1) Processing and refining oil and gas by distillation process.

Process description:
Petroleum refining processes are the chemical engineering processes and other
facilities used in petroleum refineries (also referred to as oil refineries) to transform
crude oil into useful products such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline or
petrol, kerosene, jet fuel, diesel oil and fuel oils.
First,the hydrocarbon is separate by using the horizontal separator. Figs. 1 illustrate
the horizontal separators, as can be seen, a weir plate is installed to prevent the
gas phase being carry-under to the liquid outlet, and well positioned liquid level to
prevent the liquid carry-over from the gas outlet

Fig. 1Horizontal two-phase separator with inlet diverter, perforated distribution baffle, and demister

The crude oil distillation unit

The crude oil distillation unit (CDU) is the first processing unit in virtually all
petroleum refineries. The CDU distills the incoming crude oil into various fractions of
different boiling ranges, each of which are then processed further in the other
refinery processing units. The CDU is often referred to as the atmospheric distillation
unit because it operates at slightly above atmospheric pressure.
Below is a schematic flow diagram of a typical crude oil distillation unit. The
incoming crude oil is preheated by exchanging heat with some of the hot, distilled
fractions and other streams. It is then desalted to remove inorganic salts (primarily
sodium chloride).
Following the desalter, the crude oil is further heated by exchanging heat with some
of the hot, distilled fractions and other streams. It is then heated in a fuel-fired
boiler(fired heater) to a temperature of about 398 C and routed into the bottom of
the distillation unit.

The cooling and condensing of the distillation tower overhead is provided partially
by exchanging heat with the incoming crude oil and partially by either an air-cooled
or water-cooled condenser. Additional heat is removed from the distillation column
by a pumparound system as shown in the diagram below.

The Lean Oil Absorption application controls lean oil molecular weight and
methane/ethane ratio in the NGL overhead product with column pressure, reflux and
reboil in the lean oil still. These actions balance the lean oil volume so it does not
deplete or accumulate in the lean oil absorption plant. The application also monitors
and respects all equipment hydraulic and temperature constraints in the lean oil
absorption plant. Application Benefits This application reduces overall process
variability and energy use in the NGL lean oil absorption an average of 5 - 10%. It
also stabilizes pipeline gas quality and meets the required ethane quality target in
the pipeline gas. The application balances the lean oil requirements and improves
the ability for the system to respond to variations in the inlet gas quality. This
improves plant stability and makes it easier for operators to run.

The lean oil absorption application maximizes the efficiency of the NGL recovery
process by unifying and stabilizing control of the absorber tower, the rich oil
demethanizer and the lean oil still. The application improves NGL recovery in the
absorber tower by calculating the amount of lean oil used to reflux the absorber
tower when it is operating in (a) maximize NGL recovery mode or (b) ethane
rejection mode. In either mode, the application helps to provide that the lean oil
molecular weight is controlled to the required quality and quantity to handle NGL
variations from the inlet gas. It also helps to minimize the amount of methane
absorbed in the lean oil. Trace amounts of methane from the absorber tower are
rejected in the rich oil demethanizer using the optimum temperature profile, lean oil
reflux rate and pressure profile.