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CH414 Petroleum Refinery Engineering

The document discusses visbreaking, which is a process used in petroleum refineries to reduce the viscosity of residual oil and increase yields of diesel and heating oil. It involves thermally cracking large hydrocarbon molecules by heating residual oil in a furnace. This breaks the molecules into smaller ones with lower viscosity. Visbreaking is a mild cracking process that reduces the amount of heavy fuel oil produced and cuts down on the need for dilution. It occurs at temperatures and times that break long alkane chains off aromatic compounds in the residual oil.

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Haider Ali
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50 views

CH414 Petroleum Refinery Engineering

The document discusses visbreaking, which is a process used in petroleum refineries to reduce the viscosity of residual oil and increase yields of diesel and heating oil. It involves thermally cracking large hydrocarbon molecules by heating residual oil in a furnace. This breaks the molecules into smaller ones with lower viscosity. Visbreaking is a mild cracking process that reduces the amount of heavy fuel oil produced and cuts down on the need for dilution. It occurs at temperatures and times that break long alkane chains off aromatic compounds in the residual oil.

Uploaded by

Haider Ali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CH414

Petroleum Refinery Engineering

GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology


Department of Chemical Engineering
Spring Semester 2017

Engr. Fraz Saeed Butt


VISBREAKING
• A visbreaker is a processing unit in an oil refinery
whose purpose is to reduce the quantity of residual
oil produced in the distillation of crude oil and to
increase the yield of more valuable middle distillates
(diesel and heating oil) by the refinery.
• A visbreaker thermally cracks large hydrocarbon
molecules in the oil by heating in a furnace to
reduce its viscosity and to produce small quantities
of light hydrocarbons (LPG and gasoline).
• The process name of visbreaker refers to the fact
that the process reduces (i.e: breaks) the viscosity of
residual oil (non-catalytically).
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VISBREAKING
• Vis-breaking is a relatively mild thermal cracking
operation mainly used to reduce the viscosities
and pour points of vacuum tower bottoms and
to reduce the amount of cutting stock required
to dilute the resid to meet these specifications.
• Refinery production of heavy fuel oils can be
reduced from 20 to 35 % and cutter stock
requirements from 20 – 30 % by visbreaking.
• The gas oil fraction produced by visbreaking is
also used to increase cat. Cracker feed-stocks
and increase gasoline yields.
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VISBREAKING
• Long paraffinic side chains attached to
aromatic rings are the primary cause of
high pour points and viscosities for
paraffinic base residua.
• Vis-breaking is carried out at conditions to
optimize the breaking off of these long side
chains and their subsequent cracking to
shorter molecules with lower viscosities
and pour points.
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VISBREAKING
Note:
• The amount of cracking is limited, however,
because if the operation is too severe, the
resulting product becomes unstable and
forms polymerisation products during
storage that cause filter plugging and
sludge formation.
• The objective is to reduce the viscosity as
much as possible without significantly
affecting the fuel stability.
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VISBREAKING
Principal Reactions:

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VISBREAKING
Severity of Vis-breaking operation:
• Severity can be expressed as:
– Yield of material boiling below 330 degree F (166 degree C),
– Reduction in product viscosity,
– Amount of standard cutter stock needed to blend the vis-
breaker tar to fuel oil specifications.
• In United States, usually the severity is expressed as the
vol. % product gasoline in a specified boiling range.
• In Europe, as the weight percent yield of gas plus
gasoline (product boiling below 330 degree F, or 166
degree C).
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VISBREAKING
Types of Vis-breaking operations:
• It has basic two types;
– Coil and Furnace cracking
– Soaker Cracking
Vis-breaking Time-Temperature Relationship:
• As in all cracking processes, the reactions are time-
temperature dependent, and there is a trade-off between
temperature and reaction time.
• Coil cracking uses higher furnace outlet temperatures (473-
500 degree C) and reaction times from 1 to 3 min.
• Whereas, soaker cracking uses lower furnace outlet
temperatures (427-433 degree C) and longer reaction times.
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VISBREAKING

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VISBREAKING
Vis-breaking Time-Temperature Relationship and
Expected Run-times:
• The product yields and properties are similar, but the
soaker operation with its lower furnace outlet
temperatures has the advantages of lower energy
consumption and longer run times before having to shut
down to remove coke from the furnace tubes.
• Run times of 3 to 6 months are common for coil vis-
breakers and 6 to 18 months for soaker vis-breaker.
• This apparent advantage for soaker vis-breakers is at least
partially balanced by the greater difficulty and longer time
in cleaning the soaking drum.
10/25/2017 Engr. Fraz Saeed Butt 10
VISBREAKING
Coil Vis-breaker vs Soaker Vis-breaker:
• In both cases, the feed is introduced into the furnace and heated
to the desired temperature.
• In the furnace or coil cracking process, the feed is heated to
cracking temperature (474 to 500 degree C) and quenched as it
exits the furnace with gas oil or tower bottoms to stop the
cracking operation.
• In the soaker cracking operation, the feed leaves the furnace
between (427 to 438 degree C) and passes through a soaking
drum, which provides the additional reaction time, before it is
quenched.
• Pressure is an important design and operating parameter, with
units being designed for pressures as high as 750 psig for liquid-
phase vis-breaking and as low as 100 to 300 psig for 20 to 40 %
vaporization at the furnace
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outlet.
Engr. Fraz Saeed Butt 11
VISBREAKING

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VISBREAKING

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