MOSCOW (MRC) -- KP Engineering (KPE), a leader in designing, executing and delivering customized EPC solutions for the refining, specialty chemical and renewable industries, will perform a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) waste heat boiler (WHB) replacement at a refinery in Oklahoma, according to Hydrocarbonprocessing.
The refinery’s existing carbon monoxide (CO) boiler was approaching the end of its useful life. Within the scope of the FCC steam reliability project, KPE will design and install a new WHB (FCC flue gas cooler), orifice chamber and flue gas slide valve with associated refractory lined ductwork, piping, structures and instrumentation. The existing CO boiler will be removed from service and replaced with a WHB.
The project offers a unique set of challenges, requiring sound engineering design of the WHB to minimize erosion due to catalyst carryover and sand blast scoring in the duct to minimize tube failures.
Purva Mehta, senior process engineer, KPE, said, “The WHB is a critical piece of equipment for normal, continuous operation of an FCC unit. It will require in-depth engineering design, including hydraulic sizing, thermal ratings and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling for optimizing the process requirements, while maintaining the mechanical integrity and safety of the system. Successful engineering of key components on the flue gas system will improve the system’s reliability, ensure long uninterrupted runs between shutdowns, maximize profits for the refinery, while maintaining safety as the primary objective.”
Doug Schnittker, vice president of engineering, KPE, said, “This project underscores KPE’s engineering expertise in the technologies behind FCC units, used for waste heat recovery in the refining industry. KPE has already performed several front-end engineering (FEL) 1 & 2 level studies, and completing the detail design on an FCC reliability project such as this further extends KPE’s engineering, procurement and construction capability. Lessons learned from prior FCC flue gas cooler projects will be applied to this project to deliver a highly robust design in this technically challenging project.”
The FEL 3 phase of the project will be completed in November 2020.
We remind that, as MRC reported earlier, Motiva Enterprises has restarted production on the gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracker (FCC) at its 607,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery. The company also completed a catalyst change on the 105,000-bpd hydrocracker in mid-June 2020.
We also remind that Motiva is evaluating opportunities to build a new polyethylene (PE) line within its proposed steam cracker and aromatics project in Jefferson County, Texas. The new PE capacity will be located at the company’s Port Arthur Refinery Complex in Jefferson County, Texas. The planned capacity of the unit was not specified, while the value of the project is reportedly estimated at around USD3.1 billion.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's overall PE production totalled 1,712,400 tonnes in the first seven months of 2020, up by 58% year on year. Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) accounted for the greatest increase in the output. At the same time, overall PP production in Russia increased in January-July 2020 by 24% year on year to 1,063,700 tonne. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main increase in the output.
MRC