature controller. A closest alternative.
slip stream from the bottom product is pumped
to the top of the adsorption section as a solvent Project Scope
or absorbing medium, while the remaining The objective of the study was to maximise LPG
liquid can be further processed into butanes and recovery (>96 wt%), lower H2S in the product
C5+ heavies. (<40 ppm), and minimise operational costs (no
refrigeration) with a higher energy efficiency
Application Case Study solution from a mixture of fuel gas. The fuel gas
The aforementioned process has been applied to to the unit comes from two sources and is mixed
a real-world case: a new simulation model has in a feed drum at an operating pressure of 160

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001017 October 2014 3

 be at the expense of a high
Fuel Gas utility requirement, leading
directly to higher operating
Fuel Gas
costs.

Study for Advanced Solution

The existing process was
Water
evaluated in detail to deter-
250 psig 470 psig mine the root cause of the
propane loss. Then an
in-depth study for maximis-
Depropanizer

Deethanizer
ing the propane recovery at
lower energy consumption is
carried out in four stages as
Feed follows.

Process Scheme 1: New

Depropaniser at Higher Pressure
plus Existing Deethaniser
In the first stage study, a
new depropaniser and an
existing deethaniser column
LPG
were used at an increased
C4 & Heavies
operating pressure of 390
psig (up from 250 psig). The
Figure 3 Simplified Process diagram of existing Process Scheme new depropaniser helped to
recover 92% of the propane,
psig, before being supplied to the LPG recovery but the existing deethaniser column remained
scheme. The design basis for maximum utilisa- inefficient due to its lower column dimensions
tion of existing process scheme is summarised in and usage of cooling water for overhead gas
Table 2. The fuel gas feed composition is shown condensing. Thus, the overall C3 recovery
in Table 3. achieved is only 76% with 160 ppm of H2S in the
LPG product. The total reboiler heat duty
Current Process required for this case was 18.1 MM Btu/hr.
A simplified process diagram of the existing
process is shown in Figure 3. As seen, the exist- Process Scheme 2: New Depropaniser Based on Reboiled
ing process uses two separate columns at 250 Absorption plus Existing Deethaniser
psig and 470 psig operating pressures for sepa- The second stage study further enhances the
rating C3- material and then recovering C2- fuel recovery by using two new columns for the
gas and LPG products. This overall process is deethaniser and depropaniser columns at a
able to recover only 55 wt% of the propane and reduced operating pressure of 250 psig. Also an
leaves a higher content of H2S (180 ppm) in the absorption operation is included at the top of the
LPG product. deethaniser column for minimising propane loss.
The primary reasons for such low recovery in The absorption effect here is achieved through the
the existing process is due to lower operating introduction of a heavier stream consisting of C5,
pressure, and a partial condenser used in the C6 components at the column top to absorb C3+
first two columns, which contribute to propane material stripped along with C1, C2 components.
loss in the overhead gas streams of both This modified process helps to achieve higher C3
columns. A logical solution to counteract the recovery of 96.9 wt% with just 40 ppm H2S in
problem and enhance the recovery is to increase the LPG product. But this comes at the expense
the operating pressure and use refrigeration to of higher reboiler duty of 28 MM Btu/hr and the
condense the overhead gas. However, this would addition of two separate new columns. Part of the

4 October 2014 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001017

duty in the deethaniser is used to
build a concentration peak of C3 Fuel Gas
component in the bottom area
Fuel Gas
of the column, which is re-mixed
with the heavier components.

Process Scheme 3: GT-LPG Max

In the final stage, to further
reduce the energy consumption 390 psig 470 psig

and minimise the capital costs,

an advanced process solution

Depropanizer

Deethanizer
utilising a single top dividing wall

New
column was designed. This DWC
solution eliminates the need for
a new depropaniser column. A Feed

single column is utilised for both

deethaniser and depropaniser
operations. This single column
solution comes at a remarkably
lower reboiler duty of 20.3 MM
Btu/hr, while at the same time
maintaining a higher C3 recovery
of 97 wt% and 40 ppm of H2S To DIB Column LPG

in the LPG product. Figure 2

displays the simplified scheme
of GT-LPG Max. Figure 4 New Depropaniser at Higher Pressure plus Existing Deethaniser
The economic analysis of the
various stages of this study in
comparison with the existing
Fuel Gas
scheme as the base case is
shown in Table 4; the product
specification achieved with
respect to the design target is
shown in Table 5. The calcula- Heavier
Hydrocarbon
tions for the total investment Water LPG
are based on the equipment 250 psig 250 psig

cost estimated using 2013

USGC prices, equipment size
Depropanizer
Deethanizer

based on the required equip-

New
New

ment list, and installation

factors for each type of equip- Feed
ment. Overall, with a small
capital investment of $15M and
a simple payback period of 18
months, the DWC process solu-
tion is able to improve propane
recovery dramatically from 55
wt% to 97 wt%, while also being
highly energy efficient. C4 & Heavies
This new process solution
provides several advantages and
benefits over conventional cryo- Figure 5 New Deethaniser based on Absorption plus New Depropaniser

www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001017 October 2014 5

 Process Scheme 1 Process Scheme 2 Process Scheme 3
genic or non-cryogenic
LPG recovery processes,
New Depropaniser including:
New Depropaniser at
Variables Units
Existing
Higher Pressure plus
Based on Reboiled
GT-LPG MaxSM • Higher C3 recovery
Scheme Absorption plus
Existing Deethaniser
Existing Deethaniser • Lower H2S in LPG
product
Overall Propane
Wt % 55 76 97 97 • Lower operating
Recovery
pressure
Total Duty MM
Requirement Btu/hr
22 20 28 20 • Lower temperature heat
duty requirement for
LPG Product
Rate
BPD 883 1267 1445 1445 reboiler
• No external solvent
LPG Benefit/Year $MM Existing 7 10.2 10.2
requirement for
Net Benefit/Year $MM Existing 4.2 9.2 10.1 absorption
Total Installed
$MM Existing 17 23 15
• No refrigeration or
Cost cryogenic conditions
Simple Pay Back Existing 48 30 18 required for enhanced
process performance
Table 4 Economic Advantages of the Existing and the Modified Process Schemes • Applicable for grass-
roots and revamp projects
Component Units Specification Target Achieved Design

Propane lv% >90 99 Links

Ethane lv% <1 <1
More articles from:
H2S ppm <123 <40
GTC Technology
Butanes & Heavier psig 2.5 0.7
More articles from the
Vapour Pressure @100F lv% <208 176 following categories:
Gas Processing/Treatment
Mass Transfer & Separation
Table 5 Target Product Specifications vs. Design for the LPG and Fuel Gas Products
Petrochemicals

6 October 2014 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001017