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Operations and Troubleshooting of Distillation Columns, Absorbers, Regeneration, Separators and Desalters

Introduction

Operations and Troubleshooting of Distillation Columns, Absorbers, Regeneration, Separators and Desalters

Objectives

This course will guide the participants to develop key concepts and techniques to design, operate, and troubleshoot a distillation system. These key concepts can be utilized to make design and operating decisions. Training and development is an investment in future success - give yourself and your employees the keys to success.

Product recoveries, purities, and energy utilization can be improved in most distillation systems. This cannot be achieved without first and understanding of distillation principles and design. These principles need to be understood in advance of designing, operating, and troubleshooting a distillation column for the operator, designer, or problem-solving to be effective.

By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

• • The operation, control, and troubleshooting of a distillation column and its associated equipment
  • An overview of distillation, practical solutions as well as the theory
  • An understating of essential distillation concepts
  • Valuable practical insights for trouble-free design and field-proven techniques for commissioning, start-up, and shutdown of distillation operation
  • The fundamental knowledge of distillation control
  • To tailor your approach to specific design, analysis and troubleshooting problems

Who Should Attend?

This course is intended those who are making day to day decisions regarding the operation, design, maintenance, and economics of process industry plants such as Line Operations personnel, Operation Supervisors, Line Maintenance personnel, Maintenance Supervisors, Senior Plant Supervisors, Operations Engineers, Process Support Engineers, Design Engineers, and Cost Engineers as well as Technical Engineers, Operating Engineers, Process Support Personnel, Chemist, and Managers.

Course Outline

DAY 1: INTRODUCTION

• General Column Design

• The components of a distillation system, more than just a tower – it is a system of different components

• History of distillation

• Different types of distillation columns

• Differences among batch, flash, and multistage distillation process

• Relative advantages of the tray and packed columns

• Steps in the process design

DAY 2:  THERMODYNAMICS AND EQUILIBRIUM

• Vapor Liquid Equilibrium

  • Select the correct vapor-liquid equilibrium equation for your system

  • Review vapor pressure and equilibrium diagrams

  • Interpret mole fraction equilibrium curves, commonly called y-x diagrams

  • Azeotropes and the challenges they create for distillation

• Stages & Transfer Units Efficiencies

• Calculate the number of equilibrium stages using short cut methods

• Calculate minimum reflux and stages using graphical & analytical methods

• Determine the number of theoretical stages needed in a distillation column

• Stage Efficiency

• Methods for determining the efficiency

• Calculate an overall column efficiency for tray columns

• Calculate point and tray efficiencies, and their difference

• Calculate the number and height of transfer units for packing

• Effects on distillation column by changing the amount of reflux and reflux temperature

• How flooding and foaming effects efficiencies and capacities

DAY 3: COLUMN DESIGN

• Tray Column Design

  • The major design differences between tray types

  • The operational limits for trays – operating window

  • Size a distillation column for a given vapor and liquid rate

• Packed Column Design

• The different types of packing and their characteristics

• The best type of packing for a given system

• Size a packed column diameter for a given vapor and liquid rate

• Designing columns for fouling service

• Designing columns for vacuum service

• Designing Columns for improved operation and maintenance

DAY 4: PROCESS CONTROL

• Distillation Column Control

• Functions of Process Control

• Characteristics of a Continuous Process

• Select appropriate composition and column pressure control schemes

• Process settings during the column operation

• Typical controlled and manipulated process variables

• Level • Pressure • Composition • Temperature • Flow

• Controller Performance Criteria

• Final Control Elements

• Control Algorithms

• Open and closed-loop tuning strategies

• Feed-Forward Control of an Ideal Process

• Feedback and Feed-Forward Control Loops

DAY 5: TROUBLESHOOTING

• Introduction

  • Evaluate operation of a packed column

  • Evaluate operation of a tray column

  • Use tools to diagnosis problems

• Installation

• Common column installation mistakes

• List tasks to ensure a proper installation

• Common start-up problems and understand how to correct them

• Commissioning

• Utilizing Process Engineering Software for troubleshooting