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Petrochemical Plant Troubleshoots with Aspen Plus and Saves $2.4M USD per Year
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Process Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Industries
- Oil & Gas
- Chemicals
Applicable Functions
- Process Manufacturing
Use Cases
- Process Control & Optimization
- Predictive Maintenance
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
The Challenge
Reliance Industries Limited, an Indian conglomerate holding company, faced a challenge with their toluene separation process. The existing benzene separation column was underperforming, with the benzene content in the bottoms being higher than the required 200 ppm. This resulted in an unsuccessful planned revamp for benzene-toluene separation. The vendor was unable to offer a viable solution to the underperforming column, stating the column was too tightly designed resulting in offsite processing of the benzene column bottoms containing toluene and heavies. Following the shutdown of the offsite processing facility, the revamp for benzene-toluene became essential. Because of heavy losses due to the lack of a local toluene separation facility, an urgent revamp became critical.
About The Customer
Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian conglomerate holding company. The company's businesses span across various sectors including hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail, and telecommunications. They strive to maintain innovation-led growth in each of these areas and aim to achieve global leadership by maintaining their position as the largest polyester yarn and fiber producer in the world and a leading producer of ultra-clean fuels. Reliance Industries uses the aspenONE Engineering suite of products in many of their businesses when designing new plants, revamping existing plants, and troubleshooting underperforming units.
The Solution
Reliance turned to Aspen Plus and the hydraulic modeling capabilities to troubleshoot the underperforming column and find a viable alternative. This was completed in-house, avoiding the costs and delay associated with getting help from an outside simulation expert. Using Aspen Plus and plant data, Reliance built a model rigorous enough to correctly explain what was occurring in the underperforming unit. They determined that poor benzene-toluene separation tower efficiency was the reason and found the benzene column to be hydraulically limited. Since the separation column required more trays to reach the required performance, a redundant column was identified as a potential alternative to avoid column replacement or re-traying, which would result in further losses in production. By confirming that the redundant column could be used as a stripper and reconfiguring the two columns, Reliance could effectively reach the required separation and locally separate the toluene.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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