Jet fuel production

The stocks used for jet fuel production come almost essentially from direct distillation of crude oil. They correspond to the fraction distilled between 145 and 240°C, more or less expanded or contracted according to the circumstances. The yield of such a cut depends largely on the nature of the crude but is always larger than the demand for jet fuel which reaches about 6% of the petroleum market in Europe. For the refiner, the tightest specifications are ... 

HTFT syncrude is easier to refine to on-specification transportation fuels than LTFT syncrude. This is partly due to its olefinic nature, giving it considerable synthetic ability, and partly due to the large proportion of material already in the fuels boiling range (C5-360°C). Historically fuels refining from HTFT syncrude focused mainly on motor gasoline production and only to a lesser extent on diesel fuel production. Jet fuel production became possible only recently (2008) with the international qualification of fully synthetic jet fuel. 

Economic analysis performed for refineries in certain markets have calculated that the benefit of being able to increase kerosene and jet fuel production yield was an improvement of 3-6 cents per barrel over previous operational conditions. On an 180000 barrel per day crude unit this equates to a benefit of 2000000-4000000 per year. Several other refiners are utilizing NMR analyzers on the feed and products of crude units for control and optimization, AGIP has an NMR analyzer for monitoring the feed. 

The particular problem I encountered is illustrated in Fig. 10.4. The jet fuel product was steam-stripped to remove a lighter naphtha contaminant. But much naphtha was left in the jet fuel. Apparently, the packing in the stripper tower was not working properly. However, a discussion with the unit operator indicated that they were using very little stripping steam. Introduction of a normal amount of steam resulted in a loss of liquid level in the bottom of the stripper. 

Changing the vapor line from a 3-in pipe to a 4-in pipe reduced the line s pressure drop from 3 to 0.7 psi. This permitted the stripping steam flow to be increased to the stripper, without impeding the jet fuel flow from the fractionator. The higher stripping steam flow efficiently removed the contaminant naphtha from the jet fuel product. 

Kalfadelis, C. D. Shaw, H. A Pilot Plant Study of Jet Fuel Production... 

For acid treating of the diesel fuel and jet fuel products a "new" acid treater was designed and built, the major vessel of which were refinery surplus equipment. These vessels included a settler, clay contactor and sludge storage tank. 

Jet Fuels. Product JP-5, before and after acid treating is compared to pilot plant prepared material in Table V. Again both stocks have similar nitrogen, hydrogen and aromatic content. 

Ben-Amotz A Large-scale open algae ponds, NREL-AFOSR joint workshop on algal oil for jet fuel production, 2008. 

Lloyd readily agreed that maximizing jet fuel production was the correct goal for our expert system. He suggested we embark immediately on the software formulation phase of the project. "All crude units are pretty much the same," he said, "and as you re a crude unit expert, we shouldn t have to waste our time at the plant site."... 

As jet fuel production was only 65% of the volume indicated in the crude analysis, we agreed that proper operation of these four strippers would be the first objective of our expert system. 

Zip manually pulled the liquid level down in the diesel oil stripper until the interface appeared in the gauge glass. The stripper bottoms temperature began to fall, indicating that stripping efficiency was being restored. Diesel production dropped by about 1,000 B/SD, and the jet fuel product rate increased by a corresponding amount. 

One of the important functions of a crude unit is to meet the flashpoint specification for the jet fuel product. This is best done by varying the steam rate to the jet fuel stripper. However, the operators on this crude unit were adjusting the heavy virgin naphtha draw rate to meet the jet fuel flash spec. 

Pulling lighter jet fuel components into heavy virgin naphtha to meet the jet fuel flash spec not only reduces jet fuel production, it also downgrades the quality of the naphtha reformer feed. 

The increased interest in applications of (a-3 fatty acids in food and pharmaceutical industries attracted a lot of attention to camelina seed oil because of its high a-linolenic acid (o)-3) and natural antioxidants contents (Pilgeram et al., 2007). Because of its high y-tocopherol contenL camelina oil is very stable has longer shelf-life than many of the other commodity oils. Camelina oil and meal can be used in animal rations, food formulations, cosmetics, soaps, and in other industrial applications, such as fatty acid methyl esters and jet fuel production. Camelina oil is registered as a commercial food oil in many European countries and Canada (Ghamkhar et al., 2010). 

In the medium-term, it is possible that sustainable alternative fuels for aircraft wih be available in much larger quantities. The signihcant research and development activity currently underway is expected to lead to a number of commercial scale production facilities. The Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI) is currently seeking to ensure that at least ten alternative jet fuel production facilities are built and in operation within 5 years.Also, these new fuels will have been certihed for greater use in blends, possibly up to 100% alternative fuel, thus moving from drop-in blend fuels to drop-in neat fuels according to industry roadmaps. During this time, the fuels may have reached cost parity, especially if the value of their carbon reduction benehts is accounted for. 

The particular problem I encountered is illustrated in Fig. 13.4. The jet fuel product was steam-stripped to remove a lighter naphtha... 

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