Process and Mechanical Design Guidelines

Many aspects of FCC development have been the result of trial and error. The development of present design standards is as much art as it is science. Consequently, it is appropriate to review some of the key developments that have influenced the current design philosophy behind the FCC reactor and regenerator  

The evolution and improvement of the above-mentioned topics set the background for providing FCC design parameters. The following sections present the latest commercially-proven process and mechanical design recommendations for FCC reactor-regenerator components. 

These design guidelines, though not universally agreed upon by every FCC expert, can be useful to the refiner in ensuring that the mechanical upgrade of a unit will be safe, reliable, and profitable. 

The components of the reactor-regenerator circuit in which process and mechanical design recommendations are provided are as follows 

Any mechanical revamp to improve the unit yields should always begin with installing an efficient feed and catalyst distribution system. This is the single most-important component of the FCC unit. An efficient feed and catalyst injection system maximizes gasoline yield and conversion at the expense of lower gas, coke, and decant oil and allows downstream technology to perform at its full potential. 

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Process and Mechanical Design guidelines for Slide Valves... 

Process and Mechanical Design Guidelines for Reactor and Regenerator Cyclones... 

The process and mechanical guidelines used in designing most of the new or revamped units are summarized in Table 7-2. 

This chapter addresses project management aspects of a revamp. It also provides design guidelines that can be used by a refiner in selecting the revamp components. The original driving force for a project is often a particular mechanical problem or a process bottleneck. The ultimate objective of a revamp should be a safe, reliable, and profitable operation. 

Process integrity addresses the reactions, physical chemistry, and dynamics of a plant s operation. If these are allowed to mn out of control or exceed standards, process conditions may exceed the mechanical design limits of the equipment. Some of the following approaches and methods used to assure process integrity are described in Guidelines for Technical Management of Chemical Process Safety (CCPS, 1989b) ... 

Besides an understanding of the basic failure modes and mechanisms, important in the initial selection of adhesives, qualification and strict adherence to materials and processes specifications and work instructions are an integral part of the rehability process. The process begins with the design guidelines and requirements for a specific application. Qualification criteria and test specifications must then be generated and the adhesives selected must be qualified. In addition, materials specifications or... 

The HSE study, Findings From Voiuntary Reporting of Loss of Containment Incidents 2004/05, reported that 32% of loss-of-containment events were caused by process and safety equipment failure, which occurred due to inadequate design and maintenance. SIS equipment performance is limited by the rigor, timeliness, and repeatability of mechanical integrity activities. Key performance indicators are recommended as a means to ensure that the various requirements of ANSI/ISA-84.00.01-2004 are implemented as expected. Sustainable operation is achieved by focusing on indicators that provide realtime indication of compliance to expectations. Example indicators are provided in Table 1 for the SIS. Additional recommended indicators have been published by CCPS in Guidelines for Process Safety Metrics. ... 

This section is intended to provide general suggestions or guidelines for evaluating and determining some of the mechanical design details in the drive design process. 

Various methods have been developed for the production of GRC components. These methods have mostly been adapted from the glass fibre reinforced plastics industry, with proper modifications to adjust for the special nature of the cementitious matrix. To obtain a product of an adequate quality the mix composition should be carefully controlled, to be compatible with the production process, while at the same time providing the needed physical and mechanical properties in the hardened composite. Thus, the properties of GRC composites vary over a wide range, and are a function of a complex combination of the production process and the mix composition. A detailed discussion of the design and production of GRC components is beyond the scope of this chapter. These topics are covered in various publications and guidelines [31-37] and only some essential points will be discussed in Section 8.7 and Chapter 14. 

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