Online Internship Programme: An Internship (OIP-2024)

Internship Report
On

Subject Name: Process Refinery Engineering

10th June – 25th July, 2024

Batch - 1

Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the mandatory Internship training programme

Submitted by:

CHANDRU S

Department Of Petrochemical Engineering

University College Of Engineering(BIT CAMPUS),Anna University Tiruchirapalli

10th June – 25th July, 2024

Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers (IIChE)

Dr. H. L. Roy Building, Jadavpur University Campus,
188 Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick Road, Kolkata 700 032
www.iiche.org.in / iichehqfb@gmail.com
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Certificate from IIChE

This is to certify that Mr. CHANDRU S from UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

(BIT CAMPUS) – ANNA UNIVERSITY TIRUCHIRAPALLI has successfully completed
online internship programme in our organization. The matter embodied in this report is a genuine
to the best of our knowledge and belief and has not been submitted before, neither to this Institute
nor to any other organization for the fulfilment of the requirement of any course of study. During
his internship tenure in IIChE, we found him/her hard working, sincere, and diligent person and
his behaviour and conduct was good. We wish him all the best for his future endeavour.

Course Coordinator, OIP-2024 Convener, OIP-2024

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Acknowledgement

I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards Indian Institute of Chemical

Engineers (IIChE) for providing me the opportunity to become a part of the Online
Summer Internship Programme , 2024 and for giving me a platform to learn about
Petroleum Refinery Engineering as well as many aspects and areas of Chemical
Engineering. The internship not only enhanced my knowledge but also helped me to relate
the subject in accordance to the industries and made me get a closer look at it. It was a very
engaging and meaningful learning opputunity for me and I, hereby, thank my couse
instructor and guide, Dr. Avijit gosh, who not only presented the subject in a very
interactive manner but also cleared our doubts effectively. Finally, I would like to thank
all the respected aurthorities of IIChE as well as the esteemed webinar guest speakers for
providing such a beneficial insight in the area of Chemical Engineering.

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PREFACE

Objectives of Online Internship Program

• Assist the student's development of employer-valued skills such as teamwork,

communications and attention to learn Engineer’s responsibilities and ethics.

• Enhance and/or expand the student's knowledge of a particular area(s) of skill.

• Expose the student to professional role models or mentors who will provide the
student with support in the early stages of the internship and provide an example of
the behaviours expected in the intern's workplace.

• To familiarize with various materials, processes, products and their applications

along with relevant aspects of technology and troubleshooting. gain experience in
writing technical report/project.

Course Outcome

• The basic idea of different real life Refinery problems, trouble shooting, decision
making and preventive maintenance techniques and professional culture of industry,
work ethics and attitudes in industry. The different live situation, trouble shooting and
modern technological application.

• Course materials to be provided to the students for reference (in PDF format). The
study material will be shared with the students through IIChE for its record.

• Assignment will be given for the solution / conceptual idea and which may be
discussed during the tutorial class.

• Importance will be given on the application of modern tools for the industrial
automation / up-gradation / scale-up.

• Conceptual theory for the regular class room discussion and its application is real-life
industrial problem resolution.

• Case studies based on real life application.

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Content
1) Introduction

2) Discussion on different industrial application

3) Case study analysis

4) Research and development

5) Summary

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1) Introduction: Overview of the Industry

Petroleum and derivatives such as asphalt have been known and used for almost 6000 years
and there is evidence of use of asphalt in building more than 600 years ago. Modern
petroleum refining began in 1859 with discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania and
subsequent commercialization. Oil and gas production includes exploration, drilling,
extraction, stabilization. The underground traps of oil and gas are called reservoir. Various
types of traps are structural traps, stratigraphic traps and combination traps Most reservoir
contain water also along with oil and gas. Reserves are classified as proven, probable and
possible reserves.
Earlier finding of oil and gas was matter of luck and hit and miss process. COMPOSITION
OF PETROLEUM (CRUDE OIL):- Petroleum (Crude oil) consists of mainly carbon (83-
87%) and hydrogen (12-14%) having complex hydrocarbon mixture like paraffins,
naphthenes, aromatic hydrocarbons, gaseous hydrocarbons (from CH4 to C4H10). Besides
crude oil also contains small amount of non hydrocarbons (sulphur compounds, nitrogen
compounds, oxygen compounds) and minerals heavier crudes contains higher sulphur.

Depending on predominance of hydrocarbons, petroleum is classified as paraffin base,

intermediate base or naphthenic base-

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2) Discussion on different industrial application

Refining of crude oils or petroleum essentially consists of primary separation processes

and secondary conversion processes. The petroleum refining process is the separation of
the different hydrocarbons present in the crude oil into useful fractions and the conversion
of some of the hydrocarbons into products having higher quality performance.
Atmospheric and vacuum distillation of crude oils is the main primary separation processes
producing various straight run products, e.g., gasoline to lube oils/vacuum gas oils (VGO).

PRETREATMENT OF CRUDE OILS

Crude oil comes from the ground, which contains variety of substances like gases, water,
dirt (minerals) etc. Pretreatment of the crude oil is important if the crude oil is to be
transported effectively and to be processed without causing fouling and corrosion in the
subsequent operation starting from distillation, catalytic reforming and secondary
conversion processes.

CRUDE DESALTING

It is a water washing operation performed at the refinery site to get additional crude oil
clean up. Crude Oil Desalting consists of Purifying process Remove salts, inorganic
particles and residual water from crude oil Reduces corrosion and fouling Desalting
process is used for removal of the salts, like chlorides of calcium, magnesium and sodium
and other impurities as these are corrosive in nature. The crude oil coming from field
separator will continue to have some water/brine and dirt entrained with it. Water washing
removes much of the water soluble minerals and entrained solids (impurities). There are
two types of desalting: single & multistage desalting. Commercial crudes, salt contents 10-
200 ppb, earlier 10-20 ppb were considered satisfactorily low. However, many refinersnow

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aim at 5 ppb or less (1-2 ppb) which is not possible through single stage desalting, hence
two stage desalting is required

CRUDE OIL DISTILLATION

Desalted crude flows to atmospheric and vacuum distillation through crude pre flashing
section. Atmospheric distillation column (ADU) and Vacuum distillation column (VDU)
are the main primary separation processes producing various straight run products, e.g.,
gasoline to lube oils/vacuum gas oils (VGO). These products, particularly the light and
middle distillates, i.e., gasoline, kerosene and diesel are more in demand than their direct
availability from crude oils, all over the world. Two stage Desalter Desalted Crude Oil
Effluent Water Process Water Unrefined Crude Oil Demulsifier Preheat heat exchanger
Mixing Unit 204 Crude oil distillation consists of atmospheric and vacuum distillation.
The heavier fraction of crude oil obtained from atmospheric column requires high
temperature. In order to avoid cracking at higher temperature the heavier fraction are
fractionated under vacuum. Typical flow diagram of crude oil distillation is given .

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ATMOSPHERIC DISTILLATION:

Various steps in atmospheric crude oil distillation are Preheating of Desalted crude
Preflash Distillation Stabilization of Naphtha The desalted crude oil from the second
stage desalting process is heated in two parallel heat exchanger. The preheated crude
having temperature of about 180o C is goes to pre flash drum where about 3-4percent
of light ends are removed. The preheated crude from the preheater section is further 206
heated and partially vaporized in the furnace containing tubular heater. The furnace has
two zones: radiant section and convection section. The radiant zone forms the
combustion zone and contains the burners. In convection zone the crude is further
heated (inside the tube) by the hot flue gases from the radiant section.

PRODUCTS OF ADU:

Major product from atmospheric column are light gases and LPG, light naphtha,medium
naphtha,heavy naphtha,kerosene,gas Oil(diesel),atmospheric residue. Unstabilized
Naphtha consists of LPG, naphtha and light gases (C-5 115 o C) Intermediate Naphtha
(Bombay High) (135o C) Solvent Naphtha Heavy Naphtha (130-150 o C) routed to
diesel or naphtha. Kero/ATF (140-270/250o C) Light Gas Oil (250/270-320o C) Heavy
Gas Oil (320-380o C) Reduced Crude Oil.

CATALYTIC CRACKING:

Catalytic cracking process was developed in1920 by Eugene Houdry for upgradation
of residue was commercialized latter in 1930. Houdry process was based on cyclic fixed
bed configuration. There has been continuous upgradation in catalytic in catalytic
cracking process from its incept of fixed bed technology to latter fluidized bed catalytic
cracking (FCC).The feed stock for catalytic cracking is normally light gas oil from
vacuum distillation column. Catalytic cracking cracks low value high molecular weight
hydrocarbons to more value added products (low molecular weight) like gasoline, LPG
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Diesel along with very important petrochemical feedstock like propylene, C4 gases like
isobutylene, Isobutane, butane and butane. Main reactions involved in catalytic
cracking are Cracking Isomerisation Dehydrogenenation Hydrogen transfer
Cyclization Condensation Alkylation and dealkylation

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CATALYST DEACTIVATION

Catalyst activation may occur due to coke deposition and metal accumulation. Coke
Depositions may be due to condensation of poly-nuclear and olefinic compounds into high
molecular weight which cover active sites. Metal Accumulation occurs at the pore
entrances or near the outer surface of the catalyst.

CATALYST REGENERATION

Catalyst regeneration is done by burning off the carbon, and sulphur and circulation of
circulate nitrogen with the recycle compressor, injecting a small quantity of air and
maintaining catalyst temperature above the coke ignition temperature.

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3) Case study analysis

The petroleum industry began with the successful drilling of the first commercial oil well
in 1859, and the opening of the first refinery two years later to process the crude into
kerosene. To those unfamiliar with the industry, petroleum refineries may appear to be
complex and confusing places. Refining is the processing of one complex mixture of
hydrocarbons into a number of other complex mixtures of hydrocarbons.

HISTORICAL

In the United States, Indians used oil seepages in Pennsylvania as medicines, and
worldwide, various bitumens were known in Biblical times. Moses' burning bush may well
have been an accidentally ignited gas vent. Drake's crude oil well, completed in 1859,
showed the world the existence of extensive underground reservoirs of material then
mainly Useful as a source of kerosene for illuminating lamps. The useless gasoline, which
at times had been towed out to sea and burned as a nuisance, gradually became the major
product with demand exceeding the supply. Improved quality, as represented by antiknock
value, was also desired. The available quantity was extended by converting less desirable
fractions into gasoline, first by thermal, later by catalytic cracking processes. Quality
improvement in gasoline was brought about by cracking, the tetraethyllead antiknock
properties discovery, polymerization, alkylation, aromatization, and through the gradual
awareness that transformations of many kinds were possible by the application of organic
processes on a large scale. Refining has always been pushed along reluctantly by economic
factors. For years, many companies viewed refining as a necessary evil to be endured so
that they could 2 make money from the more. vital production and sale of the crude oil
which they produced. Only recently, most companies have come to realize that their
purpose is to take a many-component raw material and convert it, at maximum profit, into
materials to fulfill the needs of a complex and constantly shifting multiproduct market. In
1930, a company could market only gasoline, kerosene, heating fuel, gas oil, and residuum
and show a profit. Today the market is far more complicated, and the marketing decisions
are more difficult. Simple fractionation of crude oil Into fractions was once sufficient but
such simple products would rarely be salable now. Quality needs require upgrading,

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blending, and consistent quality control of the finished products, although the crudes
refined may vary greatly in type and distillate content.

REFINERIES IN INDIA

1.Barauni Refinery in Eastern India was built in collaboration with the at a cost of
Rs.49.4 crores and went on stream in July, 1964. By November, 1967, the initial
capacity 2MMTPA was expanded to 3 MMTPA by 1969. The present capacity of this
refineries is 6 MMTPA. A Catalytic Reformer Unit (CRU) was also added to the in 1997
for production of unleaded.
Projects are also planned for meeting future fuel quality requirements.

2.Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited (BRPL) has the unique

distinction of being the first indigenous grass root Refinery in the country integrated
with a Petrochemical complex at one location.At present, the Refinery is processing
crude available from the oil fields of East India and Ravva crude oil from the Krishna-
Godavari basin off the coast of Andhra Pradesh.The capacity of the Refinery was
augmented in through expansion of the Refinery comprising of one Crude Distillation
Unit (CDU-II) and one Delayed Coking Unit (DCU-II). A bottling plant of capacity
22000 MTPA was added to the complex and commissioned on March.

3.The Digboi Refinery was set up at in 1901 by Assam Oil Company Limited. The
Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. took over the refinery and marketing management of Assam
Oil Company Ltd. with effect from and created a separate division. This division has
both refinery and marketing operations. The refinery at Digboi had an installed capacity
0.50 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum). The refining capacity of the refinery
was increased to 0.65 MMTPA by modernization of refinery in July, A new delayed
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Unit of 1,70,000 TPA capacity was commissioned in. A new Solvent Dewaxing Unit for
maximizing production of wax was installed and commissioned in 2003.

4.Kochi Refineries Ltd (KRL), is an operator of oil refinery located at Kochi

India, Kerala. The company, formerly known as Cochin Refineries Ltd., was set up in
pursuance of a formation agreement dated April 27,1963 was formally registered on
September 6, 1963 at Ernakulam. The company was established by the Government of
India.Philips Petroleum was also the prime contractors for the construction of the
refinery. They entrusted the work to Pacific Procon Limited. Construction work started
in March 1964 and the first unit came operational in September 1966. The installed
capacity of 2.5 MMTPA was increased to 3.3 in September 1973, and to 4.5 MMTPA
in 8 November 1994. The capacity of the Oil Refinery was further increased to 7.5
MMTPA in December1995.

5.Visakh Refinery is one of the two refineries of HPCL, the other being Mumbai
Refinery. In 1957, Visakh Refinery went on stream under the ownership of M/s Caltex
India Ltd. In May, 1978, M/s Caltex Oil Refinery (India) was amalgamated with
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. The installed capacity of 1.5 MMTPA was
increased to 4.5 MMTPA in 1985 and 7.5 MMTPA in 1999, through an expansion
programme.

PRODUCTION STATISTICS:

The free world's consumption of petroleum in 1982 was 2.69 X I09 m 3 , down from
the 1979 peak of 3.04 X 109 m 3 . Total world consumption was estimated at 5.59 X
109 m3 / year. U.S. oil fields produce approximately 14 percent of the world's petroleum
as shown in Table. Most of the free-world fields, except those of OPEC (Organisation
of Petroleum Exporting Countries), are currently producing at maximum rates. No
industry publishes more extensive statistical data than does the petroleum industry
through the API (American Petroleum Institute) and other data-collecting agencies. 27

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4) Research and development

Petroleum, the product of natural changes in organic materials over millennia, has
accumulated beneath the earth's surface in almost unbelievable quantities and has been
discovered by humans and used to meet our varied fuel wants. Because it is a mixture of
thousands of organic substances, it has proved adaptable to our changing needs.

PRODUCT EVALUATION: Major parameters for gasoline and diesel specification

are given below Major Parameters of Gasoline Specifications Major parameters for
gasoline included in Bharat or Euro norms are

• Lead phase out

• Lower RVP

• Lower benzene & aromatics

• Lower olefin content

• Limited Oxygen content

• Lower Sulfur content

Other parameters of importance are RON, MON, Lead, gum, oxidation stability, density,
VLI index, FBP. In case of reformulated gasoline aromatics, olefins oxygen, Antiknock
index, vapor lock index

Major Parameters of Diesel Specifications and

Major parameters for diesel included in Bharat or Euro norms are

• Low sulfur

• Low aromatics

• High cetane number

• Lower density

• Lower distillation end point

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Other parameters for diesel are density, viscosity, cetane number distillation range, sulphur,
carbon residues, oxidation stability, Flash point, acid value, ash and water contents.

EVALUATION OF FEED STOCKS FOR PETROCHEMICALS (OLEFIN,

AROMATICS, AND LINEAR ALKYL BENZENE (LAB) PLANTS)
Olefin , aromatic and LAB production are three major Petrochemical building blocks.
Various feed stocks olefins, aromatics and surfactants are given.

Input cost of feed constituents is a major portion of the variable cost of production in
petrochemical plants. Major feed input olefin, aromatics and surfactants are Ethane
propane from natural gas, naphtha, kerosene from the refinery and LPG from refinery,
pyrolysis gasoline from steam crackers, Benzene from aromatic plant. Feed quality
monitoring and improvement efforts are therefore very important aspects having
significant impact on the economics of the operation cost. The precursors and undesirable
constituents in feed including catalyst and adsorbents poisons should be known, analyzed
and monitored continuously.

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OLEFIN PLANTS

Olefins playing important role in petrochemical industry by providing raw materials for
chemical intermediates like ethylene oxide ethylene glycol, acetaldehyde, vinyl chloride
etc and poly olefins. Olefin production requires more paraffinic naphtha.

Desired components in feed for olefins productions:

Naphthenes: Naphthene yield olefins of higher carbon number. Butane yield increases
appreciable with naphthenic feed. Naphthenes also enhance production of aromatics.

Aromatics: The aromatics is feed are highly refractory and they pass through the furnace
unreacted.
Sulphur: The sulphur in feed suppress stream reforming reaction catalyzed by nickel
present in radiant coil. Optimum level of sulphur is 1 ppm.
Physical Properties: Density, distillation range are useful and give a rough assessment of
feed quality.

Ethylene

The following components in feed give ethylene in decreasing order:

• Ethane, Butane to Decane, 3 and 2 Methyl hexane, 2 methyl Pentane/ 2,2 Dimethyl
Butane, Isopentane
Propylene

The following components in feed give propylene in decreasing order:

• Isobutane, n-butane, n-propane, 3 methyl pentane, 2,3 dimethyl butane, 2 methyl

hexane, npentane, 3 methyl hexane, iso pentane.
Butadiene

The following components of feed give butadiene is decreasing order:

• Cyclo hexane, methyl cyclo pentane. Some of the key properties for evaluation of
naphtha for olefin production are density, ASTM distillation, TBP, FBP, Saybolt
colour, sulphur, RVP and paraffin, naphthanes and aromatics content

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5) Summary

• Petroleum Refinery Engineering is one of the most important areas of Chemical

Enginering. It serves the purpose of fuel production along with a great variety of
hydrocarbons. Refineries are one of the largest plants and supply all the major day-
to-day working substances. The Diesel and Petrol/Gasoline have significant
impacts on the economy as well as the environment. Refining comes after the oil
exploration process and drilling and the crude obtained through these processes is
finally transported to the refinery. The refinery then removes the salts and water
content present in the oil and pre-heats it.

• Next, the crude oil is sent to the Crude Distillation Unit , also called the
Atmospheric

• Distillation Unit, where the crude is distilled at various cuts as per the boiling points
of various component of the crude oil. The lighest components like light
hydrocarbons such as C1-C2 , then C3-C4 are recovered at the top whereas the
heaviest components i.e. mainly the gas oil,residue,etc. , is sent to the Vacuum
Distillation Unit , which operates under vacuum in order to decrease the boiling
poin t of the feed and hence, attain distillation at a much lower temperature.

• The main CDU products as per their increasing weight along with increasing
temperature are light gases, LPG,Naphtha, Gasoline ,Kerosene/Jet fuel, Diesel, Gas
Oil. However, these products are further treated and processed as they contain ot
of contaminants and are still not suitable for use. The hydrotreater, gas treating,
mercaptan removal,etc. are various treating methods in order to get the desired
products from the refinery.

• The vacuum distillation unit (VDU) operates under vacuum and produces the heavy
gas oils, resid and heavier products like coke, asphalts,etc. The resid conversion is
one of the important preocesses and the top product of the VDU is hydrotreated
and sent to the hydrocracker to produce more of Diesel and fuiel oils.

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