Exxonmobil Research and Engineering Company

Koch-glitsch, Inc.

Brian D Albert

Jose X Simonetty

Magaly C Barroeta

Vikram Singh

Theodore Trent Trier

Victor Alva

Berne K Stober

Michael Louis Hergenrother

Christopher J Wolfe

Michel A Daage

Mohsen Shahmirzadi Yeganeh

Arun K Sharma

Alvin U Chen

Robert Piszczek

Theodore Sideropoulos

Owen P Jacobs

Jennifer A Gillett

John R Faber

Robert J Chimenti

Carol Ann Schnepper

Rutton D Patel

Christoph Ender

Sebastian Chialvo

Todd P Marut

Dana G Laird

Brian W Heins

Andrew P Sullivan

Simon Y Yeung

Magaly A Barroeta

Andrew T Sullivan

Zhonghcheng Wang

Keith A Abel

Olivier Gervais

Michael Hergenrother

Zhongcheng Wang

Chris J Wolfe

Systems and methods are provided for separating a feedstock into a plurality of separation products using dividing wall column technology that includes a plurality of dividing walls. Including a plurality of dividing walls in the column can provide reduced energy consumption and reduced equipment footprint for production of a plurality of high purity distillation products. The systems and methods can allow for separation of a large number of products from a feed while having a reduced or minimized number of liquid splits and/or vapor splits.

Dual-dividing wall column with multiple products

A petroleum desalting process in which the oil/water emulsion layer which forms in the desalter vessel between the settled water layer and the settled oil layer is separated into the oil and water components by contact with a heated high boiling hydrocarbon to break the emulsion and vaporize water from the emulsion in a flash drum. The vessel has an emulsion outlet for removing an emulsion stream from the emulsion layer and a conduit connecting the emulsion withdrawal port to an inlet of an optional settling drum to effect and initial separation into an oil-enriched phase and a water phase with the oil-enriched phase led to the flash drum.

Desalter emulsion separation by hydrocarbon heating medium direct vaporization

Desalter emulsion separation by direct contact vaporization

An improved method and process unit for desalting petroleum crude oils in which a portion of the stable emulsion layer which forms in the desalter vessel is withdrawn from the desalter and diluted with a liquid diluent, typically oil or water or both to destabilize the emulsion which is then separated into separate oil and water phases.

Petroleum crude oil desalting process and unit

An improved separator for desalting petroleum crude oils which may be operated in a continuous manner under automatic control; the improved desalter is therefore well suited to modern refinery operation with minimal downtime. A portion of the emulsion layer is withdrawn from the desalter through external withdrawal ports according to the thickness and position of the emulsion layer with the selected withdrawal header(s) being controlled by sensors monitoring the position and thickness of the emulsion layer. The withdrawn emulsion layer can be routed as such or with the desalter water effluent to a settling tank or directly to another unit for separation and reprocessing.

Separator for desalting petroleum crude oils having rag layer withdrawal

System to detect coking in at least one component of refinery equipment is provided. The system includes a fiber optic assembly having at least one optical fiber operably coupled with the component, the fiber optic assembly further including a light source to transmit light having a known parameter through the optical fiber and a receiver to receive the light from the optical fiber, and a processor in communication with the fiber optic assembly to identify a shift in the parameter received by the receiver, the shift corresponding to an operating characteristic of the component. Method also provided for detecting coking using the system to detect coking disclosed herein.

Method to optimize run lengths and product quality in coking processes and system for performing the same

A feed device for a distillation tower has an annular, open-bottomed channel located around the periphery of the feed zone of the tower with an inner wall spaced from the inner curved wall of the tower and a top covering the channel to confer a generally inverted-U shape to the cross section of the channel. One or more tangential feed inlets are provided to admit a heated, mixed phase feed to the tower and direct the feed into and along the channel. One or more vapor scoops are provided for each feed inlet with the scoop(s) located on the inner wall of the channel at a sufficient distance along the channel from the inlet to permit cyclonic separation of vapor and liquid before the vapor in the feed from the inlet enters the scoop(s) and passes through a vapor exit port into the central core of the tower.

Distillation tower feed device

Vane type mist eliminator segments are arranged in a plurality of tiers at separate vertically spaced locations in a tower, typically of the upright, cylindrical type, with the eliminator at each tier covering only a portion of the cross section of the tower. The eliminator segment(s) in each tier are laterally displaced in the tower from the adjacent vertically spaced eliminator segments to form a staggered configuration for the segments. Each mist eliminator preferably extends over 50-70% of the cross-sectional area of the tower to leave an open flow passage in the tier; the staggering of the segments and the associated flow passages defines an upward tortuous or zig-zag open flow path for vapors ascending the tower through the open flow passages when the eliminator segment(s) become fouled in use.

Mist eliminator configuration for droplet removal in fouling service

A de-entrainment device separates entrained liquid from vapor in a fluid stream that flows through a chimney tray in a distillation tower. The separated liquid is collected and shielded from the fluid stream to prevent re-entrainment of the liquid in the vapor flowing upward into the tower. The chimney tray includes risers with hats that have gutters to guide liquid toward the tray deck, channels to collect and drain liquid from the top of the hats to the tray deck, and baffles extending from the risers to shield the liquid collected on the tray deck from the vapor flow.

De-entrainment tray for high capacity operation

An improved de-entrainment device for use in distillation towers, especially vacuum distillation towers used for fractionating petroleum atmospheric resids is in the form of a baffle which is to be located in the portion of the tower below the feed zone and at the top of the flash zone. The baffle is in the form of an apertured plate above the stripping zone and in its preferred form comprises number of radial fins or blades, resembling a static fan with openings between the fins to permit vapors from the lower portions of the tower to pass upwards through the baffle with a minimal pressure drop. The fins of the baffle are preferably oriented at an angle between 30&#xb0; and 60&#xb0; away from the incoming feed so that the incoming feed stream skims over the top edges of the fins.

Distillation tower baffle

Anti-swirl baffles are provided in a mass transfer column to reduce the swirling motion of a vapor or mixed phase feed stream introduced into the column. The column is of the type having an upper region of a preselected diameter, a lower region of reduced diameter, and an intermediate transition region that has a diameter that transitions from the preselected diameter of the upper region to the reduced diameter of the lower region. The column includes a vapor or mixed phase feed nozzle and a feed device such as a vapor horn located at least partially within the upper region for delivering the vapor or mixed phase feed stream into the column. The anti-swirl baffles are positioned in the intermediate transition region of the column to disrupt the swirling motion of the vapor or mixed phase feed stream as portions of it descend from the feed device into the transition region of the column. An annular shield positioned in the transition region and spaced inwardly of the column shell defines a liquid flow passage that is shielded from the swirling motion of the vapor or mixed phase feed stream to reduce liquid entrainment.

Method and apparatus for facilitating more uniform vapor distribution in mass transfer and heat exchange columns

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Fairfax Station, VA, United States of America

Brian D Albert