INDIAN OIL CORPORATION

LIMITED, PANIPAT

SUMMER VOCATIONAL TRAINING

REPORT

Guided by, Submitted by,

Mr. Kamal Pahwa Bunty Rathore

Mr. Pradeep C Yadav 4th Year (UG)
Ms. Sangeeta Sinha (T&D) IIT Roorkee
Mr. R Sharma (T&D)
 Acknowledgement

I would like to express a deep sense of gratitude to Ms. SANGEETA

SINHA(Training & Development), MR. R. SHARMA (Training &
Development) for their cordial support, valuable information and
guidance, which helped us in completing this task through various
stages.

I would also express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my

guide Mr. KAMAL PAHWA (Chief Production Manager) and Mr.
PRADEEP C YADAV for their exemplary guidance, monitoring and
constant encouragement throughout the course of training. Their
blessing, help and guidance given by them time to time shall carry us
a long journey of life on which are about to embark.

I wold also place my thanks to various engineers and operators for

their cooperation in acquainting us in to the various in the plant.
Especially, Mr. Bhuvan Gupta and Mr. Kartikey for guiding me and
clearing all my doubts.

I express my deep sense of the gratitude and indebtness to Dr. V. C.

Shrivastav (Assistant professor, Dept. of Chemical Engineering) for
giving me the opportunity to undertake training in Indian Oil
Corporation Limited, Panipat, Haryana.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents, my friends
and my brother for their constant encouragement and help without
which this assignment would not be possible.
 INDEX

Introduction to Panipat Refinery

Atmospheric and Vaccum Distillation Unit
Once through Hydrocracker Unit
Diesel Hydro Desulphrisation Unit
Continous Catalytic Cracking Unit
Thermal Power Station
Euipments used in the Plant
Project 1
Project 2
 Introduction to Panipat Refinery

IOCL Panipat Refinery was established in 1998. It is the

seventh and also the largest refinery established by IOCL.
It has a capacity of 15MMTPA. Earlier it has the
capacity of 6MMTPA but then in 2006 it is expanded to
12MMTPA under the Panipat Refinery Expansion
Project (PREP).

It is mainly an oil refinery, therefore crude processing is

the main function here. The crude oil is refined into more
useful and a variety of products such as petroleum
naphtha, gasoline, diesel, kerosene and LPG.

Crude oil is separated into fractions by fractional

distillation. The fractions at the top of the column have
lower boiling points than the fractions at the bottom. The
heavy bottoms are often cracked into lighter, the more
useful products. All these fractions are sent to other
refining units for further processing.

Major Products Petroleum products are usually grouped

into three categories light distillates, middle distillates,
heavy distillates and residue.
Light distillates: LPG, gasoline, naphtha

Middle distillates: kerosene, diesel, ATF

Heavy distillates and residuum: heavy fuel oil, lubricating

oils, wax

Common Process Units found in a refinery:

Atmospheric Vacuum Distillation (AVU/CDU/VDU)

unit distils crude oil into fractions.

Continuous catalytic regeneration (CCRU) unit

increases octane number of petrol.

Once through Hydrogen Cracking unit (OHCU).

Diesel Hydro Desulphurization unit (DHDS).

Thermal Power Station (TPS)

Hydrogen generation unit (HGU)

Coking units (DCU)

Fluid Catalytic Cracker

Atmospheric & Vacuum Distillation Unit
( AVU )
1. Capacity :
CRU - 7.5 MMTPA (million metric tons per annum)
VDU 4.125 MMTPA
2. Product Exit Main Column:
Product : Exit Column:
Fuel Gas Internal fuel
LPG Domestic fuel
NAP MS Component
Heavy Naphtha HSD Component
Kerosene Domestic fuel
Aviated Turbine Fuel Aeroplanes
Light Gas Oil HSD
Heavy Gas Oil HSD
Vacuum Distillate HSD
Light vacuum gas oil HCU/FCCU
Heavy vacuum gas oil HCU/FCCU
Vacuum slop RFCCU/ IFO
Vacuum residue Bitumen/ VBU feed

Some notations in above table:

 MS Component Petrol
HSD High speed Diesel
HCU Hydrocracking Unit
FCCU- Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit
IFO- Intermediate Fuel Oil
VBU Vacuum Blowing Unit

3. DESCRIPTION OF PROCESS FLOW

SCHEME:

FEED SUPPLY: Crude is stored in eight storage tanks

(six having a nominal capacity of 50,000 m3 each and
remaining two are of 65,000m3 each). Booster pumps
located in the off-sites are used to deliver crude to the
unit feed pumps. Filters are installed on the suction
manifold of crude pumps to trap foreign matter. For
processing slop, pumps are located in the offsite area
which regulates the quantity of slop into the crude
header after filters. Provision to inject proportioned
quantity of demulsifier into the unit crude pumps
suction header with the help of dosing pump is
available.
 FEED PREHEAT (PRE-DESALTER) CIRCUIT:
Crude oil from feed pumps is charged to heat exchangers
in two parallel streams.
Desalting: Desalting is a purification process used
for the removal of salts, inorganic particles and
residual water from crude oil and thereby
reducing corrosion and fouling of equipment. This
desalting process consists of three main stages, viz.
heating, mixing and settling. Crude oil is heated to
125-135 C in the pre-desalter heat exchanger
train. Water is injected under flow control
upstream of mixing valves. Brine outlet from the
desalters is cooled in air cooler and water cooler
before final disposal. Desalter pressure is controlled
between11-12 kg-12 kg/cm2 by a control valve
located at the discharge end of the crude feed
pumps.
Post Desalter Crude Preheating: Desalted crude
from desalter is pumped by post desalter pumps
into streams going through a second train (two in
parallel) of heat exchangers. Downstream of the
exchanger trains, crude oil streams combine to
average out the temperature. Normal preheat
temperature is in the range of 230-250C.
 Fired Heaters: the preheated crude is further heated and
partially vaporized in three parallel tubular heaters.
Each furnace is four pass heater with air preheater.
Each furnace is provided with 14 burners
capable of firing FO and FG, either fully or partially.
Convection section has 8 rows of tubes with 8 tubes in
each row. Two rows of shock tubes just above the
radiant section are plain tubes without studs. In the
convection section 4 studded tubes are for the service of
superheating MP stream for strippers. The radiant box
has 21 tubes in each pass. Convection zone had 12
rotary and 12 retractable soot blowers in two rows.
Air Preheater Section: To recover waste heat from flue
gases of CDU and VDU furnaces four identical
parallel stationary air preheater units are provided and
installed in parallel. At APHs cold combustion air
routed to the burners will pick up heat from flue gases
for efficient combustion. Three FD fans each capable of
55% of full load are provided with SCAPH in there
discharge to heat the air up to 45 C the combustion air
requirement of each heater is controlled by individual
FICS damper located in the air duct to the respective
furnace. Load on the fans is varied by regulating the
inlet guide vances. Heaters are provided with slain temp
 O2 analyser and draft gauges. Furnaces are provided
with different trip logic to save the equipments under
different abnormalities.

CRUDE DISTILLATION UNIT (CDU):

This column contains 56 trays of which 10 are baffle
trays. 6 chimney trays are also provided. Feed is
introduced on tray number 10. Heated and partly
vaporized crude enters the flash zone of the column at
tray number 10 at 360-370 0 C. Hydrocarbon vapors
flash in this zone and get liberated. Non-flashed liquid
moves down which are largely bottom product called
RCO.
Overhead Section: The overhead vapors are totally
condensed in crude overhead air condenser and trim
condenser. This overhead condensed product is separated
as hydrocarbons and water in reflux drum. Water is sent
to sour water stripper. Unstabilised naphtha containing
fuel gas, LPG and naphtha is partially refluxed and
partially pumped to stabilizer.
Heavy Naphtha Section: Heavy naphtha is withdrawn
from tray number 44 to the side stripper. Light ends in
heavy naphtha are stripped in heavy naphtha reboiler
using LGO as hot medium. The bottom product is cooled
 in heavy naphtha exchanger followed by air fin cooler
and sent to storage.
Kero/ATF Section: kero is withdrawn as side product
from tray no 31 to the kero side stripper .light ends in
kero are stripped in the kero reboiler using HVGO CR as
hot medium .the bottom product is routed to MP steam
generator followed by LMP steam generator and finally
cooled in trim cooler and sent to storage.
Light Gas Oil Section : LGO is withdrawn as side
product from tray no 22 to the LGO side stripper .Light
ends in the LGO are stripped using MP steam .Bottom
product is pumped through heavy naphtha reboiler
,crude preheat exchanger. Then the steam is cooled by air
fin cooler and trim cooler before being routed to storage.
Heavy Gas Oil Section : HGO is withdrawn from tray
no 15 to the HGO side stripper .Light ends in HGO are
stripped using MP steam .Bottom product is routed to
preheat exchangers and then it goes to cooler before
being finally routed to storage .
Reduced Crude Oil: stripped RCO drawn from the
bottom is sent to vacuum heaters of vacuum distillation
unit.
Circulating Reflux : In order to maximize heat recovery
and balance tower loading ,heat is removed by the wave
circulating reflux from each of the section .These pump
around are withdrawn and pumped through preheat
 train for maximum heat recovery thus cooling these
steams .
Naphtha Stabilizer Section: Unstabilized naphtha from
CDU is sent to Naphtha Stabilizer Unit. After
preheating with stabilizer bottom in the feed/bottom
exchanger. This column contains 40 trays with feed
entering on 21st tray. Main components are fuel gas,
LPG and Stabilized Naphtha.
Naphtha Splitter Section: Stabilized naphtha is split
into two products
1) C5 65/90 0C - top product
2) C5 115/165 0 C - bottom product

The overhead vapour is condensed in air cooler and condensed

product goes to the reflux drum, where a part is refluxed back to
the column. This overhead product is further cooled to 400 C
before being routed to storage via caustic wash. There is no need
of caustic/water wash of bottom stream.

VACUUM DISTILLATION UNIT (VDU):

Vacuum Furnace: Hot RCO from atmospheric column
at 355/365 0 C is mixed with slope recycle from
vacuum column heated and partially vaporized in a 8
pass vacuum furnace and introduced in flash zone of
vacuum column. The heater can be fuel gas, fuel oil or
 combination of fuel fired. The radiant section tubes
are arranged horizontally. Common convection
section has horizontal banks of tubes positioned
above the combustion chamber.
Vacuum Column: vaporized stream entering the flash
zone of column along with stripped light ends from
the column bottoms, rise up in the vacuum column
and is fractionated into four side stream products.
Hydrocarbon vapours are condensed in the HVGO,
LVGO and Vac diesel sections by circulating refluxes
to yield side products. Vacuum is created using ejector
system in which MP steam at high velocity is
introduced.
Vacuum Diesel: it is drawn from the top
section along with Circulating Reflux(CR) and
Internal Reflux(IR). IR is return to the
LVGO section and CR is returned to the top
of the vac diesel packing after exchanging heat
with the crude.
Light Vacuum Gas Oil (LVGO): This section
comprised of two beds for fractionation and
heat transfer respectively. LVGO is drawn
along with CR and IR from chimney tray
number 2.
 Heavy Vacuum Gas Oil (Hvgo): HVGO is
drawn from chimney tray number 3 below bed
number 4 along with CR and IR using HVGO
pump.
Vacuum Slop: This section is a combination
bed with demister pad provided above the
wash zone to prevent asphaltenes carry over.
Slop distillate is withdrawn from chimney
tray number 4 below bed number 5. Along
with slop recycle on gravity.
Vacuum Residue: The liquid portion of the
feed drops into the bottom section of the tower
and is withdrawn as vacuum residue. MP
steam is used for stripping. Quenching is
achieved by returning a quench stream to the
tower at temperature of 250 0C after heat
exchange with crude in preheat train. Vacuum
Residue is withdrawn by VR pumps and sent
for heat exchange with incoming crude in the
crude preheats train.
4. Process Optimization :
1) Through Circulating reflux
2) Through Coil oil Temperature
3) Through preheating the crude with product.
 Once Through Hydro-Cracker Unit
(OHCU)
Hydrocracking is an extremely versatile catalytic process
in which feed stock ranging from Naphtha to vacuum
residue can be processed in presence of hydrogen and
catalyst to produce almost any desired product lighter
than feed. Thus if the feed is Naphtha it can be converted
into LPG if feed is VGO it can produce LPG, Naphtha,
ATF, Diesel.
1. Process configuration
Depending upon the feed quality, product mix desired and
the capacity of unit, following process flow configuration
can be adopted for hydrocracker.
1. Single stage for 100% conversion
2. Two stage for 100% conversion
3. Once through for partial conversion of feed to products
60-80%

In single stage, the unconverted material from

fractionator, bottom is recycled to first reactor along with
fresh feed. In two stages the unconverted material is
routed separately to another reactor.
2. Products of HCU
1. LPG
2. Stabilized light Naphtha
3. Heavy naphtha
4. ATF/SKO high Speed Diesel

3. Process Description
In Hydrocracker the VGO feed is subjected to cracking in
reactor over catalyst beds in presence of Hydrogen at
pressure of 185Kg/cm2 and temperature from 365-441 C.
the cracked products separated in fractionator. Light ends
are recovered in Debutanizer column. The process removes
almost all S and N from feed by converting them into H2S
and NH3 respectively, thus the product obtained are free
of sulfur and nitrogen compound and saturated. Therefore
except for mild NaOH wash for LPG , post treatment is
not required for other products.

4. UNITS OF HCU
1. Make up hydrogen section
2. Reaction section
3. Fractionation section
4. Light ends recovery section
 Make up Hydrogen Compression section
The makeup Hydrogen Compression section consist of
three identical parallel compressor trains, each with three
stage compression during normal operation two trains are
in use and compress makeup hydrogen form a pressure
swing adsorption (PSA) unit to reaction section the
compressed makeup hydrogen is combine with hydrogen
recycle gas in the reaction to form reactor feed gas. The
makeup hydrogen compression section is also used to
compress a mixture of nitrogen and air during catalyst
regeneration.
Reaction section
The reaction section contains one reaction stage in a single
high pressure loop. Due to reactor weight limit of
approximate 400 M Ton. The reaction section consists of
two reactors in series. The hydrotreating & hydro-cracking
reactions taking place in the reaction stage occurs at high
temperature and pressure. A high hydrogen partial
pressure is required to promote the hydro0cracking
reaction and to prevent coking of the catalyst. An excess
of hydrogen is recirculated in the reactor loop for reactor
cooling to maintain a high hydrogen partial pressure and
to assure even flow distribution in the reactors.
 Fractionation section
It is used to separate reaction section products into sour
gas, unstabilized liquid naphtha, heavy naphtha, kerosene
and diesel. Furthermore, bottom containing un-converted
product servers as feed to the FCC unit or is sent to
tankage. The sour gas and un-stabilized naphtha are sent
to the light end section to make fuel gas, LPG and light
naphtha.
Light Ends Recovery section
Light naphtha from the fractionator is sent to de-
ethanizer, where gas are removed and sent to amine
absorber where the H2S is absorbed in the Amine and H2S
free fuel gas is sent fuel gas system. Rich Amine with
dissolved H2S is sent to Amine Regeneration unit in
sulphur recovery unit. The bottom of dethanizer is sent to
debutanizer. For the recovery of LPG, LPG is taken out
from the top and sent to treating section where it is
washed with caustic for removal of H2S. The stabilized
naphtha from the bottom of the stabilizer is sent to
hydrogen unit to produce hydrogen.
5. Process Optimization:
1) Feed optimization through
a) Hourly spaced velocity
b) Basic Nitrogen Sleepage

2) Product Optimization through

a) Specification of products. For e.g. for more
production of diesel we can add kerosene in diesel.
Diesel Hydro Desulphurisation Unit (DHDS)
1.) Introduction :
The DHDS Unit is set up to reduce sulphur content in the
diesel and produce diesel with 250ppm sulphur. However
as per the design of this unit, it is capable of producing
diesel of purity as good as 50ppm sulphur content from a
diesel of 1.2% sulphur content.
Feed -
a. Straight Run gas oil
b. Vacuum Diesel
c. Vis-breaker gas oil
d. Light Cycle oil(LCO) from RFCCU
e. LCGO from DCU.
Capacity-
1. Capacity of the unit : 770,000 MTPA
2. Stream factor : 8000 hours per year,
3. Nameplate capacity: 700,000 MTPA.
We studied the whole process occurring in this unit in
three parts.
1. The feed section which describes the different units
from where DHDS receives diesel as the very feed of this
unit and how is it filtered, preheated (various heat
exchangers, furnace etc.) before it is sent to the reactor.
2. The reactor section; in this section we studied what
kind of reactors are engaged, what kind of catalysts are
used what are the operating temperatures and pressures of
the reactor, whether the reaction is endothermic or
exothermic etc.
3. The last but also an important one, the separation step
after which we get our desired product i.e.; sulphur free
diesel.
The DHDS unit is operated in two modes
FEED 1 MODE: to produce ultra-low sulphur diesel
(below 40wt ppm) during 80% of the time.
FEED 2 MODE: to produce low suphur diesel during
20% of the time. Catalysts used for desulphurization are
CoMo and NiMo.
 2.) Process Chemistry:
Desulphurisation Reaction:
Mercaptans, sulphides and disulphides react with
hydrogen to give corresponding saturated or aromatic
compounds and hydrogen disulphide,
These reactions are exothermic.
Examples- R-SH + H2 R-H + H2S
R-S-R + H2 2R-H + H2S
Other than desulphurisation reaction, other reactions such
as denitrification, hydrogenation of oxygenated
compounds, hydrogenation of olefins, demetalization are
also desirable and they do occur in the process along with
desulphurisation. The rate of hydrogenation of olefins is
the fastest and that of denitrification is slowest while the
rate of desulphurisation is somewhere between the two.
There are some undesirable reactions as well, which occur
in the process. Such processes are coking, hydrocracking.
Feed Section: Feed to this unit is diesel coming from
storage, CDU, VDU, FCCU, Vis-breaker units. It is
first passed through a feed prefilter. The feed filter is of
semiautomatic, self-cleaning, internal backwashing type
capable of removing solid particle of 25 microns or
 larger. The filter system consists of three banks of filter
elements that are configured and designed to back wash
sequentially and independently. During the filtration
cycle particulate matter collects on the filter material as
a result of which the differential pressure across the
system rises. The backwashing is generally required as
this differential pressure reaches 1kg/cm2. After pre-
filtering is done, the feed enters the feed surge drum (V-
101). The pressure in this feed surge drum is maintained
by split range pressure control using fuel gas. There are
two valves say V1 and V2. When the pressure increases
V1 is opened to release the gas and if the pressure
decreases V2 opens and pressurizes the surge drum. The
blend from this V-101 is kept at a pressure of 2.8-3
Kg/cm2 which is also the suction pressure of a
multistage pump (P-101) used to pump the feed. The
feed is pumped through a series of heat exchangers for
heat economy before entering into the reactor section.
The reactor feed is first allowed to exchange heat with
the reactor effluent, for which two heat exchangers
have been employed.
In the first Heat Exchanger: feed temperature is raised
from 450C to 2350C.
In the second Heat Exchanger: it is further raised to
2750C.
The reactor effluent is split into two streams, one is fed to
the tube side of Heat exchanger employed to preheat the
stripper feed. And the second one is fed to the 2nd reactor
feed-effluent heat exchanger. After this the tube side
outlet stream of these two heat exchangers is fed into the
tube side of 1st reactor feed-effluent heat exchanger.
For final heating of the reactor, a vertical cylindrical type
fired heater with radiation, convection and air preheater
section is employed. It has four burners installed on the
floor of the heater, and they are provided with self-
inspiriting continuously burning gas pilots. The burner has
two combustion zones: Primary (gas is fired at sub
stoichiometric air levels) and Secondary (combustion is
completed here). The heating of the feed is mainly done by
radiation so that heating is done without damaging the
feed carrying pipe material. The fuel gas/oil train have
strainers and control valves to regulate gas flow to the
burner. Combustion air is supplied by two forced draft
fans. Air preheater is provided above convection section.
Combustion air is passed through the coils to preheat the
same. This ensures the heater economy and also stabilizes
the flame in the burner. Thermocouples are provided across
the length for measuring the temperature in fired heater.
Draft gauges are provided for pressure measurement at
burner level in the area above and below the damper.
Decoking of tubes needs to be done when coke build up
occurs to very high temperatures inside the tube.
The Reactor Section: The feed from the furnace is fed to
the 1st HDS reactor (RB-101). Desulphurization
reactions take place leading to H2S formation and
hydrogen consumption. Denitrification reaction takes
place and leads to ammonia formation and hydrogen
consumption.
The reactor RB-101 consists of two catalytic beds in
series. The bed consists of support grid on which alumina
balls distributed, and the catalyst is uniformly loaded on
the support.
Since the HDS reaction is exothermic the fluid
temperature reaches very high and thus the equilibrium
point reduces. Therefore it is required to bring the
temperature down in between. For this purpose hydrogen
quench is introduced between the two catalyst beds.
Then there is a second reactor which is same as the first
but it has only one bed. The reason why first reactor has
been equipped with two beds is because most of the
reaction occurs in the first reactor and the sulphur present
in the diesel reduces the catalyst activity. Splitting the
catalyst into two beds can help for easy replacement of the
catalyst (when it loses its activity) as well as lesser
amount of catalyst that is to be replaced. Also ammonia
injection facility is provided at reactor outlet for catalyst
regeneration. Bed pressure drops temperature profile is
326-3730C. The reactor pressure profile is 56.6 to 60
Kg/cm2. The reactor effluents are then sent to the heat
exchangers for heat recovery.
Compressor Section:
Recycle Gas Compressor: An increase in hydrogen
partial pressure results in decrease of coke deposits on
the catalyst. The hydro-treatment reaction can be
enhanced. Hence, to maintain adequate level of
hydrogen partial pressure at each point in the reactor,
Recycle Gas Compressor is used. The recycle gas comes
from H.P.Amine absorber after removal of H2S. RCG
is a steam turbine driven centrifugal type two stage
compressor which develops pressure of 49.4 to 70.1
kg/cm2 .
 Makeup Hydrogen Compressor

Separation Section: Reactor effluent from feed-effluent

heat exchanger enters the air cooler, where it is cooled
down to 58.70C. It is further cooled to 39.20C in water
trim cooler and then it is collected in cold separator. In
the cold separator it separates into sour gas, sour water
and hydrocarbon liquid.
The sour gas (H2S, H2 and lighter hydrocarbons) sent to
H.P. Amine absorber section. Here the gas is washed by
lean amine entering from the top of the column. H2S from
the gas gets absorbed in lean amine. The nearly H2S free
gas is recycled back to recycle K.O. drum.
The hydrocarbon phase is sent to stripping section where it
is stripped using M.P. steam and thus lighter H.C. and
H2S are removed as a top product. The top product so
obtained is sent to L.P. Amine absorber to recover H2
from the mixture. The H.C. liquid is collected at the
bottom section of the stripper and it is cooled. The hydro-
treated diesel after being cooled down is passed through a
coalescer pre-filter to remove all the remaining water out
of the diesel, and we get our final product i.e., the ultra-
low sulphur content diesel.

3.) Process Optimization

a. Backwash in filters
b. Preheating of feed with the product.
c. Quenching.
 Continuous Catalytic Reforming Unit
(CCRU)

1.) Objective: The objective of this unit is Octanizing the

process, i.e. to produce a high octane number reformates
which is a main component of the gasoline pool and a
hydrogen rich gas.

2.) Introduction :The feed to this unit is either straight run

naphtha or cracked naphtha mixed with straight run
naphtha. A rich hydrogen gas (90% purity) and LPG are
obtained as valuable byproducts. The reformer can also be
run for production of reformate rich in BTX Benzene,
Toluene, and xylenes. Due to the presence of contaminants
in naphtha, it is first hydrotreated and then fed to
catalytic reforming unit. This process is based on Axens
licensed technology. It includes three sections:
a. NHT section: Naphtha Hydrotreating Section, in which
the main aim is to remove contaminants like sulphur
(0.5 ppm max), nitrogen (0.5 ppm max), water (4 ppm
max) from the feed. 2.
b. The Naphtha Catalytic Reformer : which includes
reactors, heaters, effluent recovery and stabilization
 section and its main aim is to increase the octane
number of the process.
c. The catalyst recirculation and continuous regeneration
which involves solid handling and moving bed
technology. It eliminates the need for shutdown for
regeneration of the fixed bed reformers. It also
minimises the amount of catalyst in the unit, while
allowing high reformates yield and quality.
3.) Naphtha Hydrotreating: The purpose of the Naphtha
Hydrotreating unit is to produce a clean
desulphurized Naphtha for feeding the Catalytic
Reforming unit. Impurities such as sulphur, nitrogen,
halogens, diolefins, olefins, arsenic, mercury and other
metals are poisonous to the reforming catalyst and
therefore must be removed.

The main reactions: a. hydrodesulphurization

b. hydrodenitrification reactions
These are carried out in a fixed bed axial reactor in the
presence of hydrogen. The hydrotreating feed is a mixture
of straight run naphtha, hydrocracked naphtha. Recycle
H2 is mixed with the feed prior to its entry to the reactor.
The major contaminants like S, N, O are converted to
H2S, NH3 and H2O respectively in the hydrotreating
 reactor. The liquid product from the reactor is then
stripped to remove H2S, water, NH3 and light
hydrocarbons in a stripper column. The hydrotreated
naphtha from the stripper end is then directly fed to the
Reforming Section.
Catalytic Reforming

4.) Plant Capacity:

Capacity of the reforming unit : 0.64 MMTPA,
Stream factor : 8000 h/yr.

5.) Reaction Kinetics: Naphtha feed to a CCR unit typically

contains C6 to C11 paraffins, napthenes, and aromatics.
The purpose of this reforming unit is to produce high
octane aromatics from napthenes and paraffins either for
use as a high octane blending component as in the case or
as a source of specific aromatic compounds.
Naphthenes convert rapidly and efficiently to aromatics.
Paraffins do not under go conversion easily, requiring
higher severity conditions and even the conversion is slow
and inefficient.
In this process, conversion is achieved by passing naphtha
over a slow moving bimetallic catalyst bed in adiabatic
 reactor, in the presence of hydrogen at relatively high
temperatures and low pressure.
The rate of catalyst withdrawal and regeneration ensures
a consistently high active catalyst with a low carbon
content and controlled chloride/water contents. This
maximises yields of both reformate and H2 rich gas.

6.) Thermodynamics V/s Kinetics : For any chemical reaction

the thermodynamics dictates the possibility of its
occurance and the amount of products and unconverted
reactants. Thermodynamics does not mention the time
required to reach the equilibrium or the full completion of
the reaction.
Kinetics discuss the rate of the chemical reaction. Rate of
the reaction is dependent upon operating conditions but
can be widely modified through the use of properly
selected catalayst.
Therefore, thermodynamics dictates the ultimate
equilibrium composition assuming time is infinite.
Kinetics enables to forecast the composition after a finite
time. Since time is always limited, when reactions are
concurrent kinetics is generally predominant.
7.) Fundamental Reactions : The fundamental reactions can
be split into two parts:
- Positive reactions: which lead to an increase in octane
number, i.e. reactions which we wish to promote.
-Negative reactions: which not only can lead to an octane
reduction but also a loss in reformate yield, i.e. reactions
we wish to avoid.
a.) Positive Reactions
1. Dehydrogenation of naphthenes This reaction is rapid
and very endothermic. It is promoted by the metal catalyst
function and is favoured by high temperature and low
pressure. Naphthenes are obvikosuly the most desirable
feed components because in addition to being easy to
promote they produce by-product hydrogen as well as the
aromatic hydrocarbon.
2. Isomerization of paraffins and naphthenes (a) Paraffin
isomerization occurs readily in reforming reaction. This
reaction leads to an increase in octane when rearranging
to the corresponding branched isomer (b) The isomerization
of a cyclopentane to a cyclohexane must occur as the first
step in converting the C5 naphthene to an aromatic. 3.
Paraffin dehydrocyclization It is the most difficult
reforming reaction to promote. It requires a difficult
molecular rearrangement from paraffin to a naphthalene.
This reaction leads to a significant increase in octane
number. It is very endothermic and due to its relative low
rate, operating conditions must be more severe for this
reaction to occur, resulting in increased coke formation

b.) Negative Reactions

1. Hydrocracking Due to difficulty in ring formations and
isomerization reactions that the alkylcyclopentanes and
paraffins must undergo coupled with the acid function of
the catalyst, the possibility of acid-promoted
hydrocracking reactions occurring is very strong.
2. Dealkylation This reaction is metal catalysed and also
favoured by high temperatures and high pressure does not
improve the overall octane number of the reformate and it
consumes hydrogen.
3. Dismutation This reaction has little or no influence on
the octane number of the reformate. As it leads to heavier
molecules, the end point of the reformate stream may
increase. The higher molecular weight hydrocarbon also
have a higher tendency to coke.
 Thermal Power Station
(TPS)

The thermal power station of IOCL refinery generates

power for all fulfilling all power requirements of the
refinery and township as well. It has several parts which
we will discuss soon. The major inputs of a TPS unit:
WATER Fuel oil Coal
Functional Description: The thermal power station burns
fuel and uses the resultant to make steam, which derives
the turbo generator. The pressure energy of the steam
produced is converted to mechanical energy with the help
of turbine. The mechanical energy is fed to the generator
where the magnet rotate inside a set of stator winding
and thus electricity is produced.

Schematic of a Thermal Power Plant :

Different equipment that are used in TPS
1. Boiler: It is a device for producing steam. There are two
types of boilers.
a. Fire tube boiler
b. Water tube boiler Here boiler used is of water type.
In the boiler, heat energy transfer takes pace through the
walls and drum. The gases lose their heat to water in the
boiler.
2. Turbine Generator: Turbine is form of heat engine in
which available heat energy in the form of steam is
converted into kinetic energy to rotate the turbine by
steam expansion. In the TPS unit of IOCL refinery there
are five huge turbine generators.
It consists of three stages: high pressure, intermediate
pressure and low pressure. The shaft is coupled with
generator. The generator converts the kinetic energy of the
rotating shaft to electric energy. Condenser: In condenser,
the water passes through various tubes and steam passes
through a chamber containing large number of tubes. The
steam gets converted to water droplets, when steam comes
in contact with water tubes. The condensate is used again
in boiler as it is dematerialized water which was in tubes,
during process of condensation. This water is sent to
cooling tower.
3. Cooling Towers: It is a high cylindrical structure
designed to cool water by natural draught. The cross
section area is less at the centre just to create low pressure
so that the air can lift up due to natural draught and can
carry heat from water drops. The upper portion is also
diverging for increasing the efficiency of cooling tower.
4. Water Clarifier: It receives impure water from raw
water storage. In raw water storage big suspended
particles settle down.
CANAL RAW WATER STORAGE LAKE
WATER CLARIFIER
In water clarifier the purification of raw water is done in
two processes.
a. Coagulation: in coagulation potash alum is added in the
water. In this process suspended and colloidal particles are
removed.
b. Chlorination: chlorine is added to the water which
have disinfectant action and it kills the harmful
bacterias, germs and destroyed the pathogenic microbes.

5. Valves: A valve is a device that regulates, directs or

controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids,
or slurries) by opening, closing or partially obstructing
various passages. In an open valve, fluid flows from
higher pressure to lower pressure.
Valves used in IOCL Refinery:
a. Gate Valve: gate valves are ideally suited for on/off
services. A gate valve functions by lifting a rectangular or
circular gate out of the path of the fluid. When the valve
is fully open, gate valves are full bore, meaning there is
nothing to obstruct the flow because the gate and pipeline
diameter have same opening. But gate valves do have low
pressure limitations, and are not optimal in applications
that require cleanliness.
They are excellent for use anywhere a shutoff valve is
needed. They are designed to minimize pressure drop
across the valve in fully opened position and stop the flow
of fluid completely.
b.Globe Valve: Globe valves were spherical in earlier
times which gave them their name, but modern globe
valves are not necessarily spherical. They are used for
applications requiring throttling and frequent operation.
C. Non Return Valve: It is a valve that normally allows
fluid to flow through it in only one direction. They are
two port valves, one for fluid to enter and the other for
fluid to leave. They work automatically and most are not
controlled by a person or any external control. An
important concept in these valves is the cracking pressure
which is the minimum upstream pressure at which the
valve will operate.
d. Butterfly Valve: The butterfly valve offers many
advantages that include quarter turn, openness for less
plugging and good control capabilities. Both manual and
control version are used. A butterfly valve is a flow
control device that incorporates a rotational disk to
control the flowing media in a process. The disk is always
in the passageway, but because it is relatively thin, it
offers little resistance to flow.

8.) Process Optimization:

a. ) Recontacting
b. ) Reuse of H2
c. ) Preheating of inlet with outlet.
d. ) Steam generation through high temperature gas.
EQUPIMENTS USED IN REFINERY
Broadly two types of equipments are used in refinery
1. Stationary equipments: They are not in motion and
remain at their position. Example : pipes, column, valves,
heat exchangers, vessels, drum.
2. Rotary equipments: They are in motion. Examples:
pumps, compressors.

A. Pumps : Pump is a device which adds the energy of

a liquid or gas causing an increase in its pressure
and perhaps a movement of the fluid. There are
many forms of energy, but when pumps are being
considered, use can be made of the energy equation
as follows. A simple pumping system consists of a
suction branch, a pump and a discharge branch.
a. Characteristics of a Pump-
1. For circulation of water
2. For pumping the fluid (petrol, diesel, crude oil, etc) in
reactor columns at high pressure
3. For the storage in the fluid tanks
4. For sending the fluid to the filling stations
5. For sending the crude from storage tanks to the
processing units
b. Types of Pumps-
1. Rotary pump/ centrifugal pump: Like most pumps, a
centrifugal pump converts mechanical energy from a motor
to energy of a moving fluid. A portion of the energy goes
into kinetic energy of the fluid. Fluid enters axially
through the eye of the casting, is caught up in the impeller
blades, and is whirled tangentially and radially outward
until it leaves through all circumferential parts of the
impeller into the diffuser part of the casting. The fluid
gains both velocity and pressure while passing through the
impeller.
2. Positive displacement pump A positive displacement
pump makes a fluid move by trapping a fixed amount and
forcing (displacing) that trapped volume into the discharge
pipe. Some positive displacement pumps use an expanding
cavity on the suction side and a decreasing cavity on the
discharge side. Liquid flows into the pump as the cavity
on the suction side expands and the liquid flows out of the
discharge as the cavity collapses. The volume is through
each cycle of operation. They are commonly referred to as
constant volume pumps.
B.) HEAT EXCHANGER
A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment built for efficient
heat transfer from one medium to another. The media may
be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may
be in direct contact. They are widely used in space heating,
refrigeration, air conditioning, power plants, chemical
plants, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, natural
gas processing, and sewage treatment. The classic example
of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion
engine in which a circulating fluid known as engine
coolant flows through radiator coils and air flows past the
coils, which cools the coolant and heats the incoming air.
a. Types of heat exchangers -
1. Cross flow heat exchanger In compact heat exchangers,
the two fluids usually move perpendicular to each other
and such flow configuration is called crossflow. There are
further two types of cross flow heat exchangers a.
Unmixed Flow b. Mixed Flow
2. Shell and Tube heat exchanger Shell and tube heat
exchangers contain a large number of tubes packed in a
shell with their axes parallel to that of the shell. Baffles
are commonly placed in the shell side fluid to flow across
the shell to enhance heat transfer and to maintain uniform
spacing between the tubes.
c. Application for cross and parallel flows
1. Cross flow
(a) Larger effective LMTD
(b) Greater potential energy recovery
The advantage of the larger LMTD, is that it permits a
smaller heat exchanger area, for a given heat transfer. This
would normally be expected to result in smaller, less
expensive equipment for a given application.
2. Parallel flow
(a) Where the high initial heating rate may be used to
advantage
(b) Where it is required that the temperature developed at
the tube walls are moderate
In heating very viscous fluids, parallel flow provides for
rapid initial heating and consequent decrease in fluid
viscocity and reduction in pumping requirement. In
applications where moderation of the tube wall
temperatures is required, parallel flow results in cooler
walls. This is especially beneficial in cases where the tubes
are sensitive to fouling effects which are aggravated by
high temperature.
d. Use of heat exchanger in IOCL Panipat Refinery
1. Condensation of solvents and multiple material
mixtures
2. Cooling/heating of reactors and production containers
3. Cooling and heating of intermediate products
4. Cooling of hydrocarbons
5. Cooling of water circuits
6. Benzene heat recovery
7. Heat recovery within petrochemical processes

C.) Gas Compressors

A gas compressor is a mechanical device that increases the
pressure of a gas by reducing its volume. An air compressor
is a specific type of gas compressor. Compressors are
similar to pumps; both increase the pressure on a fluid and
both transport the fluid through a pipe. As gases are
compressible, the compressor also reduces the volume of a
gas. Liquids are relatively incompressible; while some can
be compressed, the main action of a pump is to pressurize
and transport liquids.
a. Types of Compressors -
(a) Centrifugal compressors Use a rotating disk or impeller
in a shaped housing to force the gas to the rim of the
impeller, increasing the velocity of the gas. A diffuser
(divergent duct) section converts the velocity energy to
pressure energy. They are primarily used for continuous,
stationary service in industries such as oil refineries,
chemical and petrochemical plants and natural gas
processing plants. Their application can be from 100 HP
to thousands of HP. With multiple staging, they can
achieve high output pressure greater than 69MPa.
Two stage compressor is used for highly compressible gas
for getting high pressure at the exit. In the IOCL Panipat
Refinery, the WGC is used for the compression of LPG
which is compressed in two stage having very high
compression ratio in each stage. WGC is working on the
principle of centrifugal action. It contains 6 impellers, 3
for each stage compression.
(b) Positive displacement compressor Positive displacement
compresssors work by forcing air into a chamber whose
volume is decreased to compress the air. It is further of
two types: 1. Single acting It means the air drawn in and
compressed on one side of the piston. The other side is
exposed to the crankcase of the compressor. In this the
downward stroke of the piston draws the air in, and
upward stroke compresses it. 2. Double acting
Compressors have the compression chamber on both sides
of the piston. On down stroke air is drawn in on the top
of the piston while air is compressed on the bottom side.
On the upstroke air is drawn into the bottom side while
the air is compressed on the top side. Double acting
machines require sealing of the piston rod so a crosshead is
used to eliminate thee angular element of the rod.
(c) Reciprocating compressor A reciprocating compressor or
piston compressor is a positive displacement compressor
thar uses pistons driven by a crank shaft to deliver gases
at high pressure. The intake gas enters the suction
manifold, then flows into the compression cylinder where
it gets compressed by a piston driven in a reciprocating
motion via a crankshaft, and is then discharged.
b. Application include oil refineries, gas pipelines,
chemical plants, natural gas processing plants and
refrigeration plants.
Heat Exchanger Design 102 A/B DHDS
Unit (Project-1)
 Tuning of controller
( Project 2 )

Q. A typical response of a PID controller is given. It is observed that

the overshoot and time to achieve set point is much higher than
desired. Production engineer/ Instrument engineer is supposed to
tune the controller. Which parameter will be proposed to change
and how?