Propane Propylene Separation Process And Equipment Optimization

The first gas fractionation unit was set up in 1993 with main products propylene, propane and C4 fractionates, propylene tower is the main part.In view of existing problems of the first gas fractionation unit, low capacity and high energy consumption. This paper simulated calculation of the propylene tower applying PRO/â…¡ flow simulation software, and account fluid hydraulics of propylene tower using FRI tray rating 1.0. Analysis indicated that the key reason was that the liquid flow-through capacity of propylene tower (F1 floating valve tray) is terribly insufficient and the high quality steam is improper used. After studying domestic gas fractionating technologies and separating equipments, the author decided, without changing the existing tray distance as well as diameter of the propylene tower, to use combined guide valve tray with larger capacity for liquid flow-through and low temperature water instead of steam which used before in the heater of the propylene tower.Engineer application showed that, after optimized of process and trays improvement, the capacity of the unit has been enhanced from 0.15 to 0.25 million t/a, the propylene purity reached 99.6%, energy consumption decreased by 35.52%.