Article
Mini-Refinery Vacuum Unit: Functional Analysis and
Improvement of Vacuum Overhead System
Eduard Osipov *, Eduard Telyakov, Sergey Ponikarov, Daniel Bugembe and Artem Ponikarov
Citation: Osipov, E.; Telyakov, E.;
Ponikarov, S.; Bugembe, D.;
Ponikarov, A. Mini-Refinery Vacuum
Unit: Functional Analysis and
Improvement of Vacuum Overhead
System. Processes 2021, 9, 1865.
https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9111865
Academic Editor: Arkadiusz Gola
Received: 23 August 2021
Accepted: 17 October 2021
Published: 20 October 2021
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Department of Mechanical Engineering for the Chemical Industry, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Institute
Mechanical Engineering for the Chemical and Petrochemical Industry, Kazan National Research Technological
University, 68 Karl Marx Street, 420015 Kazan, Russia; Tesh1939@mail.ru (E.T.); mahp_kstu@mail.ru (S.P.);
danielsmurts@gmail.com (D.B.); ponikarov_artem@mail.ru (A.P.)
* Correspondence: evosipov@kstu.ru; Tel.: +7-917-293-6600
Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to analyze the functioning of the vacuum distillation unit
of a mini-refinery and to develop recommendations for improving the vacuum overhead system
with the aim to reduce the cost of creating and maintaining a vacuum in the fuel oil separation
column. A calculation model of the vacuum unit was developed in the Unisim Design R451 software
package, which was identified by comparing the calculated data with the data from an industrial
study for two operating modes of the installation. Replacing the existing steam-ejector pump with a
liquid-ring vacuum pump was proposed. A numerical experiment was carried out on the developed
model, the purpose of which was to determine the “bottlenecks” of the scheme. The peculiarity of
the experiment was that the vacuum column and the vacuum overhead system were considered
as a single whole. As a result, it was determined that the “bottleneck” is the condenser, which
was proposed to be replaced. During the technical and economic analysis, two possible vacuum
overhead system schemes were considered; according to the results, it was determined that the
vacuum overhead system scheme based on a liquid-ring vacuum pump will help reduce operating
costs by 78%.
Keywords:
vacuum overhead; steam ejection pumps; liquid ring vacuum pump; universal modeling
program; rectification; vacuum distillation unit; mini-refinery; Unisim Design R451
1. Introduction
Technologically, a mini-refinery is a low-tonnage unit (with a capacity of up to 1 million
tons/year) EDP-AVD (Electric Desalting Plant—Atmospheric-Vacuum Distillation) [
1
],
whose product streams are low-quality petroleum products: straight-run gasoline (naphtha)
and diesel (gas oil) fractions, as well as fuel oil. Such installations are built as blocks for the
preparation of raw materials for small petrochemical plants or for the industrial production
of fuel in remote areas [2].
As is known, the EDP-AVD units are the main units of the refinery; the efficient
functioning of the split units determines the quality of the oil products obtained in the
secondary processes [
3
]. The costs of operating the process can reach up to 35% of the total
energy consumption [
4
]; therefore, the task of improving the hardware and technological
design of the primary oil-refining process is urgent.
At the same time, as a result of stricter requirements for petroleum products and
the transition to the production of higher quality motor fuels, some companies operating
mini-refineries have supplemented their refineries’ technological schemes with various
secondary processes [1].
The possible configuration of a mini-refinery, according to [1], is shown in Figure 1.
Processes 2021, 9, 1865. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9111865 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/processes
