Company founded 1975 US-based machinery business experienced in worldwide sales.

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NovaStar, RF100, New, 150 to 4000 BPD, Containerized, Stainless Steel (New)

Description

  1. Overview
    1. Containerized, easily erected and operated units originally designed to commercialize remote oilfields and assist fuel supply problems in remote regions.
    2. Units are successfully operating in diverse regions including the tropical highlands of Papua New Guinea, the outback of Australia, and the arctic extremes of Siberian Russia.
    3. The RF100 is a compact crude oil distillation plant, currently designed from 150 bpd to 4000 bpd units.
    4. Highly computer automated with heavy emphasis on operational safety.
    5. Operators interface with the plant via a desktop pc mounted remote from the plant in a convenient control room.
    6. The pc provides operator interface, but all plant operation is locally controlled by a dedicated process control computer that safely oversees plant safety even if the communication link or pc is off-line.
    7. Emergency shut down and heater flame on/off are hard wired from the operators’ console within the multi-core communication link.
    8. Fully stainless steel construction (arctic version).
    9. Compact container-standardized transportable nature of the unit modules.
    10. No need for prepared foundations.
    11. Elimination of all ancillary requirements other than electric power and some nitrogen bottles for start-up purge gas.
    12. The RF100 will separate, but will not alter, the basic components of the crude oil into light (heavy gasoline boiling range), medium (kerosene and automotive distillate boiling ranges), and heavy (fuel oil boiling range) product streams.
    13. Normally intended to make automotive diesel oil in a remote area by extracting only these products from the crude oil and returning the other by-products to the crude oil reservoir or pipeline stream.
    14. Overall philosophy is that the process must be simple and easy to operate with Minimal additional utilities required for processing of the feedstock.
    15. Additional processing equipment can be added to produce petrol, jet fuel, etc. – optional.
  2. Distillation - An Introduction
    1. The distillation process used to separate crude oil into useful petroleum products is similar to the process used when distilling alcohol.
    2. Oil refiners use a continuous process for the production (distillation) of the required products from the crude oil.
    3. Crude oil is a mixture of many different hydrocarbons with different properties that eventually constitute the final products.
    4. The actual hydrocarbons present within the crude oil are usually not known and crude oil is characterised by several properties, the best known being a distillation curve and density of the crude oil stream as a whole.
    5. From this data many other properties of the crude oil can be calculated through the use of correlations that have been developed throughout the years.
    6. Separation of naphtha (a raw gasoline type compound), kerosene, diesel and residue (fuel oil) from the crude oil feedstock involves vaporisation, fractionation and cooling.
  3. Vaporization
    1. Vaporization is achieved by two methods in the unit: heat exchange of the crude oil with the products from the distillation tower, and heat exchange with flue gas within the furnace.
    2. Crude oil is pumped from the crude oil feed tank into the Refinery by the feed pump.
    3. Crude is initially heated using heat exchangers to a temperature of approximately 180 °c (350 °f); the utility streams are the hot products exiting the distillation tower.
    4. The feed stream is progressively heated while the products are cooled to lower temperatures.
    5. Simple heat exchange is not sufficient to raise the crude oil to a temperature of approximately 360 °c (680 °f) required for distillation, so a fuel-fired heater is required to raise the temperature.
    6. The crude oil exiting the heater is approximately 50% vapor, dependant upon the crude oil properties.
    7. As the crude-oil temperature is increased, the hydrocarbon components reach their initial boiling point (ibp) and a phase change from liquid to vapor occurs.
    8. Eventually a temperature is reached where almost all of the hydrocarbons present in the white products (gasoline and diesel) of the crude-oil have reached their initial boiling point and the feed stream enters the distillation tower.
    9. The combination of vapor and liquid crude oil is introduced into the distillation column.
    10. The lighter vapors rise through the packing to the top of the column and the heavy liquid falls toward the bottom of the tower as residue product.
    11. As the vapour rises through the tower and over the packing it is brought into contact with liquid falling down the surface of the packing.
    12. The vapor in contact with the liquid is cooled slightly by the liquid causing some of the heavier compounds in the vapor to condense and be carried down the column with the liquid.
    13. The vapor now has a smaller concentration of heavy hydrocarbons and is therefore being purified as it rises through the tower.
  4. Fractionation
    1. Fractionation involves the separation of the crude oil into its final products.
    2. Fractionation, or distillation as it is commonly called, is effected within the distillation tower.
    3. Mass transfer occurs on trays within the distillation by intimate contact of the vapors and liquids within the tower.
    4. Recent advances in distillation technology have resulted in packing being used instead of trays.
    5. Originally broken cups and porcelain were used; with the evolution of structured packing, which is more efficient than the original trays and random packing, many organisations have retro-fitted existing towers with packing and have realised significant capacity increases.
    6. Structured packing is used exclusively in the towers.
    7. Structured packing (like corrugated thin sheets of stainless steel) allows the liquid to film over the surface.
    8. As the vapour rises through the packing it comes into contact with the liquid layer on the packing effectively creating a large mass transfer area between the vapor and liquid phases.