Ethylene Unit Operation Management Concepts

Jeff Gray jeffngray@hotmail.com Karl Kolmetz kkolmetz@yahoo.com Chee M Tham k95tcm@tm.net.my

Ethylene Unit Operation Management Concepts

1. Current Views A. B. 2. Market Outlook Expansions

Ethylene Plant Overall Economics A. B. C. General Investment Plant Capacity You versus the Industry

3.

Follow The Money A. Where the Money is Made B. Where the Money is Spent C. Where the Money is Lost

4.

Engineering Based Human Resources A. Wages versus Productivity

5.

Effective Management A. B. C. Time Management Set up the Correct Atmosphere Details are Important

1.

Current Views
Almost every aspect of life has a time cycle. The Chinese speak of twelve-year cycles and others speak of seven-year cycles. Your health, finances, employment, and relationships move in time cycles. Financial Markets, of which the ethylene market is a member, also move in time cycles. From 1992 to 1996 were good years, 1998 to the present have not been good. Projections are that 2002 onward may be good years. Because our competitors are constantly improving, Titan must also constantly improve. There are several changes that are presently occurring in the Petrochemical Industry due to the fact that the products are becoming worldbased commodities. The first change is that technology is improving. The size of plants is increasing helping reduce unit cost. The current energy usage is 40% of original plants. New furnace technology has improved yields. A mature industry typically reduces production cost 3% per year, as shown in the energy reduction. The second change is how we operate our plants. Today the requirements are that we maintain higher environmental and safety standards. Our operators are the keys to meeting the levels of consistency that are required to be competitive. Information Management is essential for the organization to have the right information to the right people at the right time. The third change in the Petrochemical Industry is the Corporate Structural Changes. In the past two years we have seen many mergers and acquisitions resulting in improved Corporate Structural efficiency. Forty percent of the world ethylene capacity is now from 10 producers. This improves the experience curve of producers. If you have five ethylene plants; some of the majors may have twenty ethylene plants giving them an experience advantage. The driving forces for these changes are that petrochemicals are now world commodities, therefore world competitive performance is required.

A.

Market Outlook
Short Term Price Factors Inventory movement Plant outages Change in major feedstock price Anticipation of new capacity Seasonal expectations Market psychology

Long Term Price Factors Cost of production Economic cycle Technology Regional trade balances

Profitably is the Goal, not Price The goal of being in any business is to make a profit If a profit is not made, costs cannot be paid and eventually, in a free market, the business fails A measure of profitability in the petrochemicals business is the cash margin Cash margin is defined as the difference between price and cash costs

B.

Current Expansions

2.

Ethylene Plant Economics

A. General Investment

A 300 KTA would cost on the order of US$300 Million. If this money were placed in a bank you could expect to receive about 6% interest with no risk. If an investment were at risk, normally you would expect a higher return, above 10%. Because the chemical business is cyclical, as are most things in life, some years are good and some years are not so good. Year 1 2 3 4 Total At 6% 1.8 Million 1.8 Million 1.8 Million 1.8 Million 7.2 Million At 10% 3.0 Million 3.0 Million 3.0 Million 3.0 Million 12.0 Million Varies 1.8 Million 0.5 Million 2.4 Million 6.0 Million 10.7 Million

Even with the good year of 6.0 Million the total is below the 10% return of 12 Million. This shows that when the market is good, you need to get very good returns because the lean times are comings. It is not sufficient to just make money in the good markets alone. B. Plant Capacity

Each part of the plant has a guarantee of performance with an associated monetary penalty if the guarantee is not met. Therefore the vendors design their portion of the plant with a safety margin, typically of 10%. In some areas Process Designers only used 5%, but most other vendors used 10%. This means that the pumps, compressors, towers, and heat exchangers are all rated for 115.5%. The cooling tower is rated for 10% above the heat exchangers and should be designed for 127%. Many plants can process 120% because the main vendor used a 10% safety factor.

3.

Follow the Money

A. Where is the Money Made? B. Where is the Money Spent? C. Where is the Money Lost?

There is a saying in politics, Follow the Money, which is also true in most organizations. The first thing you should do, as a manager, is survey to see where the money is made, and where the money is spent. Many managers only look at where the money is spent and try to cut total cost. Reviewing cost is a major function of a manager. Remember; if an expenditure is making money, it is not a cost. A 10% cut in expenditures in all areas normally results in less money being generated. Example - A cost cutting program in an ethylene plant of a multi-national corporation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana resulted in the plant going from US$10 million per month in profit to break even. They decided to raise the suction pressure of the cracked gas machine to save steam cost. The yield of ethylene went down and plant lost money. Any time we do not make the money that we are capable of that is money lost. Many managers are confused in what is the objective of an operating plant. Many think that the object of the plant is to produce x tons of plant product. The true objective of the plant is to make money. We are only using the plant as a vehicle to obtain our true objective. This knowledge will often change how we will run the plant. Not every time is maximum rate of product equal to the maximum profit. The two largest expenditures in an Ethylene Plant are the feed and fuel. These two items account for 90% of the total operating cost. Therefore the main way to reduce cost in an ethylene plant is to reduce these two items. Improve the recovery of products from your feed at a lower fuel cost. A. Where the money is made in an Ethylene Plant?

Where the money is made in an ethylene plant is the production of ethylene and propylene. Generally, these two high value products should be maximized. Sometimes energy savings and profit are inversely related. On a simple basis product yield is; C2H6 = C2H4 + H2 , and remember the reaction can go each way.

An overall correlation of how the plant is performing is the olefin to naphtha ratio. The lower this number the lower feed stock cost.

Things that effect the yield of ethylene and propylene are; A. Proper Feedstock Selection

Feed stocks are chosen based on the ratio of their components. The better-feed stocks have a high paraffin composition. Each feedstock has a landed cost, which is the cost to reach the dock, and has a yield profile from which a dollar value of each feedstock can be generated. The landed cost minus the yield value is called the Net Feedstock Cost. B. Proper Reaction Temperature COT Reaction Temperature should be chosen on the basis of high value products. Low reaction temperature lead to low yields. High reaction temperatures lead to low yields due to the recombination of ethylene and propylene to by products such as Py Gas and Fuel Oil. For each one degree C we are away from the optimum Coil Outlet Temperature we lose opportunity dollars. The further we are away the larger the difference. For each ton of feed, if we are 5 degrees away from the optimum we lose US $1.00 per hour and US $8,000 per year. For our feed rates, which are 191 tons per hour, this is US $1,528,000 per year.

Effect Of Coil Outlet Temperature

Severity COT Hydrogen Fuel Gas Ethylene Propylene Py Gas Fuel Oil Yield Value 1.42 800.00 0.00 0.20 0.36 0.22 0.19 0.04 358.16 1.31 810.00 0.00 0.20 0.37 0.21 0.17 0.04 360.95 1.20 820.00 0.00 0.21 0.38 0.20 0.16 0.04 362.43 1.09 830.00 0.00 0.22 0.39 0.19 0.16 0.04 362.86 0.99 840.00 0.00 0.22 0.39 0.18 0.16 0.04 362.50 0.90 850.00 0.00 0.23 0.40 0.17 0.16 0.04 361.61 0.82 860.00 0.00 0.23 0.40 0.16 0.16 0.04 360.44

Effect Of Coil Outlet Temperature

45.0% $364

40.0% $363 35.0% $362 30.0% $361

25.0%

20.0%

$360

15.0% $359 10.0% $358 5.0%

0.0%

$357

790

800
PyGas

810

820
Fuel Gas Fuel Oil

830

840
Ethylene

850

860
Propylene

870

Hydrogen

Yield Value

C.

Reduce Reaction Pressure CGC Suction Pressure

Because we are going from one feed to two products, reaction pressure should be low to favor the production of the two products. When we wish to go from two feeds to one product, as in the Acetylene Converters, high pressure is wanted to shift the process to the smaller volume. For each 0.1 kg/cm2 we lower the suction pressure the yield of the high value products improves. This 0.1 kg/cm2 drop equates to US $113.10 per hour and US $904,800 per year. There is more energy required in the compressor by lowering the suction pressure, but it is a small debit compared to the increase in yields.

Furnace Effect of CGC Suction Pressure

CGC Suction Pressure Ethylene Yield (%) Propylene Yield (%) HPG Yield (%) Fuel Gas Yield (%) Fuel Oil Yield (%) Ethylene + Propylene wt% Per ton of naphtha Potential Yield value Yield Value Loss USMM /yr 0.40 34.5 18.9 19.4 19.1 8.2 53.4 0.38 34.6 18.9 19.4 19.0 8.1 53.5 0.36 34.6 19.0 19.5 18.9 8.0 53.7 0.34 34.7 19.1 19.5 18.8 7.9 53.8 0.32 34.7 19.2 19.6 18.7 7.8 53.9 0.30 34.8 19.3 19.7 18.6 7.7 54.1

$350.53 $350.94 $351.35 $351.74 $352.11 $352.47 -$1.76 -$1.39 -$1.02 -$0.67 -$0.33

Effect of CGC Suction Pressure

54.2 $353

54.1 $353 54.0

53.9

$352

53.8 Yield $352 53.7

53.6

$351

53.5 $351 53.4

53.3 0.28 0.30 0.32 0.34 0.36 0.38 0.40 0.42

$350

CGC Suction Pressure, kg/cm2g

Ethylene + Propylene w t% Potential Yield value

D.

Reduce Concentration of Products Steam to Oil Ratio

Because the reaction can go each way, one way to shift the products is to reduce the ratio of products by adding an inert to dilute the system. In an ethylene plant the inert that is added is steam. By raising the steam to oil ratio the high value product yield can be increased. From the high load test data the increased value of going from 0.4 to 0.5 on was worth US $567.00 per hour and US $4,536,000 per year. Design SOR is 0.50 Furnace Effect of Steam to Oil Ratio from High Load Test Data SOR Ethylene Yield (%) Propylene Yield (%) HPG Yield (%) Fuel Gas Yield (%) Fuel Oil Yield (%) SEV (kcal/kgC2H4) Per ton of naphtha Yield value 0.4 37.9 18.48 13.06 21.19 9.37 5340 0.44 37.66 18.54 14.36 21.84 7.6 5516 0.46 39.7 19.17 15.19 20.83 5.11 5656 0.48 41.15 18.79 14.7 20.57 4.79 5610 0.5 39.35 18.82 16.02 20.48 5.33 5658

$ 356.50

$ 358.31

$ 367.39

$ 370.72

$ 365.74

Effect of Steam to Oil Ratio

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 0.38 $372 $370 $368 $366 $364 $362 $360 $358 $356 $354 0.4 0.42 0.44 SOR Ethylene Yield (%) Fuel Gas Yield (%) Propylene Yield (%) Fuel Oil Yield (%) HPG Yield (%) Yield value 0.46 0.48 0.5 0.52

Yield

B.

Where the money is spent in an Ethylene Plant?

The two largest expenditures in an Ethylene Plant are the feed and fuel. These two items account for 90% of the total operating cost. Therefore the main way to reduce cost in an ethylene plant is to reduce these two items. Improve the recovery of products from your feed at a lower fuel cost. There are several ways to reduce fuel cost. A. Proper Fuel Air Ratios in Furnaces and Boilers The proper fuel to air ratio in furnaces and boilers can reduce fuel consumption. Any excess air that is in the furnace has to be heated to the reaction temperature and them a portion of that heat is then vent out the stack. Typically furnaces should have about 4% excess O2, which could be based on a Nox limit, and boilers should have about 2% O2 air. Because air is 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen for each 1% excess O2 that is introduced to the furnace there is 4% excess N2. Both of excess components the are vented via the stack at 200 degrees C, greatly reducing the efficiency of the furnace. In our furnaces each 1% of excess air results in an energy loss of US $1.56 per hour or US $12,500.00 per year for each furnace. If we are running 6% high this equates to $75,000.00. B. Reduce Recycles 1. C2 And C3 Recycles Any excess C2 or C3 Recycles causes additional fuel to be utilized in the furnace, additional steam to be required in each of the three compressors along with loss of unit capacity. Not counting the unit capacity loss, the per ton energy loss is US$ 41.82 per hour or US$ 334,560.00 per year. 2. C4 Recycle Any excess C4 Recycle causes additional fuel to be utilized in the furnace, additional steam to be required in the CGC compressor

along with loss of unit capacity. Not counting the unit capacity loss, the per ton energy loss is US $33.36 per hour or US $266,876 per year.

3.

Off Test Re-treatment Any off test re-treatment causes additional steam to be required in each of the three compressors along with loss of unit capacity. Not counting the unit capacity loss, the per ton energy loss is US $10.29 per hour or US $83,000.00 per year. For year 2000 at 700 tons this was approximately US $5,800,000.00.

4.

BOG Re-treatment Any Boil Off Gas re-treatment from the Ethylene Storage Tanks causes additional steam to be required in each of the three compressors along with loss of unit capacity. Not counting the unit capacity loss, the per ton energy loss is US$ 10.29 per hour or US $83,000.00 per year. For year 2000 at two tons per hour, this was approximately US $166,000.00.

C.

Utilized Designed Energy Savings 1. Expander The expander is designed to reduce the ERC energy usage by 10%, which the energy gain for is US $21.90 per hour or US $175,200 per year. This is steam saving alone; it does not include any capacity gain, or the downgrade in value of the ethylene loss to fuel gas. 2. Proper Reflux Ratios An increased reflux ratio results in increased energy usage particularly where refrigeration is used for the cooling medium. A survey should be done on each system and the reflux ratio optimized. 3. Use higher level refrigeration when possible Higher levels of refrigeration are more economical. Maximize the use of higher levels when possible.

4.

Use steam extraction when possible The use of steam extraction to produce HP Steam reduces boiler loads. Using extraction versus the steam letdown stations, which uses attemperated water to reduce the temperature, is a direct energy gain.

5.

Steam work is from temperature Because the work from steam is from the temperature, minimize the effect of the attemperator value to their designed value. The designed value of SHP Steam is 500 degrees C. If the SHP Steam temperature is 495 degrees C this results in a loss of total ability to do work. This loss is US $5.66 per hour per furnace, which is US $45,280 per year per furnace.

C.

Where money is lost in an Ethylene Plant?

There are lost opportunity dollars in every plant. There is money that could be made but is not produced for a variety of reasons. In an ethylene plant there are several areas where lost opportunity dollars could be recovered. A. Product Down Grade 1. Py Gas to Fuel Oil Py Gas has a value of around US $250 per ton, whereas Fuel Oil has a value of around US $150 per ton. 2. Ethylene to Fuel Gas Ethylene has a value of around US $500 per ton, whereas Fuel Gas has a value of around US $250 per ton. 3. Fuel Gas to Flare Fuel Gas has a value of around US $250 per ton, whereas anything to the flare has no value. The flare tip is over one meter in diameter, therefore to be able to see a flame on the tip; it is approaching 2 tons per hour. B. Analyzer Reliability Many times the ability to optimize the plant is based on the reliability of your analyzers. This is one area where lost opportunity dollars can be

recovered. The analyzers should be calibrated on a scheduled basis with the product analyzers being calibrated more frequently. Lab samples have two functions. First is to confirm that you are meeting specifications. The second should be to daily check the analyzer. When the sample is caught the analyzer result should be recorded and when the lab sample results are returned they should be compared to the recorded analyzer results. If they are greater than a 1% absolute error the analyzer should be calibrated. C. Acetylene Reactors over Conversion Because the reaction can go each way; C2H6 = C2H4 + H2 , the Acetylene Reactors are where money can be made or lost. The goal is to convert acetylene to ethylene, which is a net monetary gain. It is possible to convert ethylene to ethane in the Acetylene Reactors if temperature is too high. The activation energy of acetylene is lower than the activation energy of ethylene and there is a temperature window in which the conversion of acetylene is possible without the conversion of ethylene. This temperature window is the desired operating range. This window increases with catalyst age but still exist at end of run conditions. Presently we are over converting on each cracker with an additional loss, above the expected or designed value, of ethylene of about 200 kg per hour, which is worth US $30.00 per hour and US $240,000.00 per year. D. Proper Product Concentration In most chemical plants there is a blending group to optimize product that the group sells. The motto of one blending group where one of the authors worked was, Just Good Enough. The goal of the blending group was to produce a product that just good enough to meet the sell specifications. For example the propylene product specification is 99.50%. To prevent an off specification scenario, it might be advisable to run at 99.60%, but this has an associated cost. If the purity is allowed to go up to 99.70% the cost is even greater. In an actual sense this is a loss of opportunity because propane could be sold at propylene prices and the propane recycle could be reduced. For each 0.1% of increased propylene purity the loss amounts to US $120,624.00 per year, which does not include the saving through reduced propane recycle. E. Capacity Gain

Several times the capacity gain loss has been mentioned. The value of one ton of capacity is US $150.00 per hour or US $1,2000,000 per year.

4.

Engineering Based Human Resources

There are always several types of people in any company and you try to motivate them to improve. One way to look at people is like this; Willing Able Not Able Not Willing

1 3

2 4

The type of employee that is wanted is category one. A person that is able to perform and will to perform. They are trained for the task and willing to safely perform the task. Many people fall into category two. The are trained for the task, but unwilling to perform without extra motivation. The third category is the most dangerous. The are not trained for the task, but more than willing to perform without knowing the consequences. The last group is the not able and not willing. Part of the reason they are not able is their unwillingness to learn. If this group cannot be motivated to improve they should be reduced in size. A. Wages verses Productivity

Many people worry about their rate of pay. They feel that they are underpaid. A good rule of thumb is that the company you work for should see three to five times your salary in improvements from you. If you are not producing at least your salary the company cannot afford to keep you no matter how low your rate of pay. If you are producing much higher than five times your salary, you will be noticed and your wage will be increased. If I am paid RM $4,000.00 per month and are producing RM $3,000.00 you are overpaid. If you are paid RM $40,000.00 per month and are producing $200,000.00 per month you are underpaid.

5.

Effective Management
A. Personal Time Management

One of the first tasks of any manager is to prioritize areas of importance. There are four types of task and we should analyze our tasks and determine in which category we are spending our time. Urgent Important Not Important Not Urgent

1 3

2 4

Category one items tend to take care of themselves. They are urgent and important. They are normally considered crisis. They can include major sickness to you or close family members, loss of employment, and relationship problems with family members. From an industrial viewpoint these include low productivity, which is loss of capital, high safety incidents and major accidents. Category two are important things, but not urgent. If these are neglected they become category one items. Your health is important but not urgent, neglect it and it will become urgent. Your ongoing education is important but not urgent, neglect it long enough you will be looking for new employment. You relationship with your family is important but not urgent, neglect it and you will be looking at a different lifestyle. From an industrial viewpoint these include safety programs, on the job training programs, and employee feedback. Neglect these items and they will move to category one. Category three is urgent but not important. They include answering the phone, listening to sale calls, attending unnecessary meetings, and excessive chatting with other friends and employees. Category four is not urgent and not important. They include simple things like

watching TV, playing computer and video games, surfing on the Internet and recreational reading. The problem for most people is that very little time is spent in category two and these items over time will turn into crisis. We need to analyze our time and reduce category three and four. B. Set up an Atmosphere where your Employees can perform

Often managers think that by working harder they can make a difference in the company. If a manger doubles his hours at work he has improved the company productivity by forty hours. If he has 20 employees and can improve their productivity by 10 hours per week, the next gain is 200 hours. It is more important to set up an atmosphere where your employees can perform, than for you to work 80 hours per week. Managers are the coaches, and the employees are the players. Often the managers think they are the players and this hurts the overall team effort. As a manager it is more important for you to remove obstacles from the field than to try to take the ball. Often in basketball when an individual record is set, the team looses the game. C. Details are Important

The small everyday tasks are very important. How we do the small task sets standard for the large task. How we make our rounds, fill out the daily log sheets, fill out the regeneration log sheets set a tone for how we do each job. If we insist the small day-to-day task are done, we can then expect the larger task to be completed correctly. For an operator to earn five times his salary he must find problems in the unit when they are small, before they become larger. To find a motor that is starting to have the bearings wear out and replace the bearings is a large cost saving compared to damaging the rotor and stator, which requires rebuilding the motor. To notice that the pressure profile around a strainer is increasing and to be able to plan the job on routine maintenance versus overtime maintenance is a cost savings. Here is a small list of important details. 1. Making a round to check the unit. An operator should check his area with a visual walk around every two hours. He should look at all of his pumps, all of his compressor, check the level in his Knock-Out Pots and other vessels.

2.

Within the first hour of shift he should report every level in his area to the boardman to compare the outside level with the level recorded on the board. Any differences should be recorded and major level difference should be calibrated. Checking a pump A. The first thing the operator should notice is the sound. After several days he should know what the normal motor and pump sound should be. Any change in the sound should be reported to his supervisor and the supervisor should have a mechanic review the pump. B. The second thing the operator should do is to place his hand on the motor to check the motor vibrations and temperature. Any change from normal should be reported. C. Next he should review each oil level and add as necessary. When a pump requires excess amounts of oil, it should be reported and repaired. D. He should review the pump seal and any leakage should be reported. E. He should review the barrier seal fluid, if applicable, and report if the color of the seal fluid changes.

3.

4.

Outside Readings Each outside operator should be required to take a set of readings each four hours for two reasons. The first is that you learn what the normal value should be. If you write a reading down on a sheet daily, you will learn what the average value should be, and are able to report any differences from the normal reading. Secondly, the operator has walked in all of his areas to collect the reading and should be able to report any abnormalities in his area. Regeneration, Decoking and other Log Sheets - This is one place where an operator can make many time their salary in cost savings. To properly regenerate a dryer or reactor, and decoke a furnace can return many times their salary. To insure that the procedure is corrected when needed, a record of the normal procedures need to be kept. If a procedure has a needed revision the record of the past several regenerations can be reviewed and corrections made to the procedure.

5.