Our Comprehensive #SFTC Approach for Enhanced Efficiency
Introduction:
In the ever-evolving landscape of refining, product recovery, maximizing efficiency and yields it is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge. One of the key areas where improvements can be made is in distillation processes. At ChemXpro, we understand the challenges.
Distillation is one of the key processes that can make or break your performance. That’s why at ChemXpro, we have developed a comprehensive approach to help you overcome the common challenges in distillation and achieve better results.
The top 11 of typical issues..
What are the challenges? We have identified 11 issues that often affect distillation processes:
How many have you came across yourself?
- Over-purifying your product streams, which lowers your yields, increases your recycles, or wastes your energy.
- Having process control strategies that are not sensitive or flexible enough to handle process disturbances or ambient temperature changes.
- Not using the right control levers or not using them at all to control critical process variables.
- Not having proper rating scenarios of mass transfer equipment, which means you might be missing out on hidden plant capacity or efficiency.
- Not knowing how critical process parameters & interactions affect your plant capacity and efficiency, because you lack reliable process models or step testing data.
- Having poorly designed feed or draw-off devices, which results in premature capacity or efficiency limitations (such as reboiler return configuration, feed and reflux distributors, or vapour distribution equipment).
- Having design or installation defects in your mass transfer equipment, hampering maximum performance.
- Not understanding how critical components interact thermodynamically, especially in non-ideal processes where the composition reaches infinite dilution or azeotropic boundaries.
- Having fouling and foaming tendencies in your process, and not having mass transfer equipment that can handle them.
- Having bottlenecks caused by auxiliary equipment limitations (such as condensers, reboilers, steam traps, control valves, vacuum pumps, or ejectors).
- Not maintaining your mass transfer equipment properly, or not following proper change management processes if you make modifications or repairs during turnarounds.
The 5 solutions
How do we solve them? We use a combination of the following approaches to tackle the issues above, depending on the specific project: In practice, these are often a combination, such depending on the specific project off course.
- System Thermodynamics Verification and Process Modeling: Use verified thermodynamic models and process simulations to predict and optimize system behavior, and to make sure to capture the interactions at different composition levels accurately.
- Operating Envelope Refinement: Refine the operating envelope to give you a clear range of optimal conditions, so you can control and adapt to different operational scenarios better. This also helps you improve your process control strategies and deal with process disturbances or ambient temperature fluctuations more easily.
- Control Narrative Development or Optimization: Develop comprehensive control narratives and optimize control strategies based on the refined operating envelope and process modeling insights. This ensures that you use the right control levers to control critical process variables.
- Mass Transfer Internals Rating & Design Optimization: Use various models to rate mass transfer equipment under different conditions and optimize the design of internals to unlock hidden plant capacity. This ensures that your mass transfer equipment is properly rated and designed.
- Rating and Design of Auxiliary Equipment: Use process models to assess the impact of auxiliary equipment limitations on overall process performance, and optimize the rating and design of auxiliary equipment to eliminate bottlenecks.
Still need more solutions? At ChemXpro, we are committed to delivering tailerod solutions that help you boost your distillation efficiency and performance. We bring answers to the table, have the expertise, the experience, and the tools to help you achieve your goals. Contact us anytime, preferably today, to find out how we can boost your performance.