• Corpus ID: 110729002

HYDROGEN MANAGEMENT IN REFINERIES

@inproceedings{Rabiei2012HYDROGENMI,
  title={HYDROGEN MANAGEMENT IN REFINERIES},
  author={Zahra Rabiei},
  year={2012}
}

• Z. Rabiei
• Published 2012
• Chemistry

Environmental restrictions, new transportation fuel specifications, and increased processing of heavier more-sour curds are leading substantial increases in refinery hydrogen consumption for hydro- desulfurisation, aromatic and olefin saturation and improvement of product quality and reduces in refinery hydrogen production from catalytic reformers as a by-product. Therefore above factors make hydrogen management, a critical issue. Generating, recovering and purchasing of hydrogen have significant impact on refinery operating costs. More importantly, overall refinery operations, may be constrained by the availability of hydrogen. Primary consideration, however, should be given to the recovery of hydrogen contained in various purge gasses, since this is a very attractive way from the viewpoint of economy. This paper discusses three process for recovery and purification of hydrogen : adsorption by using of pressure swing adsorption, permeation using membranes, cryogenic and then compares these options from the viewpoint of economy. Then, revamping of hydrogen distribution network will be studied using actual data of an refinery in four alternatives from viewpoint of economy. A refinery consist of many processes that convert crude oils into valuable products such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel by consuming of hydrogen, etc. The required hydrogen in some processes can be supplied from other processes which are producers of hydrogen. In the past, production capacity or product slate of refineries have rarely been limited by hydrogen availability. However, in recent years, the oil refining industry uses, increasingly, large quantities of hydrogen. Current trends in refining industries, are reducing the avai- lability of hydrogen to the point where most refineries are concerned about their future hydrogen balance. The new specification for low-sulfur fuels, require increase hydrogen consumption in hydrotreaters. At the same time, limits on the aromatics content of gasoline and requirements for oxygenates have led to lower severity in the catalytic reformer and so less hydrogen is produced in this unit. The use of heavier crude oils and more bottom- of-the-barrel processing increase the hydrogen demand in hydrocrcking and heavy oil hydrotreating units. The refinery produces a wide range of products and intermediates from a variety of crude oil and feed stocks. Change in crude or product slates from the design basis can make it for even a new refinery to operate efficiently. The demand for gasoline and middle distillate means crude oil will require greater processing and thus more hydrogen. In future, practically all fractions of sour crude will subjected to catalytic processes that involve hydrogen. The total quantity of fractions directed to hydrotreating, hydrocracking and hydrodesulfurization will amount to 90% of the total crude run. Correspondingly, the demand for hydrogen will increase to the extent where it must be recovered from refinery gas. Hydrogen is usually regarded as a utility in oil refining. The supply of hydrogen, which represents a cost to the refinery, must be maintained to avoid constraints on the refinery operations. If the demand for hydrogen exceeds the availability supply, then the incremental demand must be met by increasing hydrogen plant production (turning up productions or revamping existing equipment), building a new hydrogen plant, purchasing hydrogen from outside suppliers , or recovery of hydrogen that was going to fuel by installing a hydrogen purification unit or lower-cost alternative of optimizing and revamping the