Q&A

(2019) Question 11: Where are your liquid-phase chloride treaters installed for reforming units? What are the advantages of each location?

BILL KOSTKA (AXENS NORTH AMERICA)
Liquid-phase Cl treaters are typically used in three locations for reforming units.

Treating the unstabilzed reformate stream provides several advantages. The stream is heated upstream of the stabilizer column which ensures that any ammonium chloride is

(2019) Question 14: What are your strategies to reduce alky acid consumption?

ABIGAIL SLATER (HollyFrontier)
The most impactful parameter affecting alky acid consumption is feed quality. Reducing feed contamination will greatly reduce acid consumption. There are also operational changes that can be made to reduce acid consumption, but the biggest impact will be feed

(2008) Is your company planning to install modified HF acid capability (usage of the volatility suppressing additive)? What are the incentives for doing this? What alternatives have you considered?

In March 2006, in our continuing effort to support safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation, we announced our plans to apply for a permit to independently initiate an alkylation process improvement project in our Philadelphia HF alkylation unit.

(2008) Question 70: How frequently do you have fires on reformer reactor flanges? What bolting techniques and gasket types do you use to prevent leaks? What other fixes, such as flange resurfacing, have you employed? Do you use steam ri

GRUBB (Chevron USA, Inc.) Chevron has had some experience with flange fires in the past, so I’ve consulted with Dave Reeves, our corporate expert and also our Best Practice that we’ve developed for this. I know that I said temporary fixes up on the slide, but it’s not really a temporary fix.

(2008) Question 71 Is your company planning to install modified HF acid capability (usage of the volatility suppressing additive)? What are the incentives for doing this? What alternatives have you considered?

METKA (Sunoco, Inc.) In March 2006, in our continuing effort to support safe, reliable, and environmentally sound operation, we announced our plans to apply for a permit to independently initiate an alkylation process improvement project in our Philadelphia HF alkylation unit.

(2008) Question 72 What feed contaminants can lead to metal corrosion in both sulfuric acid and HF alkylation units? What operating conditions promote corrosion? What do you do to reduce corrosion and/or remove contaminants?

GRUBB (Chevron USA, Inc.) I’ve consulted Gary Ash, the Pascagoula local expert, and Steve Mather, who is the corporate expert. They relayed to me that acid is still the biggest problem and not really necessarily the contaminants; but where the feed contaminants come in, they can make the acid more

(2008) Question 73: Does alkylate volume yield decrease if T90 increases? Have you quantified the costs and benefits of reducing T90 by changing reaction conditions?

KAISER (Delek Refining Ltd.) With respect to alkylate yield and T90, the short answer to the question is, yes. When T90 increases, your alkylate yield is going to go down. And if that’s all you care about alkylation, you can go to sleep for the next five minutes and Jeff will wake you up when we get

(2008) Question 74: Have you experienced a shortage of KOH supply for your HF alkylation unit? Are you concerned about KOH availability? What are your alternatives if KOH is unavailable?

METKA (Sunoco, Inc.) Sunoco has experienced significant shortages of KOH in both our northeast and mid-continent refinery complexes. This appears to be a universal issue. In addition, a primary supplier to the northeast claimed force majeure earlier this year.

(2008) Question 75: The butane stream from a catalytic polymerization (cat poly) unit, which contains 69% isobutene, 14% butylenes, and 17% normal butane, would appear to be an excellent alkylation unit feedstock, especially if isobutene is i

METKA (Sunoco, Inc.) We operate a cat poly and sulfuric alkylation unit within the same refinery. The configuration offers flexibility and synergies that allow various operating and business demands to be met. In our configuration, the cat poly debutanizer overhead feeds the alkylation unit to

(2019) Question 1: What is your best practice for safe and quick decontamination of solid media beds?

Safe and quick decontamination of solid media beds requires a good working knowledge of the unit, the bed material, and the nature of the contamination.

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