Professional Documents
Culture Documents
IN BRIEF
TRAYS AND PACKING
REVAMP TARGETS
MECHANICAL
CONSIDERATIONS
LEVELNESS
GAMMA SCANNING
LARGER COLUMNS
TIDE MARKS
INSPECTIONS
SAFETY
P
etroleum refineries, chemical-pro- Associated with columns are heat ex-
cessing plants, natural-gas purifica- changers, reboilers, condensers, receivers,
tion plants and other facilities in the pumps, valves, tanks and instrumentation.
chemical process industries (CPI) all Most column revamps necessarily include
contain columns. These columns perform evaluations and modifications of this ancil-
distillations [1], regenerations, strippings and lary equipment.
absorptions. Column diameters range from Unfortunately for us, no two real column
12 in. to 50 ft, and column heights range revamps are identical. They are never easy.
from 10 to 350 ft. And column revamps cannot be boiled down
Prior to about 1970, the majority of the to a step-by-step procedure that can be ap-
column work performed in the U.S. was the plied to most columns. Instead, this article
building and installation of new, grass roots, presents some of the many considerations
columns. Subsequent to that, the workload that are involved in column revamps.
shifted, with many existing columns being
revamped to achieve performance improve- Trays and packings
ments or maintenance targets. When col- Today, globally, approximately one half of
umns are revamped, some columns are re- columns are equipped with trays and the
vamped on the outside; some, on the inside other half contain packings [2]. The pack-
(Figure 1); and some, both. ings can be random or structured. For many
38 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM APRIL 2015
Condenser Condenser
Pump Pump
Column Column
Reboiler Reboiler
FIGURE 2. Sometimes the column bottlenecks the unit FIGURE 3. Sometimes the ancillary equipment bottlenecks
the unit
years, the performance of trays was consid-
ered to be more predictable than packing. detrimentally upwards in such columns.
Around 1980, however, work by Fraction- Random packings (for instance, Pall rings)
ation Research Inc. (FRI; Stillwater, Okla.; are still very viable in many columns. Ran-
www.fri.org), and others, showed that suc- dom packings are easy to install and have
cessful packing performance usually hinges low pressure drops. Their optimum perfor-
on proper liquid distribution above packed mance depends upon the liquid distributors
beds. At about that same time, sheet-metal that are feeding the packed beds. Good liq-
structured packing was invented, and such uid distribution is also, of course, required
packing sometimes showed advantages with structured packings.
over both random packings and trays. Regardless of the tower internals, foul-
When compared to trays, the biggest ad- ing is never good. With trays, some parts
vantage attributable to packings is lower get plugged up and are no longer capable
pressure drops. This is particularly true with of passing liquid or vapor. With packings,
columns that are operating at pressures distributors become plugged and liquid
below atmospheric. As an example, prior distributions become non-optimum. Struc-
to about 1985, most ethylbenzene-styrene tured packings are much more prone to
vacuum columns were trayed. Many of those fouling than random packings, because the
columns were soon revamped with struc- metal sheets of structured packings are very
tured packings to reduce the pressure drops tightly spaced.
across the columns, to reduce the bottom The companies that develop and sell trays
temperatures and to reduce renegade po- and packings have been very successful at
lymerization. Generally, the pressure drop improving the performances of those mass-
across a bed of structured packing is about transfer products. Subsequent to about
one-sixth of that across a stack of trays hav- 1960, there have been four generations of
ing the same total height. trays as follows:
On the other hand, there are certainly • Crossflow
some services where packing seems to • Augmented crossflow
be inapplicable. High-pressure distillation • Counterflow
columns, where pure products are being • Cocurrent flow
targeted, have resisted the packing “revolu- Generally, each generation had a higher
tion.” Trays perform better, and much more capacity. Some generations exhibit higher
predictably, in such columns where the vol- efficiencies than others.
umetric liquid-to-vapor ratios are high. Re- Some practitioners divide the history of
garding such packed columns, some dis- random packings into four generations.
tillation theoreticians contend that the high First came Raschig rings and Berl sad-
liquid rates are causing vapor to back-mix dles; then, Pall rings and Intalox saddles;
downward. Some theoreticians contend then, proprietary rings from several ven-
that the low surface tensions of the liquid dors; and then, high-performance rings
phases cause tiny liquid droplets to be from several vendors.
sheared off easily from the downward-flow- Structured packings had the following
ing liquid films; those droplets are entrained history:
Revamp targets
High purity/recovery Some columns are revamped on the out-
side. Old insulation is removed. The bare
tower is sand-blasted, re-painted and then
reinsulated. Such work is required to prop-
erly address corrosion under insulation (CUI),
which is an increasing safety problem with
the aged and aging columns of the western
Low purity/recovery world. After painting, some of these columns
are left uninsulated. This allows for easy de-
terminations of future metal-thickness losses
Reflux ratio almost everywhere on the column shell.
Some columns are revamped on the in-
FIGURE 4. Attainment of side, which is the primary topic of this ar-
purity and recovery target • Gauze ticle. The possible targets of such revamps
depend upon the number of
equilibrium stages and the • Corrugated and textured sheet metal are the following:
reflux ratio • High-capacity corrugated and textured • Replacement, in kind, of old, corroded or
sheet metal plugged, internals
High-capacity structured packings gener- • Increased capacity
ally exhibit about 20% more capacity than • Improved separation (better purities,
“conventional” sheet-metal structured pack- recoveries or both)
ings, with no loss in efficiency. • Reduced energy consumption
All of these new generations of trays, ran- In some cases, a column’s service (key sep-
dom packings and structured packings have aration) is changed completely. Such a revamp
made it easily possible, at times, to make can prove to be particularly challenging.
large improvements in column performances A simple replacement of old internals re-
with relatively easy column revamps. quires that details of those internals are avail-
Many column revamps include the chang- able via drawings or purchase orders (POs).
ing out of the column internals. These Such drawings and POs often prove to be
change-outs can be divided into the follow- outdated, and wrong. Whenever possible,
ing broad categories: before such a revamp, the tower should be
1. Trays replace trays entered to ascertain exactly what is presently
2. Trays replace packing residing inside the tower.
FIGURE 5. A simple revamp 3. Packing replaces packing All of the other revamp targets require the
can yield a feedrate increase 4. Packing replaces trays performance of process simulations work.
and there are times when a
complex revamp can yield a When trays replace packings, it is usu- Many such computer programs are avail-
larger feedrate increase [2] ally because the packing performance has able commercially. For distillation columns,
“simple” programs employing equilibrium
stages, or “theoretical trays,” suffice. Car-
Complex revamp
bon-dioxide absorbers and regenerators are
a completely different case. Such columns
Original often exhibit and require very few equilib-
column
rium stages. For example, a carbon-dioxide
absorber might require 0.8, or 3.2, equilib-
rium stages. For such columns, computer
Equilibrium programs that utilize the rate-based (ap-
stages
Simple proach to equilibrium) calculation strategy
revamp will give more satisfying results.
Some engineers might argue that a re-
vamp targeting a simple capacity increase
does not require a process simulation. This
is not true. The highest volumetric flow-
Feedrate rates inside a tower are rarely determin-
able from simple mass balances of the feed
Reflux ratio and product streams. Volumetric flowrate
40 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM APRIL 2015
FIGURE 7. Trays can be changed out on
To condenser
a one-for-one basis, or revamps can be
more complex
Revamp
rings
Manhole Reflux
20 Original Revamp Original
rings rings rings
Feed Manhole
10
Mechanical considerations
Figure 6 shows a very short distillation col-
umn with only 20 trays. Included is a feed
nozzle half-way up the column. Process sim-
ulation work on any distillation column shows
that there is an optimum feed point location,
stages, more energy or both. where energy consumption is minimized.
Most importantly, Figure 4 shows that en- That optimum location could be in the upper
ergy consumption can be reduced with more half or the lower half of the column. During
staging. More staging can be obtained with some distillation column revamps, the feed
more trays, more-efficient trays, more pack- location is changed. The obvious way to
ing or more-efficient packing. One way to move a column’s feed point is to add a new
place more trays or more packing in a col- nozzle to the column. This is not always easy.
umn is to increase the height of the column. Another way to change a feed location is to
Indeed, sometimes, the head is cut off of an use the old, original feed nozzle and then run
old column and a new spool piece is added a pipe up or down through a set of trays (or
to the shell to increase the column’s height. packings) and then terminate that pipe with
Usually, however, increased staging is horizontal distributor piping at the optimum
achieved as follows: feed location. Primarily, this internal piping
1. Adding trays by decreasing tray spacings, strategy avoids welding a new nozzle to the
for example, 100 trays at 24-in. spac- outside of an old column.
ings are replaced by 150 trays at 16-in. An explosion that occurred in 1984 in
spacings Lemont, Ill., served as a wake-up call to
2. Replacing random packing with more-effi- global column-revamp practitioners. When
cient (that is, smaller) packing elements welding work is performed on “old” pres-
3. Replacing structured packing with more- sure vessels, that work must be followed
efficient (that is, higher-surface area) struc- by local or total heat treating (stress relief).
tured packing Such heat treating is expensive when per-
In all of these cases, the new trays or the formed correctly.
new packings must be capable of handling In columns, trays are supported by rings.
the new internal flowrates, without flooding. With a new column, those rings are often
Figure 5 is a three-dimensional graph. The welded to the inside of the column while the
datum labeled “original column” shows the column is in the fabrication shop. Eventually,
“as is” operating point. A feedrate increase the column is shipped to the production site
could be achieved with a simple revamp, for and the column is erected.
example, higher capacity trays or higher ca- Imagine a column with 100 rings and 100
pacity packings. Assuming that there were trays. Imagine a scenario wherein the 100
no changes in the tray or packing efficiencies trays are going to be replaced by 150 trays.
after the simple revamp, the column would This is sometimes called a “three-for-two
be operating at a higher reflux rate, but the revamp” and is shown in Figure 7. One op-
same reflux ratio. With a simple revamp, the tion is to use many of the existing rings and
staging in the column is not changed. then to weld many new rings to the inside of
Now imagine a complex revamp — for the column [4]. This welding will necessitate
example, the replacement of 100 trays with heat treating. Another option is to support
150 trays. Assuming a tray efficiency of 80%, new rings using old rings and vertical posts.
the number of equilibrium stages supplied by As shown in Figure 8, FRI demonstrated the
the trays would be increased from 80 to 120. post-supporting strategy of new rings in one
This has a large impact on the requisite reflux of its test towers. This strategy avoids the
ratio, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. The re- necessity for heat treating, because the new
duced reflux ratio leads to a decrease in the rings and posts are not welded directly to the
reflux rate, a decrease in the reboiler boil-up shell of the pressure vessel.
and decreases in the internal vapor and liq- Referring back to Figure 6, most columns
uid flowrates. The reduced internal flowrates contain manholes. These manholes allow
42 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM APRIL 2015
humans to enter columns for inspection, ating companies all have standards regard-
maintenance and revamp work. Figure 9 ing ring levelness tolerances. Usually, larger
is a photograph (side view) of one of FRI’s tolerances are allowed at larger diameters.
manholes. The inside dimensions (IDs) of It is very important that tray and distributor
column manholes are of extreme impor- installation companies adhere to these lev-
tance when planning a revamp and when elness tolerances, regardless of how difficult
designing parts for trays and for packing they sometimes appear to be. In worst-case
distributors. The parts must, of course, fit scenarios, shims can be employed on the
through the manhole, and then the parts rings to install trays and distributors with-
must be “rotate-able” into vertical orienta- out significant out-of-levelness. Again, very
tions, for transporting downward inside the unfortunately, the history of global column-
Tide marks
As trays and packings are being removed
from a tower, those trays, packings and
packing distributors need to be examined
before they are discarded or reused. Be-
sides plugging, one of the first things to
look for is metal thinning due to corrosion.
Some services are particularly prone to
acid build-ups, and acids eat away at met-
als, including column shells. Sometimes,
so-called “tide marks” can be seen on the
inside walls of trayed columns that have
been running for many years. Those tide
marks show froth heights, and maybe froth
FIGURE 9. Column manholes pylene columns 30 ft in diameter have been height differences. Figure 10 is a photo-
allow humans and equipment commissioned and are being designed. graph from one of FRI’s kettle reboilers [6].
to enter
A column that is 30 ft in diameter has four Tide marks are clearly evident on the inside
times the cross-sectional area of a 15-ft- walls of that kettle. In this case, those tide
dia. column. As a result, with large-diameter marks indicate the average depth of the
trayed and packed towers, the possibilities boiling pool.
for liquid and vapor maldistributions are
greatly increased. With trays, for example, Final post-revamp inspections
long liquid-flow path lengths help to create After any revamp, there comes a point in time
hydraulic gradients in the froths. In response when a column is ready for a final inspection,
to the froth height differences, vapor streams before the manhole covers are closed and
have a natural tendency to flow through the the column is buttoned up. This inspection
deck areas having the shortest froth heights. should always involve a member of the com-
As a worst-case scenario, vapor crossflow pany that owns and operates the column.
channeling (VCC) can occur [5] and tray ef- Trays are usually equipped with manways
ficiencies can suffer. that allow workers and inspectors to climb
Again, very large trays have very large deck vertically through tray stacks. Multi-pass
areas. Such areas are particularly prone to crossflow trays, such as four-pass and
froth stagnations, or even retrograde (back- six-pass trays, are usually equipped with
wards) froth flow. If properly designed and multiple vertical manway paths. The down-
specified, push valves on those deck areas comers and anti-jump baffles of multi-pass
can keep the froths moving toward the out- trays make it impossible to inspect an entire
let weirs. freshly installed tray from just a single set
Regarding packing, the difficulties asso- of vertical manways. Such multi-pass trays
ciated with the attainment of perfect liquid require that each set of vertical manways
distributions at the tops of packed beds are be climbed through so that every area and
increased appreciably with very large column volume of a freshly installed tray can be in-
cross-sectional areas. Some companies, in- spected before those manways and column
cluding vendors, insist that all liquid distribu- manholes are closed.
tors be tested with water at vendor company It is, of course, impossible to climb vertically
test stands. through a bed of packing, whether random
The bottom line is that, with trayed and or structured. Nevertheless, it often happens
packed towers, malperformances are more that liquid distributors are positioned at the
likely to occur before and after column re- same elevations as column manholes. It is
vamp work, when tower diameters are ex- therefore easily possible to inspect most
tremely large. packing distributors before the manholes are
Very large and very tall columns bring up buttoned up.
other issues. Revamping such towers dur- All findings of column inspections need
ing 30-day turnarounds is often excessively to be thoroughly documented, including in-
challenging. A multiplicity of teams, and spector names and dates.
44 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM APRIL 2015
Safety considerations way, that all valves leak. Has the column
General. There are many people who per- been steamed out? Aired out? Is the oxygen
form column revamps very regularly. There content going to be monitored continuously
are other people who become involved in while the vessel is occupied?
such work only occasionally, or even just Regarding entry to any confined space,
once in a career. These people include en- a key player is the attendant, sometimes
gineers, technicians, mechanics, welders, called the “hole watch,” who is usually posi-
electricians and so on. The next few para- tioned outside of any manhole where people
graphs are particularly for the people who enter the column. Nobody enters the column
are not already experienced, and expert, at without the attendant’s full permission and
column revamp safety aspects. knowledge. The attendant logs all entries and
Ultimately, you are responsible for your own exits. The attendant has many other respon-
safety. At the plant, you are in your shoes. sibilities, including the blowing of an air horn
Only you go where you go. You should not if any dangers arise outside of the column,
expect to have an experienced safety expert and, the contacting of rescue personnel if
at your side everywhere that you go at a anything goes wrong inside the column. The
plant during a column revamp. attendant must sometimes prevent the res-
The first people to talk to regarding col- cue team from rushing into the column if the
umn revamp safety are the safety profes- rescue team might possibly suffer the same
sionals and the experienced veterans (engi- calamity as what brought the team to the
neers and technicians) where you work. Your column in the first place. Very unfortunately,
company has, or should have, procedures a large fraction of confined-space rescues