Dual-Stripper Hydroprocessing System for Energy Reduction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional hydroprocessing designs are inefficient due to the mixing of hot and cold hydroprocessed effluent streams in a single stripper, which requires duplicative heating and increases energy consumption, failing to meet the stringent energy efficiency requirements for fuel production.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a dual-stripper system where a hot stripper processes the hot hydroprocessed effluent stream and a cold stripper processes the cold hydroprocessed effluent stream, allowing the cold stripper bottoms to bypass the product fractionation feed heater and directly enter the fractionation column, while the hot stripper bottoms are heated and fed into the heater, significantly reducing the feed rate and energy usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If a single stripper is used to process both hot and cold hydroprocessed effluent streams, then the device complexity is reduced, but the energy consumption increases due to duplicative heating requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The single stripper is segmented into two separate strippers: a first stripper for processing cold hydroprocessed effluent and a second stripper for processing hot hydroprocessed effluent. This segmentation allows each stripper to be optimized for its specific temperature range, eliminating the need for duplicative heating and reducing overall energy consumption while maintaining manageable device complexity
2Device complexity
If hot and cold effluent streams are mixed in a single stripper, then the process simplifies, but the heater duty increases requiring larger capital investment
Solution Approach 1:
The process is segmented into separate streams: cold effluent goes to the first stripper and hot effluent goes to the second stripper. The cold stripper bottoms bypass the heater entirely, while only the hot stripper bottoms require heating. This segmentation dramatically reduces the heater duty and allows for smaller, less expensive heating equipment
3Use of energy by moving object
If a dual-stripper system is implemented, then the energy efficiency improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the effluent processing into two dedicated strippers that operate independently at different temperatures. This segmentation achieves superior energy efficiency by eliminating heating of cold streams, and while it increases the number of units, the modular nature of the design keeps the complexity increase manageable and allows for independent optimization of each stripper
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach decreases fuel usage in the heater by 40% and reduces capital costs by downsizing the heater, resulting in lower operational and capital expenses, enhancing energy efficiency and product recovery in hydroprocessing units.
Implementation Method 1
a relatively cold hydroprocessing effluent stream which is a portion of the hydroprocessing effluent stream is stripped in a cold stripper to provide a cold stripped stream
Implementation Method 2
a relatively hot hydroprocessing effluent stream which is a portion of the hydroprocessing effluent stream is stripped in a hot stripper to provide a hot stripped stream
Implementation Method 3
the cold stripped stream and the hot stripped stream are fractionated in a product fractionation column to provide product streams
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
A process and apparatus are disclosed for recovering hydroprocessing effluent from a hydroprocessing unit utilizing a hot stripper and a cold stripper. Only the hot hydroprocessing effluent is heated in a fired heater prior to product fractionation, resulting in substantial operating and capital savings.