Smart VDU cooling saves at refinery
Smart cooling makes savings for refinery
- The challenge
Stabilizing temperature and pressure in a vacuum distillation tower
- The solution
Engineering a new fit-for-purpose cooling system
- The impact
More than US$30,000 per month in savings, and production quotas met
Client:Southeast refinery
Location:USA
Sectors:Petrochemical and refining
The Challenge
Fixing the vacuum distillation process
Vacuum distillation is a critical part of the refining process. To produce gas oils of acceptable quality, a delicate balance between the vacuum pressure and the heat of the system needs to be maintained.
A southeast refinery was struggling to get it right. The pressure wasn’t low enough and the chiller wasn’t cool enough. The resulting gas oil was off-spec. To fix the problem, the refinery had resorted to blending fire water with the discharge water from the chiller. As a result, operating costs were mounting.
