Effects of Sampling Conditions on Composition and Emission Characteristics of Volatile Organic Compounds in Process Units from Different Refineries

This study investigates the effects of sampling conditions on volatile organic compound(VOC)compositions including different flow restrictors,SUMMA volumes,sampling heights,and wind speeds.Results show that at the six sampling heights the concentrations of main VOC species were slightly different,while the wind speed had a greater impact on the VOC composition of source profiles.With the increase of wind speed,the weighted percentage of high-carbon aromatic hydrocarbons was higher.Besides,there was an extremely different profile between the normal production and shutdown conditions of the delayed coking unit.To compare the emission characteristics of VOCs in various process units of the S and the C refineries,the samples were collected from the catalytic cracking unit,the continuous catalytic reforming unit,and the delayed coking unit.In the continuous catalytic reforming unit,C3-C5 alkanes and low-carbon aromatic hydrocarbons were the main components collected from the S and the C refineries,accounting for 67.1%and 34.9%,respectively.For the delayed coking unit,the total weighted percentage of high carbon C6-C12 alkanes was significantly higher than other units in the S and the C refineries,accounting for 30.5%and 24.4%,respectively.In the catalytic cracking unit,the low-carbon C2-C5 alkanes were abundant,and the weighted percentage of propylene was higher.The emission characteristics obtained were consistent with the processing technology of production units.The results indicate that the VOC emission characteristics from the same production unit in different refineries have similarities and significant differences which are related to the technological process.The emission characteristics of VOCs could provide the data support for source apportionment work in the production units.

Techno-Economic Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment for the Typical Intermediate Crude Refining Scheme in China

The integration of refinery and petrochemical units(IRPUs)has become an inevitable choice for the sustainable development of petrochemical industry.The utilization efficiency of petroleum resources could be improved obviously through IRPUs.However,integrating economic and environmental impacts into the model of IRPUs is still a grand challenge.Herein,a model called TEA-GHG-OPWM(Techno-Economic Analysis and GreenHouse Gases Oriented Plant-Wide Model)has been established on Aspen HYSYSTM platform to calculate the energy consumption,the technoeconomic performance,and the GHG emissions for two different kinds of schemes,viz,:VRHCU(Vacuum Residue Hydrocracking Unit)and VRDS-RFCC(Vacuum Residue Desulfurization and Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracking).Furthermore,a novel processing pathway named VGOHDT-HTMP-DC(Vacuum Gas Oil Hydrotreating,Hydrogenation and TMP coupling process and Delayed Coking)has also been developed to find methods to improve the economic performance based on a ten-million-CNY output value(TMYOV)and a reduced GHG emissions.Our results demonstrate that VRHCRU could consume more energy and emit more GHG(877.11 t of CO2 eq·TMYOV^-1·h^-1)than VRDS-RFCC(817.03 t of CO2 eq·TMYOV^-1·h^-1)and VGOHDT-HTMP-DC(721.96 t of CO2 eq·TMYOV^-1·h^-1),while obtaining a higher mass yield of petrochemicals.The VGOHDT-HTMP-DC process exhibits the lowest feedstock consumption,hydrogen consumption,energy consumption,and GHG emissions,indicating that VGOHDT-HTMP-DC has both well economic and environmentally friendly performance.

Numerical Study of Air Nozzles on Mild Combustion for Application to Forward Flow Furnace

An attempt was made to extend mild combustion to forward flow furnace, such as the refinery and petrochemical tube furnace. Three dimensional numerical simulation was carried out to study the performance of this furnace. The Eddy Dissipation Concept(EDC) model coupled with the reaction mechanism DRM-19 was used. The prediction showed a good agreement with the measurement. The effect of air nozzle circle(D), air nozzle diameter(d), air nozzle number(N), and air preheating temperature(Tair) on the flow, temperature and species fields, and the CO and NO emissions was investigated. The results indicate that there are four zones in the furnace, viz.: a central jet zone, an ignition zone, a combustion reaction zone, and a flue gas zone, according to the distribution profiles of H_2 CO and OH. The central jet entrains more flue gas in the furnace upstream with an increasing D while the effect of D is negligible in the downstream. The air jet momentum increases with a decreasing d or an increasing Tair, and entrains more flue gas. The effect of N is mainly identified near the burner exit. More heat is absorbed in the radiant section and less heat is discharged to the atmosphere with a decreasing d and an increasing N as evidenced by the flue gas temperature. The CO and NO emissions are less than 50 μL/L and 10 μL/L, respectively, in most of conditions.