Description

Level and interface measurement of oil separators

Requirements

  • Continuous measurement to adjust level in the separator
  • Varying levels of oil and water

Description

Flow measurement of steam

Requirements

  • Could be very high temperature
  • Process control

Description

Flow measurement of catalyst for FCC

Requirements

  • Process control

Description

Level measurement in distillation columns

Requirements

  • Improve efficiency of separation process
  • Prevent overfill of distillation column

Description

Flow measurement of gas oil feed

Requirements

  • High temperature
  • Process control

Description

Level and interface measurement in slurry settlers

Requirements

  • Determine interface between slurry and fuel oil
  • Prevent contamination

Description

Flow measurement of separated gas

Requirements

  • Determine the performance of the process
  • Agressive medium

Description

Flow measurement of fuel oil

Requirements

  • Maintain mass balance
  • Process control

Description

Flow measurement of sour water

Requirements

  • Process control
  • Fluid contains traces of hydrocarbons
  • Agressive medium

Description

Supervisory and validation software

Requirements

  • Visualisation and monitoring of critical processes
  • Control of reporting, trends and alarm handling
  • Statistical evaluation of measurement data

Overview

Fluid catalytic cracking in the oil & gas industry

Cracking of long chain hydrocarbons

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is a process where the long chain hydrocarbon molecules in the lighter gas oil streams from the distillation columns are broken down into shorter molecules. In this way the feedstock produces mainly gasoline (known as petrol in Europe), and not diesel. Where there is a high demand for diesel fuel, this FCC process would not be used.

The feeds into the FCC reactor comprise the light gas oil streams, which are hot, and have been mixed with a catalyst: there is then another feed of steam into the bottom of the reactor. The gaseous reaction product gas then passes into a distillation column and various separators, producing output streams of fuel oil, naphtha and off gas. Such FCC processing units operate continuously 24 hours a day for as much as 2 to 3 years between shutdowns, so the reliability and long term performance of the fluid catalytic cracking instrumentation is of paramount importance.

KROHNE provides flow and level measurement solutions that are particularly suited to the demands created by continuous operation and the high temperatures normal in fluid catalytic crackers. The ultrasonic, electromagnetic and vortex flowmeters used for gas and liquid flow measurement have no mechanical moving parts, and offer no obstruction to the flow in the line. These instruments do not require flow conditioning plates or tubes, which means the pressure drop introduced is only the equivalent of a full bore piece of pipe with the same length as the meter. The KROHNE guided wave radar level and interface measurement systems used in the separators, settling tanks and even the distillation column also have no moving parts, only using a smooth vertical metal probe within the process vessel.

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