Originally appeared in:

April 2007 issue, pgs 7781

Article copyright 2007 by Gulf Publishing Company. All rights

reserved. Not to be distributed in electronic or printed form, or posted
on a Website, without express written permission of copyright holder.

Used with permission.

www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com

Petrochemical Developments

SpecialReport

Reduce revamp costs by optimizing

design and operations
Combining process and equipment analysis with vendor solutions
can minimize capital spending
J. J. Lee, B. H. Ye and H. Y. Jeong, Korea Petrochemical Industries Co., Ulsan
Metropolitan City, South Korea, and F. J. Alanis, I. Sinclair and N. S. Park,
AspenTech UK Ltd., Warrington, UK

eplacing the ethylene and/or prop

ylene refrigerant compressors and
their steam turbine drives is a major
cost component in the revamp of olefin
plants. Sometimes, the capacity expansion
goal may require new, larger compressor cas
ings and/or new compressor foundations.
In some cases, these modifications can be
avoided by including a thorough evaluation
of process heat integration, quantification of
equipment actual performance and investi
gation of process redesign opportunities dur
ing the revamp study. Also early involvement
and iteration with the compressor and tur
bine vendors is crucial for project success.
A process-heat integration study (pinch
analysis) can identify process design changes
that reduce refrigerant compressor shaftwork power, i.e., stage volumetric flowrates.
Equipment performance analysis defines
actual capability of heat exchangers, com
pressors, turbines and distillation columns.
This information can be used to decide how
to optimize plant operating conditions and
determine the best options to invest capital
in revamped or new equipment.
This case history describes a recent eth
ylene plant revamp. The ethylene producer,
consultant and vendors worked together
during the feasibility study to change the
original design and establish new process

Understanding plant operation

High load
test run

Test run
simulation model

Test run data and

P&ID analysis

Equipment
rating

Predictive
simulation model

Equipment revamp
list and ranking

Capacity and revamp

options modifications list
equipment capacity checks

Understanding plant limits

Cost estimates

REVAMP capacity selection

strategy (phased approach?)
project development

Understanding plant
heat integration
Pinch and column analysis
Preliminary projects

Vendor iteration:
Compressors
steam turbines
column internals
Working with
equipment vendors

Revamp package

Fig. 1

Work flow for ethylene plant revamp using Integrated Approach.

operating conditions that avoided replacing

the ethylene and propylene compressors.
Life cycle of an olefins plant. Ethyl

ene plants generally go through at least one

revamp during their service life to increase
operating capacity and take advantage of
HYDROCARBONPROCESSING April 2007

market opportunities. The revamp scope

depends on the desired increase in produc
tion capacity. Creep revamps (up to 15%
increase in capacity) include using excess
capacity (over design margins) by adopt
ing more aggressive plant operation using
advance process control or real-time optimi

SpecialReport

Petrochemical Developments

Increase C2= production, %

zation techniques together with a

shows an example of equipment
minor update of equipment.1,2
rating results and ranking.
50
After creep expansions are
In this particular example, the
Compressors and
implemented, a much higher
cracked gas compressor (CGC)
40
turbines rating results
increase in capacity (leap
turbine, propylene refrigerant
30
revamps, typically 40% or higher
compressor and its steam turbine
increase in capacity) is usually
are maxed out and therefore lim
20
required to produce an accept
ited plant capacity. Conversely,
able return on investment. 2
the ethylene refrigerant compres
10
Major capital investment can
sor and its steam turbine have
0
be required when a conven
some spare capacity (compres
=
=
=
=
C1
C3
C2
Process
C3
C2
Process
tional revamp strategy separately
sor speed is below the maximum
gas com- comcomcomcom- gas com- compressor pressor pressor pressor pressor pressor pressor
addresses each equipment item
continuous speed and braketurbine
turbine
turbine
that limits capacity, and modifies
horse power is below the turbines
or replaces them by larger equip
design rated power).
Fig. 2 Example of limiting or available spare capacity of rotating
ment. Often, the resulting high
Note: Assessing available spare
equipment items for plant revamp.
investment cost and/or lengthy
equipment capacity is only possi
downtime required for project
ble by including sufficient details
implementation can render the proposed together with a review of the plants piping in the simulation model. For example, pro
revamp as unattractive.1,4
and instrumentation diagrams (P&ID) help cess and refrigerant compressors are set up
Traditional feasibility studies done to to develop a clear understanding of plant with performance curves to predict head,
define the scope and capital cost of the operation and how operating conditions speed and efficiency at higher loads and/or
revamp do not simultaneously include pro have changed since plant design. It also iden different suction pressure. The performance
cess design, equipment design and oper tifies, early on in the study, whether potential curves used are design performance curves
ating changes that can reduce investment operational or design changes can improve tuned to test run data. This allows a more
and operating costs. An alternative revamp plant performance. This is important since realistic prediction of performance at differ
approach was developed to capture these the plant owner does not have to wait to the ent loads and/or process conditions.
missing opportunities for investment and end of the feasibility study to start imple
Understanding plant heat integration.
operating cost reductions.3
menting beneficial operating changes.
A major challenge driving the selection of
This alternative approach, also called the
For example, in a recent revamp study, a minimum capital cost process revamp
integrated approach (IA), has been applied to it was found that a heat exchanger hot- scheme is identifying design and operating
more than 35 ethylene revamp projects and side bypass had been added to one of the changes that will help shift plant bottlenecks
its economic benefits fully demonstrated.4,6 demethanizer reboilers. A third-stage eth from expensive to cheaper equipment items
Such applications have ranged from creep ylene refrigerant chiller was downstream and thus minimize the total capital invest
to leap revamps. However, applying the of this reboiler. A second reboiler on the ment costs.
IA method fits better in the capacity creep demethanizer was subcooling fourth-stage
Ethylene plant designs are highly inte
projects where minor process design modi (warmest level) ethylene refrigerant. Closing grated, particularly in the cold-end sepa
fications and operating changes can yield the bypass reduced heat load at the lower ration section of the plant where process
production capacity increases. In all cases, refrigeration temperature levels and reduced streams, distillation columns and refrigera
the IA has been instrumental in:
the ethylene-refrigerant compressor speed tion systems are heat integrated. Design fea
Defining the optimum capacity, scope, and shaftwork, which provided additional tures can include distillation column side
investment cost, design and operating capacity to both compressor and its steam- exchangers and reboilers and recuperation
changes
turbine driver.
or sub-cooling of refrigerant. There may also
Reducing investment cost ($/lb) and
Understanding plant limitations. The be process-to-process heat recovery to reduce
energy usage (Btu/lb)
second step in the approach is to develop refrigeration usage and the provision of adia
Improving the likelihood of revamp a rigorous simulation model of the plant. batic or mechanical expansion to generate
approval and capital sanction by minimizing The model is tuned to match test run data low temperatures for product recovery.
risks and improving financial justification.
and then converted from a point solution to
This high level of integration results in
a scalable model. So, this model can react complex interactions within the process,
IA to low-cost revamps. The IA is correctly to changes in capacity, feedstock, between the process and utility systems and
based on a deep understanding of the plant yield and utilities such as cooling water tem with refrigeration systems. Column operat
and its limitations. Such understanding is perature.
ing pressure affects separation performance,
provided by a thorough evaluation of plant
This is a critical step in the IA since the column hydraulics, compressor performance
operation, process heat integration and model must mimic current plant perfor and condenser/reboiler required heat trans
equipment performance. A typical workflow mance as it is the basis for the equipment fer area. The choice of refrigerant level for
for the integrated approach is summarized rating. Equipment rating defines the per sub-cooling and recuperation affects com
in Fig. 1.
formance and quantifies limiting or spare pressor performance, capacity and required
Understanding plant operation. The capacity of major process equipment items. heat exchanger size.
revamp feasibility study starts with a high Ranking of all equipment items based on
Compressor suction pressure affects com
load test run and data gathering. Analysis spare capacity can visualize and understand pressor capacity and pressure profile over
and review of this data with plant operators plant limitations and opportunities. Fig. 2 the stages and influences the required heat
HYDROCARBONPROCESSING April 2007

Petrochemical Developments
transfer area. These are a few examples of
such interactions and they highlight some
of the degrees of freedom available to the
designer. As a result, the complexity and
number of possible combinations at first
sight may appear overwhelming, and the
task of finding improvements within the
limited time available by means of inspec
tion or trial and error may seem daunting
and time consuming.
Thermal pinch and distillation column
analysis make it easier to understand the
design interactions within the process and
between the process and utility systems.
These techniques are already well established
in the literature for heat exchanger networks,
distillation columns and utility systems.5
Pinch and column analyses have some
interesting features. An important one is the
ability to exploit the fact that the process
and the utility systems interact. By capital
izing on these interactions, it is possible to
more effectively use existing or new equip
ment. A good example of this is distillation
column feed conditioning. Column analy
sis may find that thermal conditioning of
a column feed is beneficial. Feed preheat
recovers refrigeration at a colder level than
the reboiler, or, conversely, feed cooling
shifts colder utility use from the condenser
to a warmer level in the feed chiller. In both
cases, adding a new feed exchanger finds
more capacity in the refrigeration compres
sor, beneficially reduces the vapor and/or
liquid traffic within the column, and may
unload the condenser and/or reboiler.
Working with equipment vendors.

Selective process redesign and correctly

applied pinch projects can reduce sub-ambi
ent utility requirements. This will unload
some or all of the stages of the refrigerant
compressors. It is normally desirable, if pos
sible, to evenly unload each of the stages of
the refrigerant compressors to a point where
no modifications to the compressor and its
driver are required. This involves assessing
the revised load on the compressors for each
process modification project and selecting
an optimum combination of projects that
will free up most refrigeration and process
equipment capacity.
In most instances, the compressors spare
capacity gained through process design
improvements is lower than the spare capac
ity available in other items of equipment.
There is then the opportunity to introduce
refrigerant compressor modifications or
replacement to bring their capacity into line
with that of all other equipment items in the
plant to achieve the revamp capacity target.

Modifying the compressor (re-rotor) in its

existing casing is the lowest cost option.
Rather than scaling compressor loads up
and requesting a solution from the compres
sor vendor, the integrated approach includes
working and iterating with the compressor
and turbine vendors to define maximum
stage flows and inter-stage operating con
ditions that are needed to avoid expensive
compressor/turbine replacement. With this
information, the optimum combination of
process modification projects is re-assessed to
meet the compressors modified performance
as defined by the compressor vendor.
Since the refrigerant compressors are heat
integrated with the process (via refrigerant
subcooling and recuperation), a few itera
tions are needed to define the new refrig
erant compressor suction, intermediate
and discharge pressures, as well as process
operating conditions that will result in maxi
mum revamp capacity at lowest investment
cost and with lowest implementation time.
Interaction with column internal vendors
and special heat exchanger vendors (core-in
kettle and high-flux exchangers, for instance)
is also included in the work flow of the inte
grated approach.
Case history. The application of the IA

as described here was very instrumental in

identifying cost-effective solutions in sev
eral ethylene revamp projects. The Korea
Petrochemical Ind. Co. (KPIC) operates a
390,000-tpy (390-Mtpy) ethylene plant at
Ulsan, South Korea. The plant was commis
sioned in 1991. Design feedstock includes
light naphtha, gasoil and C4 LPG with eth
ane recycle. The plant original design ethyl
ene production capacity is 300 Mtpy. Plant
capacity was increased to 390 Mtpy after a
+30% revamp in the year 2000. Furnace
coils, distillation tower internals and some
heat exchangers were modified at this time.
KPIC engineers carried out this revamp.
A previous conventional feasibility study had
concluded that, among other modifications,
a new cracking heater and associated equip
ment, replacing of the low pressure (LP) cas
ing of the CGC compressor, re-rotoring of
the CGC turbine, a new depropanizer and
associated equipment, and re-rotoring of the
ethylene and propylene compressors/tur
bines would have been required to achieve a
new production capacity of 400 Mtpy.
KPIC decided to apply the IA method
to develop a new revamp plan for its Ulsan
site. KPIC initially planned to carry out a
two-stage capacity revamp to take ethylene
production capacity to 470 Mtpy (+20% of
current capacity), determined by maximum

SpecialReport

furnace capacity. According to this plan, the

Stage 1 revamp (+10%) was going to take
place during the 2005 turnaround; the exact
timing of the Stage 2 revamp had not been
decided. KPICs initial plan was set on the
assumed basis that no rotating machinery
modifications were needed to achieve Stage
1 capacity. However, it was found early that
the charge-gas compressor turbine limited
capacity at current rates and needed to be
modified to achieve higher production
capacity. Increasing CGC suction pressure
was an option to reduce turbines power.
This, however, would only achieve a mod
est increase in plant capacity. The turbine
vendor indicated that a 13-month lead time
was needed to install the required turbine
modifications. As a result, KPIC rescheduled
the turnaround to late 2005.
Due to a change in business opportunity
with strong regional demand for ethylene,
KPIC preferred to maximize ethylene pro
duction and decided not to adopt the original
phased revamp strategy. KPICs new strategy
was to revamp the ethylene and propylene
refrigeration compressors and to push plant
capacity to +20% (set by cracking furnace limi
tations) for the 2005 turnaround.
Operating data and equipment rat
ing showed that the propylene compres
sor and its turbine were also at their limit
at test run conditions and had no addi
tional spare capacity. A predictive process
simulation model was used to estimate
the compressor loading at the increased
production rate of +20%. At this stage,
the compressor manufacturer was con
tacted to assess the required compressor
modifications.
The compressor manufacturers ini
tial study concluded that the compressor
required a new, larger casing. At the project
teams request, the compressor manufac
turer advised that the maximum increase
in capacity attainable with internal modi
fications while retaining the existing case
was between +10% and +15%. Also, at the
project teams request, the compressor man
ufacturer advised and confirmed the fea
sible operating region of the compressors
second- and third-stage discharge pressures
of the re-rotored compressor.
A number of process design and operat
ing changes were identified to reduce the
loading of the compressor. A few iterations
with the compressor manufacturer were
needed to define the optimum set of design
and operating changes required to achieve
the target production rate of +20% without
replacing the propylene compressor.
Other major modifications in the final

Petrochemical Developments
revamp package include the re-traying
of some towers, rerotoring the ethylene
compressor, rerotoring the ethylene and
propylene compressor turbines, and install
ing two new heat exchangers and three new
pieces of equipment as part of process modi
fications that reduced the propylene com
pressor loading. Most of the modifications
were done during the 2005 turnaround. Tieins were also put in place to install remaining
modifications early in 2006 without a plant
shutdown. The plant is now fully operating
at the target production rate of 470 Mtpy.
The economic success has also been
very satisfying. KPIC has estimated total

annual profits from production increase and

energy reduction at $16.1 million with a
15.7 months payback. HP

Byeonghee Ye is an R&D team

manager at Korea Petrochemical
Co., Ltd., in Ulsan, South Korea. He
is responsible for researching new
beneficial projects and developing
energy-saving ideas for his company.
His industrial experience has focused on simulation,
basic and detail design of petrochemical plants. He
graduated with a BS degree in chemical engineering
from Yeungnam University (Korea) and holds an MS
degree in chemical engineering from Pusan University
(Korea). E-mail: ybhee@kpic.co.kr.

Francisco J. Alanis is a principal consultant in AspenTechs EMEA

services organization. He is based in
the UK and is responsible for managing and executing process modeling,
energy improvement and low-cost
revamp projects. Dr. Alanis graduated in chemical engineering from UMSNH University (Mexico) and holds
MSc and PhD degrees from UMIST (UK). E-mail: francisco.alanis@aspentech.com.

H.Y. Jeong is an R&D team member at Korea Petrochemical Co.,

Ltd., in Ulsan, South Korea. He has
11 years of experience in process
engineering, process modeling and
process revamps. He graduated with
a degree in polymer science and technology from INHA
University, South Korea. E-mail: jhy@kpic.co.kr.

LITERATURE CITED
 alz, R. and R. Zeppenfeld, Steam Cracker Revamp
W
Projects: Challenges and Technologies, Fourth
European Petrochemicals Technology Conference,
June 2627, 2002, Budapest, Hungary.
2 McDonald, R. V. and C. P. Bowen, Recovery sys
tem to increase ethylene plant capacity, Petroleum
Technology Quarterly, Summer 2001.
3 Alanis, F. J. and I. J. C. Sinclair, Understanding
process and design interactions: The key to effi
ciency improvements and low cost revamps in
ethylene plants, Fourth European Petrochemicals
Technology Conference, June 2627, 2002,
Budapest, Hungary.
1

SpecialReport

 hoi, B.H., Asset optimization: A better approach

C
for energy savings and capacity increase, AspenWorld
2002, Washington, D.C., October 2002.
5 Trivedi, K. K., et al., Optimize a licensors design
using pinch technology, Hydrocarbon Processing,
May 1996.
6 US Department of Energy, Office of Industrial
Technologies, Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy, Project fact sheet Ethylene process design
optimization, September 2001.
Acknowledgment
Revised and upgraded from an earlier presentation
to the ERTC Petrochemical Conference, Dusseldorf,
Germany, Oct. 911, 2006.

Iain Sinclair is a senior advisor for Chemicals and Ethylene in

AspenTechs services organization.
He is based in the UK and is responsible for managing and delivering
process consulting services. Mr. Sinclair is a Fellow of the IChemE and has wide experience of many industrial processes and technologies.
E-mail: iain.sinclair@aspentech.com.
N. S. Park is a senior business
consultant in the AspenTech Sales
organization based in Seoul, South
Korea. He has supported several
energy improvement projects and
debottlenecking projects in Korea.
Mr. Park holds a BS degree in chemical engineering
from Seoul National University (Korea) and holds an MS
degree in chemical engineering from SNU. Before joining AspenTech, he worked with SK Corp. as a process
engineer. E-mail: ns.park@aspentech.com.

Article copyright 2007 by Gulf Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Printed in U.S.A.
Not to be distributed in electronic or printed form, or posted on a Website, without express written permission of copyright holder.