الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract The objective of this work is to demonstrate the importance of process simulation in the design and operation of the plants through assessing a case study based on an actual problem from an existing NGL plant. The problem is that the plant is shut down whenever it is necessary to switch the gas flow from the turbo expander unit to the bypass JT valve due to the absence of any information about the process transient response during this switch. This shutdown and restart up last for three days with an estimated cost of MM$ 5.91 due to production loss. The steady state and dynamic simulation tools will be used to study the process transient behavior during the switch and check if the switch can be done while the plant is running without shutting it down. A comprehensive detailed steady state model for the whole plant was built using PRO/II® and a rigorous dynamic simulation model was built for the De-Ethanizer Unit using DYNSIM{u2122} simulation software. The results from the two process simulation models were analysed and it was found that the switch could be done without shutting down the plant. |