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Summary

Unit Category Refinery Unit HDTB DIGBOI Pressure Swing Adsorber (PSA) of Hydrogen Generation Unit (HGU) P Instrument malfunction(Control Valve) 1. Installation of No-Play coupling in feed, product and dump valves to eliminate valve error due to delay in closing/opening feedback. 2. Calibration of positioner of equalisation valves for enabling quick shutoff to eliminate delay in actual closing and receipt of closing feedback.

Solve Method

Report No. Year / Month 2012-13 Title of the Fluctuation in purge gas generation and hydrogen product report pressure. Problem 1. Frequent generation of valve error alarm and equalisationI and equalisation-II deviation alarms, due to play between valve actuator and valve body, frequently causing PSA to switch in 4 bed operation. 2. In some steps of PSA, excessive purge gas generation took place generating DUMP DEVIATION alarm followed by low purge pressure in next step. Hydrogen product pressure also kept fluctuating due to which more hydrogen than required had to be produced to avoid hydrogen starvation in consumer units. Solution Analysis of PSA adsorber pressure, Dump, Providing Purge & Repressurisation trends for identification of malfunctioning control valve. 1. Problem Details: Hydrogen rich gas from (High Temperature Shift) HTS reactor is sent to PSA for purification which produces 99.99% pure hydrogen and rejects other gases viz. CO, CO2, CH4, N2 and some amount of H2 also to purge gas stream. Pure hydrogen is sent to HDTB, MSQU continuously and to CRU, WHFU and Hydrogen bullet occasionally. Purge gas is used for firing in reformer furnace. Due to heavy fluctuation in purge gas generation, reformer box was upset as purge gas constitutes a significant portion of mass flow to reformer furnace. There is a trip interlock on reformer box pressure. This was hence a major problem. Furthermore, due to fluctuation in hydrogen product pressure, a minimum excess of hydrogen had to be maintained so that hydrogen consuming units get sufficient supply of hydrogen. 2. Problem Duration: 2012-13

3. Observation and analysis Attached here is an image of HGU PSA HMI screen for reference.

Ref picture above, all the 5 beds of PSA have four valves, detailed as under: A. Feed Valve: These are butterfly control valves, 10_XCV_8111, 10_XCV_8121, 10_XCV_8131, 10_XCV_8141, 10_XCV_8151, also called 1 series valves. B. Product Valve: These are butterfly On-Off Valves, 10_XCV_8112, 10_XCV_8122, 10_XCV_8132, 10_XCV_8142, 10_XCV_8152, also called 2 series valves. C. Equalisation Valve: These are globe control valves, 10_XCV_8113, 10_XCV_8133, 10_XCV_8133, 10_XCV_8143, 10_XCV_8153, also called 3 series valves. D. Dump Valve: These are butterfly control valves, 10_XCV_8114, 10_XCV_8124, 10_XCV_8134, 10_XCV_8144, 10_XCV_8154, also called 4 series valves.

Part I: Purge gas fluctuation problem

1. The pressure of bed 5 increased immediately after closing of valve equalization valve(8153) in both the steps 3.1(isolation) & as well as 2.1(dump) , which implied that there was some delay in receiving of closing feedback and actual closing of the valve in the field. This was further confirmed when the valve was observed in the field, as closing feedback was received at HMI before the valve was tightly shutoff. When bed 5 goes in Dump stage, 8153 closes and 8154 opens. The kink in the dump graph is due to 8153 not being fully closed physically in the field before the closing feedback is received and gas from other beds entered the 5th bed. Ref photograph attached.

2. When the 5th bed went in isolation in step 3.1 & 3.2, the pressure of bed increased although all 4 associated valves with the bed were closed. 8153 was the last valve to close before isolation step. This further indicated that there was some delay in closing of the valve of 8153, allowing gas from other beds to enter the 5th bed. Ref Photograph attached.

Part II: Hydrogen product fluctuation 1. As can be observed in the attached image, there is a strong interaction between bed pressure of 4 th bed (in pink) and 5th bed (in blue). When 4 th bed is producing hydrogen and continuous feed gas is being fed to it, next bed i.e. 5th bed is under final pressurization and is also being fed feed gas simultaneously. That is, feed valves of both the beds are simultaneously open. The feed valve of 4 th bed is completely open and hence could be ruled out as the source of the fluctuation. However feed valve of 5th bed is in play according to the rate of pressure rise. Hence this was identified as the source of the problem. As it later turned out, due to play between valve actuator and valve body, controller was not able to maintain a steady rate of pressure rise in 5 th bed. This in turn upset 4 th bed pressure which cause a fluctuation in hydrogen product pressure.

4. Methodology:
The PSA adsorber pressure, Dump, Providing Purge & Repressurisation trends were observed in detail, with a view to identify the deviation in trends from normal operation which gave a general idea of valves which may be malfunctioning. The following characteristics of the suspected valves were observed at PSA HMI as well as PSA Skid: A. Passing of valves in fully closed state was checked. B. Opening and closing feedback percentages of the valves. C. Receipt of closing feedback of valve at PSA HMI and actual closing of the same at PSA Skid. The delay between receipt of closing feedback and actual closing of the valve at field was also checked. D. In case of Butterfly Valves, any play between valve actuator and valve body was also checked. E. Opening percentage and bed pressure during dump state of beds were observed.

5. Corrective Action:
A. No-Play coupling (picture attached below), was installed in the feed, product and dump valves of all the 5 beds of PSA by taking PSA into 4 bed operation to eliminate any play between valve actuator and valve body. Installation of No-Play couplings totally eliminated the Equalisation deviation alarms and valve error alarms. This eliminated the problem of fluctuation in hydrogen product pressure; however purge gas generation profile did not improve.

B. To reduce purge gas profile, PSA was taken into 4 bed operation by isolating the 5 th bed and the Equalisation Valve (10_XCV_8153) was attained. Receipt of closing feedback of valve at PSA HMI and actual closing of the same at PSA Skid was observed and a delay was noticed. The positioner was re-calibrated for quick closing of the valve. The opening and closing feedback was then checked and found in permissible limits. The PSA was taken into 5 bed operation and considerable improvement was observed in the purge pressure trends. The same problem up to a little extent was with the Equalisation valve of 2 nd bed (10_XCV_8123) which was also attained and calibrated for quick shutoff, thus totally eliminating the fluctuations in purge gas generation profile.

6. Benefits Realized

1. It can be observed in following image that the pressure trends of all vessels are similar and stable now.

2. Significant improvement observed in purge gas firing pressure can be observed in following graph.

3. Significant improvement in hydrogen product pressure profile can be observed in following image.

4. It can be observed that fluctuations in following image.

box pressure have significantly reduced in

5. When hydrogen is suppiled to HDTU, a minimum excess of 15 Kg/hr of hydrogen is maintained to avoid hydrogen starvation in HDTU make-up gas pressure. It is to be noted

that although this excess hydrogen is sent to fuel gas header, it is still a significant loss. Hydrogen production from PSA is an inherently fluctuating process. To maintain a minimum of 15 Kg/hr excess, a higher avergae excess has to be maintained. Earlier due to high fluctuation with difference in minima and maxima upto 60 Kg/hr, an average excess hydrogen flow of 45 kg/hr had to be maintained. After installation of no play couplings in all feed, product and purge gas valves, amplitude of fluctuation has come down to 15 Kg/hr and an average excess flow of only 22 Kg/hr has to be maintained. Now minimum 10 Kg/hr of hydrogen is being saved. 6. Due to excessive purge gas generation, upto 4000 Kg of purge gas had to be flared per day. Now this has been brought down upto 3000 Kg/day and minimum 500kg/day loss saved.

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