The invention is in related to the field of producing hydrocarbon oil with hydrogen, especially related to a method and device improving the hydrogen utilization in a hydrogenation high pressure hot separation process using combined technologies of inertia separation, jet flash and centrifugal degassing.
With the crude oil resource becoming scarce and its quality becoming poorer and poorer, the addition of hydrogen into distillate has been widely applied in the production of clean fuel. In addition, the addition of hydrogen into distillate is also applied in the shale gas, natural gas and coal chemical industry in order to obtain clean fuel.
In the traditional procedure of adding hydrogen into distillate, a large quantity of hydrogen is needed in order to guarantee the partial pressure of hydrogen, wherein a small part of the hydrogen is consumed via hydrogenation reaction, whereas the majority of the hydrogen is recycled via circulating hydrogen compressor. The reaction products of hydrogenation of conventional resid, hydrocracking, hydrotreating, hydroupgrading, hydrofining and other medium and high pressure hydrogenation process are separated usually through cold high separation or hot high separation process. The cold high separation process is a process wherein all the reaction products undergo liquid-gas separation after going through air cooler. The hot high separation process is a process wherein all of the reaction products first undergo a gas-liquid separation under a certain temperature and the flashed mixture undergoes second separation via heat exchange as well as air cooling. Hot high separation and cold high separation have both been widely applied in hydrogenation devices domestically and abroad. The core problem in selecting between these two processes lies in the economic comparison of these two processes. The advantages of hot high separation are: reducing energy consumption of the device, reducing cold exchange area, reducing the occurrence the congelation of the air coolers in cold areas, in full circulation processes, it prevents blockage of high pressure coolers because of the accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Its disadvantages are: increasing high temperature oil-gas separation system, increasing hydrogen loss, the concentration of circulation hydrogen is a bit lower than that in the cold high separation process, which leads to a slight increase of the pressure of the whole system. The prerequisite of applying hot high separation process is an effective recovering of the hydrogen. The hydrogen dissolved in the cold low separated oil and the hot low separated oil is usually considered as part of the hydrogen lost.
In the hot high separation process, hydrogen and hydrogenated distillate undergo gas-liquid phase separation under certain temperature and pressure in the hot high pressure separator, wherein gravity settling is used for the separation. The gas phase in the hot high pressure separator goes through a recycling hydrogen compressor and is conducted back to the reaction system after its pressure is increased. The liquid phase of the hot high pressure separator undergoes reduced pressure jet flash and releases low pressure separated gas under certain temperature and pressure of the hot low pressure separator. The hydrogen content of the low pressure separated gas is around 70%. Usually this low pressure separated gas is conducted into PSA recycling device as hydrogen rich gas after gravity settling to recover the hydrogen present therein. In general, the pressure of the hot low pressure separator of the high pressure hydrogenation device is designed to be 1.2-3.0 MPa (G) in order to guarantee that the low pressure separated oil is conducted into the fractionating tower by pressure. The hydrogen separated from the fractionating tower cannot be recycled to be used as natural gas due to its low concentration, which leads to a low utilization efficiency of the hydrogen. Due to the fact that the liquid and the gas phase in the hot high pressure separator as well as in the cold high pressure separator is separated by natural gravity settling, as shown in
In order to overcome the disadvantages above, the present invention provides a method and device improving the hydrogen utilization in a hydrogenation high pressure hot separation process.
After hydrogenation, the distillate, gas products and hydrogen undergo an initial gas-liquid separation under high pressure through the inertia separation distributor located at the inlet of the hot high pressure separator. In order to increase the separation efficiency, the gas phase returns to the reaction system via recycling hydrogen compressor after going through cold high pressure and subsequent devices. The liquid phase undergoes initial separation and releases a part of the low pressure separated gas (majorly hydrogen) through jet flash. The gas phase separated is further separated into gas phase and liquid phase via gravity settling. The gas which is still dissolved in the distillate under this pressure and part of the small bubbles is further separated through a second step centrifugal degassing. With the pressure gradient of the centrifugal degassing device (on the radial cross section, the pressure is inwardly gradually decreasing) as well as the centrifugal field, the gas dissolved in the distillate is separated out due to the partial pressure of the pressure gradient field. The separated gas and the small bubbles are further separated by the centrifugal field. The gas phase is removed of liquid drops via hydrocyclone separation or coalescing separation and exists the device, while the distillate is conducted into subsequent device. The method and the device of the present invention overcomes the drawbacks of the state of the art and increases the hydrogen utilization.
Concrete Technical Solution:
A method for improving the hydrogen utilization in a hydrogenation high pressure hot separation process, comprising the following steps:
Step 1: After hydrogenation, the distillate, gas products and hydrogen undergo an initial gas-liquid separation under high pressure through the inertia separation distributor located at the inlet of the hot high pressure separator. The pressure drop of the inertia separation distributor is 0.0001-0.01 MPa. A second separation is carried out via gravity settling. The separated gas phase is conducted into subsequent device after hydrocyclone separation or coalescing separation, while the liquid phase is conducted into the hot low pressure separator. The interior operation pressure in the hot high pressure separator is 2-30 MPa, and the operation temperature is 200-270° C.
Step 2: The gas phase dissolved in the distillate which enters the hot low pressure separator is first separated by using jet flash technology. The pressure drop of the process is no higher than 0.01 MPa. Then the gas-liquid phase which separated out by jet flash is separated through gravity settling. The liquid phase undergoes centrifugal degassing in order to degas the distillate for the second time through swirling or the centrifugal pressure gradient, wherein the pressure difference in the pressure gradient field is 0.01-10 MPa. The gas phase separated exists the hot low pressure separator from the top after undergoing hydrocyclone or coalescing separation. The liquid phase separated exits the hot low pressure separator from the bottom. The operation pressure of the hot low pressure separator is 0.6-5 MPa, and the operation temperature is 170-240° C.
A device to carry out the method for improving the hydrogen utilization in a hydrogenation high pressure hot separation process, comprising a hot high pressure separator as well as a hot low pressure separator, wherein the hot high pressure separator is furnished with an inlet, an outlet for liquid phase and an outlet for gas phase, and the hot low pressure separator is furnished with an inlet, an outlet for liquid phase and an outlet for gas phase, and wherein the outlet for liquid phase of the hot high pressure separator is connected with the inlet of the hot low pressure separator, characterized in that,
the hot low pressure separator is furnished with a jet flash separator at its inlet, wherein the jet flash separator comprises at least one jet flash core tubes;
the hot low pressure separator is furnished with at least one centrifugal degassing core tube in front of the outlet for the liquid phase, wherein the centrifugal degassing core tube comprises a cavity, wherein the cavity is furnished with a slanted inlet for liquid and gas phase, and outlet for gas phase and an outlet for liquid phase, wherein the outlet for gas phase is inserted into the cavity through the upper surface of the cavity, wherein the depth of the insertion is around 0.1-3 times of the maximum diameter of the cavity.
Furthermore, the hot high pressure separator is vertical or horizontal, and is furnished with at least one inertia separation distributor, wherein the inertia separation distributor comprises a plurality of inertia separation distribution blades, an upper cover plate, and a lower cover plate on both sides of the inertia separation distributor, wherein each inertia guide blade comprises a guide straight line section, an angle of semicircle and a distribution straight line section, wherein the guide straight line section is the section close to distributor. The inertia separation distribution blades can form only one layer or can form a plurality of layers.
Furthermore, the upper cover plate and the lower cover plate are slanted to the edge, wherein the slanting angle is 3-60° C.
Furthermore, a gas-liquid separator is located at the outlet for gas phase of the hot high pressure separator and/or at the outlet for gas phase of the hot low pressure separator.
Furthermore, the gas-liquid separator is a hydrocyclone separator or a coalescing separator.
Furthermore, the hot low pressure contains a plurality of jet flash core tubes, wherein the jet flash core tubes are parallel connected with each other and are evenly separated along the cross section of the hot low pressure separator. Through the jet flash core tubes, the flow velocity can be increased 1-20 times.
Furthermore, a corresponding umbrella shaped liquid distributor is located at the outlet of the jet flash separator. The surface area of the umbrella shaped liquid distributor is 1-30 times the outlet surface of the jet flash core tube.
Furthermore, the hot low pressure separator comprises a plurality of centrifugal degassing core tubes, wherein the centrifugal degassing core tubes are parallel connected with each other and are evenly separated along the cross section of the hot low pressure separator.
Furthermore, the hot low pressure separator also comprises a baffle plate which divides the hot low pressure separator into two chambers. The height of the baffle plate corresponds to the height of the centrifugal degassing core tubes in order to keep the inlet of the centrifugal degassing core tube and the liquid phase outlet in two different chambers.
The advantages of the current invention are: first, the present invention utilizes inertia separation distribution to enhance gas-liquid separation and to increase the separation efficiency of the hydrogen in the hot high pressure separator. Secondly, jet flash and liquid umbrella shaped even distribution technologies increase the jet flash degassing efficiency. Under the gravity field, the gas carried by the distillate and the dissolved gas released by pressure drop are first separated. Then a second separation is carried out using centrifugal degassing method to separate the gas dissolved under the operation pressure in the hot low pressure separator which cannot be removed by jet flash, and to separate the small bubbles dispersed in the distillate separated by jet flash which cannot be removed by gravity settling. The gas dissolved under the partial pressure is separated through pressure gradient of the centrifugal liquid-gas separation (the pressure gradually decreases inwards along the cross section). The small bubbles dispersed in the distillate are removed effectively by the centrifugal field.
In the method of the present invention, if jet flash is still needed to recover the hydrogen in the distillate from the hot low pressure separator, centrifugal degassing method can be used directly to separate the gas carried by and dissolved in the distillate. In this way, the energy consumption for pressure increase after pressure decrease of liquid phase can be effectively reduced.
The device of the present invention is easy to operate, occupies little space and has a high degassing efficiency. It overcomes the problem of huge hydrogen loss in the hot high pressure separation process and can be widely applied in the hydrogenation process of distillate.
The current invention provides a device to carry out the method for improving the hydrogen utilization in a hydrogenation high pressure hot separation process, comprising a hot high pressure separator as well as a hot low pressure separator, wherein the hot high pressure separator is furnished with an inlet, an outlet for liquid phase and an outlet for gas phase, and the hot low pressure separator is furnished with an inlet, an outlet for liquid phase and an outlet for gas phase, and wherein the outlet for liquid phase of the hot high pressure separator is connected with the inlet of the hot low pressure separator, characterized in that,
the hot low pressure separator is furnished with a jet flash separator at its inlet, wherein the jet flash separator comprises at least one jet flash core tubes;
the hot low pressure separator is furnished with at least one centrifugal degassing core tube in front of the outlet for the liquid phase, wherein the centrifugal degassing core tube comprises a cavity, wherein the cavity is furnished with a slanted inlet for liquid and gas phase, and outlet for gas phase and an outlet for liquid phase, wherein the outlet for gas phase is inserted into the cavity through the upper surface of the cavity, wherein the depth of the insertion is around 0.1-3 times of the maximum diameter of the cavity.
The method for improving the hydrogen utilization in a hydrogenation high pressure hot separation process of the present invention comprises the following steps: After hydrogenation, the distillate, gas products and hydrogen undergo an initial gas-liquid separation under high pressure through the inertia separation distributor located at the inlet of the hot high pressure separator. The pressure drop of the inertia separation distributor is 0.0001-0.01 MPa. A second separation is carried out via gravity settling. The separated gas phase (recycling hydrogen and part of the light distillate) is conducted into subsequent device after hydrocyclone separation or coalescing separation, while the liquid phase (the distillate and the dissolved gas) is conducted into the hot low pressure separator. The gas phase dissolved in the distillate which enters the hot low pressure separator is first separated by using jet flash technology. The pressure drop of the process is no higher than 0.01 MPa. Then the gas-liquid phase which separated out by jet flash is separated through gravity settling. The liquid phase undergoes centrifugal degassing in order to degas the distillate for the second time through swirling or the centrifugal pressure gradient, wherein the pressure difference in the pressure gradient field is 0.01-10 MPa. After jet flash separation, the gas phase (low pressure separated gas, majorly hydrogen) is recovered by PSA, whereas the liquid phase and the dissolved gas as well as the small bubbles carried undergo secondary degassing in the centrifugal degassing device. The liquid (distillate) then exists from the bottom of the device and the gas phase exists from the top and is recovered in PSA.
By the implementation of the current invention, the low problem of low separation efficiency of gravity settling for the gas-liquid phase in the hot high pressure separator and the hot low pressure separator in the hydrogenation process can be solved. The loss of part of the hydrogen as bubbles present in the liquid phase which is conducted into the subsequent device can be avoided. In addition, it is avoided that hydrogen is lost due to the low efficiency of jet flash which is caused by the small contact surface between the liquid and the gas phase under a certain dwell time period since a hot low pressure separator uses the traditional jet flash-gravity settling method. Finally it is avoided that part of the hydrogen is dissolved in the liquid phase due to the fact that the pressure of the hot low pressure separator is 1.2-3.0 MPa (G). The implementation of the present invention increases the hydrogen utilization efficiency which is beneficial to the enterprise.
A certain hydrogenation device utilizes a hot high pressure separation process, wherein the parameters of the hot high pressure separator is as follows:
Referring to
In comparison with the conventional process, the present example utilizes the method and device of the current invention.
After hydrogenation, the distillate, gas products and hydrogen undergo an initial gas-liquid separation under high pressure through the inertia separation distributor located at the inlet of the hot high pressure separator. The operation pressure of the hot high pressure separator is 8.3 MPa (G) and the pressure drop of the inertia separation distributor is 0.0004 MPa. A second separation is carried out via gravity settling. The separated gas phase is conducted into subsequent device after hydrocyclone separation, wherein the pressure drop of this step 0.005 MPa. The liquid phase is conducted into the hot low pressure separator. The gas phase dissolved in the distillate which enters the hot low pressure separator is first separated by using jet flash technology, wherein the pressure drop of this step is 0.001 MPa. The interior operation pressure in the hot low pressure separator is 2.9 MPa (G). Then the gas-liquid phase which separated out by jet flash is separated through gravity settling. The liquid phase undergoes centrifugal degassing in order to degas the distillate for the second time through swirling or the centrifugal pressure gradient, wherein the pressure difference in the pressure gradient field is 1.2 MPa. The liquid (distillate) then exists from the bottom of the device and the gas phase exists from the top after swirling. The hot high pressure separator has an operation temperature of 225-235° C. whereas the operation temperature of the hot low pressure separator is 205-215° C.
Effect: in comparison with the conventional technology (namely, the gas-liquid phase of the hot high pressure separator is separated via gravity settling, in the hot low pressure separator, jet flash is used to separate the gas phase from the liquid phase separated from the hot high pressure, then gravity settling is used to separate the gas-liquid phase), there exist the following advantages:
1. The built-in inertia separation distributor in the hot high pressure separator facilitates the separation effect of the gas and the liquid phase. Some of the hydrocarbons which were difficult to recover before can now be separated, which increases the efficiency of the hot high pressure separator.
2. Through the built-in jet flash separator in the hot low pressure separator, the jet flash effect is enhanced, which leads to an increased recovering rate of the hydrogen.
3. The centrifugal degassing technology before the hot low pressure separator increases the hydrogen recovering rate.
The hot low pressure separator is furnished with at least one centrifugal degassing core tube in front of the outlet for the liquid phase, wherein the centrifugal degassing core tube comprises a cavity, wherein the cavity is furnished with a slanted inlet for liquid and gas phase, and outlet for gas phase and an outlet for liquid phase, wherein the outlet for gas phase is inserted into the cavity through the upper surface of the cavity, wherein the depth of the insertion is around 0.1-3 times of the maximum diameter of the cavity. The insertion depth is the depth between the end of the outlet of the gas phase, namely the lowest point of the outlet of the gas phase in the cavity, and the upper surface of the cavity. The theory is shown in
The above jet flash core tube can be an ejector, such as a Venturi ejector.
The examples of the current invention do not limit the scope of protection of the current invention.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201310037577.5 | Jan 2013 | CN | national |
201310239487.4 | Jun 2013 | CN | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2014/000029 | 1/10/2014 | WO | 00 |