The raw material (feed stock) of a refinery is crude oil. This must be made into useful materials by treating it with a variety of processes including heat and various controlled chemical reactions. If either the heat or reactions were not controlled the results could spell disaster.Thanks to the development of guidelines and regulations covering the construction and use of process equipment, engineers and scientists can determine the types of metals and safe thickness of these. By building equipment to these "Code requirements" refinery owners can ensure that the processes are contained and do not come out into the environment where they could explode or cause pollution. Some of the basic types of process equipment are:Heaters (these are "fired" with flames)Towers (distillation equipment and usually very tall)Heat exchangers (these separate the processes with metal tubing or plate)Condensers (cooling of vapors or steam into a liquid)Reboilers (heating of liquids to make into vapors)DesaltersFlaresStorage TanksAir Cooled ("fin fan" heat exchangers) giant fans push air across finned tubesReactorsCoker and coke drumsProcess pipingand many more items we will discuss here
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These are short cross sections of the types of tubes found in "fin fans" which are air cooled heat exchangers used as process equipment. The radiator in the front of most automobiles that are water cooled works like a fin fan. The liquid runs through the tubes while a strong fan pulls air across the fins to transfer the heat from the fins to the air. These are very unpopular items to work on in a refinery unless everything is shut down. Many times workers are having to replace the tubes in one of these while the ones on either side are blowing air across tubes that are full of liquids at a temperature of 450F. Needless these workers have to be watched carefully and given plenty of liquids to drink due to the heat.
Below is the heating element or tube bundle of one of these fin fans. The ends (the white part) are called header boxes. The header plugs are immediately in the front of each tube. The hot oil is piped into the header box and then goes through the finned tubes to the other header box. It may go in one end and right out the other header box which is a 1-pass tube flow. Many other times there are one or more divider plates in the header box to force the flow down some of the tubes to one end where the flow is redirected back again. This closest header box in the photo does not have a nozzle for an inlet or outlet so it is at least a 2-pass, 4-pass, or more. A one pas or other odd number would have a nozzle in each header box. Fin Fans with an even number of tube side passes will always have the nozzles at the same end. We will come up with some better photos to explain this.
As crude oil enters a refinery it is heated either in a fired heater or a heat exchanger that is heated from a fired heater. The heater uses open flames in the "firebox" where the radiant section of tubes (pipe) is found. Above the radiant section is the convection part of the heating coil. The hot flue gas passes right through the layer or layers of the convection tubes.
In an early effort to design a tank capable of withstanding pressures up to 10,000 psi (69 MPa), a 6-inch (150 mm) diameter tank was developed in 1919 that was spirally-wound with two layers of high tensile strength steel wire to prevent sidewall rupture, and the end caps longitudinally reinforced with lengthwise high-tensile rods.
This part of a refinery or petrochemical plant that you usually see first as you approach from a distance. Would someone please suggest the name of these, and maybe also how they work? This is more learn by quizzing material!!!
As crude oil enters a refinery it is heated either in a fired heater or a heat exchanger that is heated from a fired heater. The heater uses open flames in the "firebox" where the radiant section of tubes (pipe) is found. Above the radiant section is the convection part of the heating coil. The hot flue gas passes right through the layer or layers of the convection tubes.
The photo below shows a heater in the left background. A small shell and tube exchanger runs along near the top at the front. it has silver insulation and both heads are blue (see right and left ends).
As crude oil enters a refinery it is heated either in a fired heater or a heat exchanger that is heated from a fired heater. The heater uses open flames in the "firebox" where the radiant section of tubes (pipe) is found. Above the radiant section is the convection part of the heating coil. The hot flue gas passes right through the layer or layers of the convection tubes.
In an early effort to design a tank capable of withstanding pressures up to 10,000 psi (69 MPa), a 6-inch (150 mm) diameter tank was developed in 1919 that was spirally-wound with two layers of high tensile strength steel wire to prevent sidewall rupture, and the end caps longitudinally reinforced with lengthwise high-tensile rods.
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Below is the heating element or tube bundle of one of these fin fans. The ends (the white part) are called header boxes. The header plugs are immediately in the front of each tube. The hot oil is piped into the header box and then goes through the finned tubes to the other header box. It may go in one end and right out the other header box which is a 1-pass tube flow. Many other times there are one or more divider plates in the header box to force the flow down some of the tubes to one end where the flow is redirected back again. This closest header box in the photo does not have a nozzle for an inlet or outlet so it is at least a 2-pass, 4-pass, or more. A one pas or other odd number would have a nozzle in each header box. Fin Fans with an even number of tube side passes will always have the nozzles at the same end. We will come up with some better photos to explain this.
Bob said:
In an early effort to design a tank capable of withstanding pressures up to 10,000 psi (69 MPa), a 6-inch (150 mm) diameter tank was developed in 1919 that was spirally-wound with two layers of high tensile strength steel wire to prevent sidewall rupture, and the end caps longitudinally reinforced with lengthwise high-tensile rods.
Bob said:
On the right is a very large item ???? There are some things in the foreground and background you should be able to guess at.
This part of a refinery or petrochemical plant that you usually see first as you approach from a distance. Would someone please suggest the name of these, and maybe also how they work? This is more learn by quizzing material!!!The photo below shows a heater in the left background. A small shell and tube exchanger runs along near the top at the front. it has silver insulation and both heads are blue (see right and left ends).
Fired Process Heater.jpg
Conv-Radiant heater tubes.jpg
exchangers and heaters.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Surface_Condense...
In an early effort to design a tank capable of withstanding pressures up to 10,000 psi (69 MPa), a 6-inch (150 mm) diameter tank was developed in 1919 that was spirally-wound with two layers of high tensile strength steel wire to prevent sidewall rupture, and the end caps longitudinally reinforced with lengthwise high-tensile rods.
Bob said:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Surface_Condense...
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