Do you really have a true standard plant?
Do you have a standard plant? Many of us probably say yes.
Do you really have a standard plant? Only some of us might say yes with hesitation.
Do you really have a true standard plant? Only very few of us will say yes with confidence.
The reason why you don't have a standard plant
The reason why only very few of us have a true standard plant is that making plants standard is really, really, really hard. Many of us fail to answer the ultimate question: what's the output with the customer's particular input if they decide to choose your standard plant? We know the performance and the utility requirement at the design conditions of the standard plant, but how about the off-design conditions with a given set of existing equipment? In this video, you will learn what a true standard condensate stabilizer looks like.
First step of standardization
The standardization journey starts from a reference condition. In this example, the reference condition is 3000 BBL/D condensate with a product spec of RVP of 9.3 psi. Engineers will first finish the simulation and then issue the heat exchanger process data sheets to vendors. Some engineers declare they've got a standard plant of 3000 BBL/D stabilizer after they receive the exchangers' quote. Is this really a standard plant? Not at all, since they really can't answer the ultimate question: what's the output with the customer's particular input if they decide to choose your standard plant?
Integrate exchanger size into your simulation
The next step toward standardization is to integrate heat exchanger design into a simulation software like Aspen HYSYS. In the second model, the heat exchanger geometries are input into the simulation. As you can see, the feed/bottom exchanger is a BEU type, with a diameter of 10" and a length of 53". The reboiler is a BKU type, with a diameter of 14" and a length of 136". Let's say the customer has 10% more flow and they want to have the same product RVP of 9.3 psi. The ultimate question becomes, can the plant handle 3300 BBL/Day with the same product spec? After we run the model, yes, the plant can handle 3300 BBL/Day flow with the same product spec, however, the hot oil flow needs to increase to 161 GPM. By the way, it was about 141 GPM.
The customer may say they don't have the requested additional hot oil flow, then what? The third model is set up in a way to answer this challenge with the fixed hot oil flow. Simply input the 3300 BBL/Day feed and wait the simulator to converge. Once it is finished, the new product RVP becomes about 11.3 psi. For your reference, the product RVP used to be about 9.3 psi.
The first model is set up in a way that every time it runs, it requires a new different size of heat exchanger and it will never lead you to a standard plant. On the contrary, the 2nd and the 3rd model solve with the fixed heat exchanger geometry. After you build the 2nd and 3rd model, now you can declare you have a standard plant.
More to explore
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