SCI和EI收录∣中国化工学会会刊

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering ›› 2022, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (5): 121-132.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2021.04.035

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Novel design of lubricant-type vacuum distillation process for lube base oils production from hydrocracking tail oil

Hui Pan1, Xinshuang Li1, Yichao Shen1, Xiang Wu1, Feng Ju1, Yuzhe Li2, Gaosheng Wu2, Bo Ai2, Baoyun Xu2, Hao Ling1   

  1. 1 School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China;
    2 Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200062, China
  • Received:2021-01-07 Revised:2021-04-20 Online:2022-06-22 Published:2022-05-28
  • Contact: Hao Ling,E-mail:linghao@ecust.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    This work was kindly funded by Shanghai Sailing Program (No. 19YF1410800) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21908056).

Novel design of lubricant-type vacuum distillation process for lube base oils production from hydrocracking tail oil

Hui Pan1, Xinshuang Li1, Yichao Shen1, Xiang Wu1, Feng Ju1, Yuzhe Li2, Gaosheng Wu2, Bo Ai2, Baoyun Xu2, Hao Ling1   

  1. 1 School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China;
    2 Shanghai Research Institute of Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200062, China
  • 通讯作者: Hao Ling,E-mail:linghao@ecust.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    This work was kindly funded by Shanghai Sailing Program (No. 19YF1410800) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21908056).

Abstract: Dividing-wall columns (DWCs) are widely used in the separation of ternary mixtures, but rarely seen in the separation of petroleum fractions. This work develops two novel and energy-efficient designs of lubricant-type vacuum distillation process (LVDP) for the separation of hydroisomerization fractions (HIF) of a hydrocracking tail oil (HTO). First, the HTO hydroisomerization reaction is investigated in an experimental fixed-bed reactor to achieve the optimum liquid HIF by analyzing the impact of the operating conditions. A LVDP used for HIF separation is proposed and optimized. Subsequently, two thermal coupling intensified technologies, including side-stream (SC) and dividing-wall column (DWC), are combined with the LVDP to develop side-stream vacuum distillation process (SC-LVDP) and dividing-wall column vacuum distillation process (DWC-LVDP). The performance of LVDP, SC-LVDP, and DWC-LVDP are evaluated in terms of energy consumption, capital cost, total annual cost, product yields, and stripping steam consumption. The results demonstrates that the intensified processes, SC-LVDP and DWC-LVDP significantly decreases the energy consumption and capital cost compared with LVDP. DWC-LVDP further decreases in capital cost due to the removal of the side stripper and narrows the overlap between the third lube oils and fourth lube oils. This study attempts to combine DWC structure into the separation of petroleum fractions, and the proposed approach and the results presented provide an incentive for the industrial implementation of high-quality utilization of HTO through intensified LVDP.

Key words: Hydrocracking tail oil, Lubricant-type vacuum distillation process, Thermal coupling intensified technology, Dividing-wall column

摘要: Dividing-wall columns (DWCs) are widely used in the separation of ternary mixtures, but rarely seen in the separation of petroleum fractions. This work develops two novel and energy-efficient designs of lubricant-type vacuum distillation process (LVDP) for the separation of hydroisomerization fractions (HIF) of a hydrocracking tail oil (HTO). First, the HTO hydroisomerization reaction is investigated in an experimental fixed-bed reactor to achieve the optimum liquid HIF by analyzing the impact of the operating conditions. A LVDP used for HIF separation is proposed and optimized. Subsequently, two thermal coupling intensified technologies, including side-stream (SC) and dividing-wall column (DWC), are combined with the LVDP to develop side-stream vacuum distillation process (SC-LVDP) and dividing-wall column vacuum distillation process (DWC-LVDP). The performance of LVDP, SC-LVDP, and DWC-LVDP are evaluated in terms of energy consumption, capital cost, total annual cost, product yields, and stripping steam consumption. The results demonstrates that the intensified processes, SC-LVDP and DWC-LVDP significantly decreases the energy consumption and capital cost compared with LVDP. DWC-LVDP further decreases in capital cost due to the removal of the side stripper and narrows the overlap between the third lube oils and fourth lube oils. This study attempts to combine DWC structure into the separation of petroleum fractions, and the proposed approach and the results presented provide an incentive for the industrial implementation of high-quality utilization of HTO through intensified LVDP.

关键词: Hydrocracking tail oil, Lubricant-type vacuum distillation process, Thermal coupling intensified technology, Dividing-wall column