Reactor Internals for Hydroprocessing Unit
H2Advance
Reactor Internals for Hydroprocessing Unit
An Optimized Quench Zone Design for a
Mixed-Phase Cocurrent Downflow
Fixed-Bed Reactor
H2Advance
Reactor Internals Components
• Inlet Diffuser
• Inlet Distributor
• Quench Zone including catalyst support,
quench distributor, quench mixing
chamber, flash tray, and re-distributor
• Outlet Collector
H2Advance
Reactor Internals
Objective: Maximizing Catalyst Utilization
• Distributor tray needs optimized
• Quench mixer needs to attain perfect
thermal equilibrium
• Quench zone height needs shortened
H2Advance
TSC Reactor Internals Portfolio
Refinery Unit
Process
Tesoro Golden Eagle
Hydrocracker
US refinery
Hydrocracker
US refinery
Hydrocracker
US refinery USA*
CHD (DHT)
Middle East Refinery*
Hydrocracker
Asia refinery
Lube Hydrocracker
US refinery
Isomerization Dewaxing
US refinery
Isomerization Dewaxing
Middle East Refinery
Octgain (FCC Gasoline HDT)
Bayernoil
CHD (DHT)
European refinery*
DHT
US refinery
Revamp HDC to DHT
US refinery
DDU (DHT)
US refinery
NHT (Naphtha Quench Zone)
US refinery
DDS (DHT)
US refinery
ISOM
US refinery
BOU (DHT)
US refinery
DHT
US refinery
Kero hydrotreater
US refinery
VGO hydrotreater
US refinery
Hydrocracker
Total
* designed but not implemented
Licensor
MAK
Mobil
Mobil
Mobil
MAK
Mobil
Mobil
Mobil
Mobil
H2Advance
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
Topsoe
# Distributor
15
10
5
3
6
10
1
1
3
3
3
3
2
3
6
2
2
1
1
2
82
# Quench Zones
12
8
4
2
4
8
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
49
H2Advance
Reactor Temperature Profile
Distributor / QZ
Performance
H2Advance
Tray (Distributor) Selection
• Low Sensitivity to Tray Unlevelness
• Low DP, Less Than 1 psi
• Good Spray Angle
• Dense Pack
• Easy Cleaning
H2Advance
Liquid Distributor Type
• Downcomer with one size orifice to fit all conditions
• Downcomer with wide angle spray pattern
• Well engineered downcomer (H2Advance)
• Vapor Lift with poor element coverage on tray
• Vapor Lift with max drip density on tray
H2Advance
U.S. Patent 4,126,540
Grosboll et al (ARCO)
H2Advance
U.S. Patent 6,098,965
Jacobs et al (Fluor)
Swirl Cap Distributor
H2Advance
Distributor tray: Downcomer with slots
H2Advance
Bubble-cap tray
H2Advance
Vapor Lift Tray
H2Advance
Uniformity of Flow Distribution
• H2Advance: Good spray angle with low
sensitivity to tray out-of-levelness
• vs. poor spray pattern and sensitive to tray outof-levelness
H2Advance
H2Advance Downcomer Tray:RX Area
Coverage
Downcomer Spray Covered Area
Fraction of RX Area Covered
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Tray to Inert Clearance, inch
H2Advance
Distributor Tray, H2Advance Design
H2Advance
Quench Zone Type
• Impingement Plate 1970 Unocal
• Improved Impingement Plate (Axens, PetroChina)
• Segregated Vapor/Liquid Mixer (Shell, Chevron)
• Mixed Phase Vortex Mixer (EM, UOP, Topsoe, H2Advance)
H2Advance
Impingement Plate Quench
H2Advance
Unocal 1970 Impingement Plate Quench box
US Patent 3,502,445
H2Advance
Unocal 1970 Impingement Plate Quench box
US Patent 3,502,445
H2Advance
PetroChina 2007 Upgrader
H2Advance
PetroChina 2007 Upgrader Internals
H2Advance
Segregated Vapor/Liquid Mixer
H2Advance
Chevron “Nautilus” Quench Internals 2001
H2Advance
Shell Quench Patent
H2Advance
Mixed Phase Vortex Mixer
H2Advance
Mobil Spider-Vortex
H2Advance
UOP Quench Internals
H2Advance
H2Advance Quench Internals 2006
US Patent 7,112,312
H2Advance
H2Advance: Quench Swirl Mixing Chamber
H2Advance
H2Advance: Effective Quench Mixer
• H2Advance: Swirl mixing chamber provides an
excellent thermal efficiency
• vs. competitor’s poor thermal equilibrium with
segregated vapor/liquid mixing
H2Advance
H2Advance: Compact Swirl Quench Zone Design
• Inert-to-inert height requirement: less than 4.5 ft
• vs. 5-7 ft required by competitors
• Integrated Quench Swirl Mixing Chamber and
Flash Tray: Compact Design
H2Advance
H2Advance: Compact Quench zone with
Reduced # of Manway
H2Advance
# of Manways per Quench Zone
• H2Advance design: 2 manways per quench zone
• Compared with 4 (+quench gas distributor)
• H2Advance: Use wedge pin for manway (not
nuts and bolts)
• Impact: shorten unit TAR time
H2Advance
H2Advance Example: Bayernoil ULSD
• Installed in 2002 (18ft ID 3-bed RX) for ULSD
• Resulted in a higher unit throughput (revamped
at 53,000 BPD)
• And longer than anticipated catalyst cycle
H2Advance
H2Advance
DHT Performance Post Revamp 2002
Radial Differential Temperature (Observed - Average)
Top-Inner C ircle
B ottom-Inner
B ottom-Outer C ircle
3
D elta T, deg. C
2
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
-1
-2
-3
Location in B ed 1
H2Advance
DHT Performance Post Revamp 2002
Radial Differential Temperature (Observed - Average)
Top-Inner Circle
Bottom-Inner
Bottom-Outer Circle
3
Delta T, deg. C
2
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
-1
-2
-3
Location in Bed 2
H2Advance
DHT Performance Post Revamp 2002
Radial Differential Temperature (Observed - Average)
Top-Inner Circle
Bottom-Inner
Bottom-Outer Circle
3
Delta T, deg. C
2
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
-1
-2
-3
Location in Bed 3
H2Advance
Internals Installation is important
Internals installation supervision to ensure good seal
And tray levelness
H2Advance
Well Designed Quench Box with poor
Distributor Installation(2010 DHT)
H2Advance
Poor Quench Zone Design (HDC 2002)
Radial T spread, F
Functional Quench Box?
800
790
780
770
760
750
740
730
720
0
1
2
3
4
5
Bed 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
H2Advance
Conclusions: State-of-the-art H2Advance Internals
• Distributor provides uniformity of flow
distribution
• Compact Design with excellent thermal
equilibrium that reduces capital investment; good
for revamp upgrading
• Min # of manways per Quench Zone
H2Advance