A crude distillation unit (CDU) is central to an oil refinery. Refiners face numerous challenges affecting their businesses. Volatile crude oil prices and changing environmental regulations add up to the size and complexity of the problem. Equipment breakdown has become a normal routine in the day-to-day refinery operations. These scenarios call for the need of plant optimization to improve revenues and to reduce operational costs simultaneously. A systematic method involving selection of the significant process variables is a way forward to tackle this problem. Taguchi and response surface...

A Condensate Fractionation Unit (CFU) converts condensate feedstock into a range of refined products such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), petrochemical naphtha, kerosene and diesel. Due to the emergence of new technologies, more stringent product quality requirements, and new environmental regulations and standards, refineries are increasingly compelled to operate within tighter constraints in a more dynamic way. These scenarios force refinery to optimize its production and unit operations reliability whilst reducing operational losses and conserving energy. This book discusses the...