Troubleshooting vacuum systems
Case histories of refinery vacuum tower problems solved are gleaned from
five decades of experience
NORMAN LIEBERMAN
Process Improvement Engineering
T
he objectives of operating
a refinery vacuum tower
are typically to produce
asphalt of proper viscosity or
to minimise the heavy virgin
gas oil content of the vacuum
residue going to the delayed
coker feed or to industrial fuel
oil. In many cases, the ability
to achieve these objectives is
the largest factor in determin-
ing refinery profitability.
Principally, the main objective
of the refinery operator is to
restore the degraded vacuum
in the vacuum tower flash zone
(see Figure 1). The following
case histories illustrate the
problem that occurs in many, if
not most refineries at the start
of every summer. The problem
is that both ambient air and
plant cooling water tempera-
tures increase. This results in
the first stage ejector surging, a
step change degradation in
vacuum, and vacuum tower
pressure instability.
Increase in vacuum tower top
temperature
In one 40 000 b/d crude unit at
an East coast US refinery,
producing delayed coker
vacuum resid, during most
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Steam
No.1 jet
T1
Steam
Vacuum P1
tower
LVGO P/A
LVGO
No.2 jet
HVGO P/A Steam
HVGO
Wash oil
packing
No.3 jet
Crude tower
bottoms
Quench
Resid.
Figure 1 Vacuum system
afternoons starting in July the ejector was being overloaded
first stage ejector began to with light virgin naphtha
surge and continued to do so components originating in the
until the late evening when crude – that is, in the vacuum
ambient temperatures declined. tower feed from the crude
An analysis of the off-gas from atmospheric tower bottoms.
the third stage ejector (see Apparently, the recovery of
Figure 1) indicated a high light naphtha in the crude
concentration of both iso- and tower from the atmospheric
n-pentanes. As the C5 olefin residue was poor. In cooler
content remained low, we weather, when the LVGO
concluded that the first stage pumparound return was also
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From top of
vacuum tower
10mmHg
460ºF
(skin)
30 barg
Motive steam
(dry)
Steam
nozzle 125ºF 195ºF
(skin) (skin)
Figure 2 Excellent performance of the first stage ejector in a Mexican vacuum
tower
cool, the tower top temperature
(T1 in Figure 1) was cold
enough to absorb most of the
lighter virgin naphtha
components.
However, at higher ambient
temperatures, the LVGO pump-
around trim air cooler was
unable to suppress the vacuum
tower top temperature suffi-
ciently to condense out enough
of the virgin pentanes and
hexanes to avoid overloading
the first stage ejector.
To correct the problem
on-stream, we improved the
operation of the LVGO cooler
by: tightening slipping fan
belts; increasing the fan blade
pitch; adding water mist
nozzles to humidify and cool
the air to the tube bundle (we
did not spray water on the
tubes themselves); brushing off
the underside of the tubes with
a broom; and adding vane tip
seals to reduce air
recirculation.
Adding water mist nozzles
should be minimised since
actually wetting the tubes will
corrode the fins. This measure
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250ºF 240ºF 300ºF
(skin) (skin) (skin)
210ºF
Throat
(skin)
170ºF
(skin)
Vapour
118ºF
(skin)
190mmHg
110ºF
(skin)
Liquid
was only employed as needed
for several hours on hotter
days.
Note that the fundamental
problem, which has yet to be
corrected by the refiner, is poor
stripping tray efficiency on the
bottom six trays of the crude
atmospheric tower. Likely, the
trays are upset as the observed
pressure drop across the trays
was extremely low.
High first stage ejector exhaust
pressure
On another 35 000 b/d crude
unit, the viscosity specification
for the paving grade asphalt
product of about 10 000 b/d
could not be achieved. The
problem again was a step
change loss in vacuum during
periods of increased cooling
water temperature. The cooling
water was drawn from a local
river. Hence the problem
persisted, even at night when
ambient temperatures dropped.
A field pressure survey indi-
cated that the pressure at P1
(see Figure 1) was 20 mm Hg
above the design critical
discharge pressure. An
elevated pressure at the
discharge of the first stage jet
will cause the jet to lose its
‘sonic boost’.1 Alternatively, the
jet loses that portion of its
compression ratio due to being
forced out of its critical mode
of operation by excessive back
pressure at P1.
To correct this problem,
through a trial and error proce-
dure, we found that reducing
the motive steam pressure to
the second stage jet, from 180
psig to 140 psig, lowered the
first stage jet discharge pres-
sure at P1. This restored the
sonic boost to the first stage jet
and hence reduced the vacuum
tower top pressure. This
permitted the asphalt product
viscosity to be restored to meet
paving grade asphalt
specifications.
Note that the design motive
steam pressure to all three ejec-
tors was 180 psig. The reason
why the performance of the
second stage ejector improved,
as the steam pressure was
reduced to 140 psig, was due
to:
• The steam nozzle (see Figure
2) inside the second ejector had
become loose
• The nozzle itself was
constructed from 316 stainless
steel
• The body of the ejector was
carbon steel
• The motive steam was wet
(which in itself is a problem)
• Galvanic corrosion then
caused the threads in the ejec-
tor body (but not the nozzle
itself) to erode
• Motive steam then partially
bypassed the steam nozzle.
After the summer, when this
failure was corrected in the
autumn turnaround, the design
www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001321
180 psig motive steam pressure
to the second stage ejector was
found to be optimum. To
partly avoid this problem in
the future, Teflon tape was
wrapped around the threads of
the steam nozzle, which may
retard the rate of galvanic
corrosion.
There are many other exam-
ples of vacuum system
problems, in both vacuum
towers and condensing steam
turbine surface condensers. We
have assembled a summary of
malfunctions which represent
the most common problems we
have seen over a period of five
decades in troubleshooting and
retrofitting refinery and petro-
chemical plant steam ejector
vacuum systems.
The general lessons that we
have learned are that conven-
tional descriptions as to how
converging-diverging steam
ejectors function do not always
correspond with the actual
operation of vacuum tower
ejectors. This is based on
observed external temperatures
along the jet. Most vacuum
system malfunctions originate
with problems external to the
ejectors and with the ejector
steam nozzles.
Seal drum sludge
This problem at a plant in
Wyoming involved sludge
accumulation when the seal
drum covers the bottom of the
seal legs. The condensers then
could not drain properly and
filled with condensate. The
standard design for the seal
drum is to have the bottom of
the legs 4in (10 cm) above the
bottom of the seal drum.
The correction here was to
cut off the bottom 12in (30 cm)
of the seal legs. A temporary
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fix was to blow the seal legs
out with steam.
Loose steam nozzles
The steam nozzles at a plant in
Louisiana became loose where
they screw into the body of the
steam ejector. Sometimes this
was due to corrosion of the
carbon steel ejector (the nozzle
itself is stainless) and some-
times the nozzle just came
loose without any apparent
corrosion.
The correction was to wrap
the steam nozzle threads with
Teflon tape, use larger washers
to maintain proper spacing
between the steam nozzle and
diffuser inlet, and tighten the
nozzle forcefully up against the
spacers. The back end exten-
sion of the ejector body should
be stainless and not carbon
steel.
A temporary fix was to
reduce motive steam pressure
below the design motive steam
pressure.
Plugged steam nozzle
Moisture carry-over from local
waste heat kettle boilers at a
plant in South Africa contained
silicates that then deposited in
the throat of the steam nozzles,
restricting steam flow through
the nozzles.
The correction was to employ
a lower level in the waste heat
boilers. There is a clean-out
plug in the back of the ejector.
A temporary fix is to unscrew
the plug and wire brush out
the steam nozzle. This cannot
be done with the ejector in
operation.
Reverse flow of motive steam
Reverse flow only occurred
when discharging dual parallel
ejectors to a common
condenser at a plant in Texas.
Steam flow from the discharge
of the stronger ejector flowed
backwards through the weaker
ejector into the suction of the
stronger ejector, which was
then overloaded.
The problem usually
involved hardness deposits in
the throat of the weaker ejector
steam nozzle. A temporary fix
is to block in the process side
of the weaker steam nozzle.
Leaking condenser channel
head pass partition baffle
Closure between the channel
head tube sheet and pass parti-
tion baffle in the first stage
condenser was eroded out by
sand in the cooling water at
this plant in Alabama. Water
then by-passed the condenser
tubes.
Correction involved using
silicon sealer along the edge of
the channel head pass partition
baffle.
And a temporary fix was to
inject shredded fibreglass into
the cooling water to the
condensers.
Excessive cracked gas
production in the vacuum
tower boot
Most of the cracked gas over-
loading the ejectors at this
plant in Louisiana was due to
cracking in the vacuum tower’s
boot. Correction involved
reducing the boot temperature
by 20°F by increasing the flow
of boot quench (or installing
boot quench if none exists).
A temporary fix was to
convert the vacuum tower
bottom pumps to suction pres-
sure control rather than level
control and/or lower the boot
level until the vacuum tower
bottom pump slips.
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 Excessive cracked gas
production due to high peak
temperature in the vacuum
heater
Most cracking and gas flow to
the ejectors occurs inside the
heater tubes – typically two or
three tubes from the outlet, due
to peaking of temperature
inside the tubes.
The correction at this plant in
California was to increase the
diameter of the last few heater
tubes to reduce delta P. A
temporary fix is to increase
velocity steam to the heater
passes.
Excess saturated gas flow to
ejectors
Seal drum off-gas had excess
amounts of saturated hydrocar-
bon components (C3, n-C4)
rather than olefins (C3=, C4=) at
a plant in Alberta, Canada. The
stripping trays in the upstream
atmospheric tower bottom
towers were redesigned. A
temporary fix would be to
check for leaking boot quench
vs crude exchanger (crude leak-
ing into the vacuum tower
boot), use more atmospheric
tower stripping steam, and
employ lower pressure in the
atmospheric tower.
Wet motive steam
The motive steam was very
wet (5%+ moisture) at a St
Croix plant. Small amounts of
moisture did not hurt the ejec-
tor’s performance noticeably. A
temporary fix was to wrap the
steam line with steam tracing
coil and/or electric heat trace
line and/or reinsulate the
steam supply line.
Leaking condenser air baffle
leaf seals
The seal between the top of the
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condenser air baffle and the
inside of the shell was leaking
at an Aruba refinery. This
allowed steam to bypass the
condenser and overload the
downstream ejector. A correc-
tion was to employ at least
three pairs of 316 stainless steel
(not copper) flexible leaf seal
strips extending ¼-½in beyond
the shell’s I.D. A temporary fix
is to feed cold water into the
inlet of the condenser if extra
seal drum water flow can be
tolerated, and spray water onto
the exterior of the condenser
shell and process inlet line.
Leaking seal leg
Air drawn into the first stage
condenser seal leg caused
condensate back-up and
increased temperature and gas
flow to the downstream ejector
at an Oklahoma plant.
The carbon steel seal leg was
replaced with stainless.
Temporarily, the air leak was
located by finding a cold spot
on the seal leg, which was then
wrapped with duct tape.
Incorrect spacing between
steam nozzle and diffuser inlet
The distance between the tip of
the steam nozzle and the inlet
to the diffuser body is critical
to develop correct vacuum. In
this case, a refinery in Denver,
Colorado, the two ¼in spacer
rings had been left off. The
solution was to shut down the
ejector and install the two
missing spacers, although a
temporary improvement is
available by changing the
motive steam pressure.
(Note: the maximum discharge
pressure to avoid jet surging
can be increased by advancing
the steam nozzle position
slightly.)
Corroded diffuser
HCl had corroded a hole in the
middle of the diffuser body
and caused an air leak at a
Louisiana refinery. The solu-
tion was to wrap the diffuser
body with duct tape. We have
found that wear on the diffuser
body does not noticeably
alter ejector performance
unless there is an air leak.
We consider the use of duct
tape to be a semi-permanent
repair.
Lack of LVGO pumparound
heat removal
Excessive tower top tempera-
ture could only be controlled
with more HVGO pumparound
heat removal at plants in
Alabama and Oklahoma. The
result is less LVGO production
and reduced absorption effi-
ciency in the LVGO product
with more vapour flow to the
first stage ejector.
We tightened the slipping
LVGO pumparound air cooler
belts and shut off the LVGO
trim cooler for 15 minutes to
sublime off ammonia salts, then
reduced the HVGO pumpa-
round flow.
Excess gas flow from pre-
condenser
Effluent from the pre-condenser
contained excessive amounts of
light naphtha boiling range
components, which were over-
loading the first stage ejector at
a refinery in Louisiana. The
correction was to improve
stripping tray efficiency in the
crude tower bottoms, with a
temporary fix option to raise
the vacuum tower top tempera-
ture to distill over more heavier
naphtha boiling range compo-
nents that act as an absorption
oil.
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Partly plugged pre-condenser
and first stage condenser
Often condensers are
purchased as follows:
• Fixed Tube-Sheet
• ¾in tubes
• Triangular pitch
• 15/16in tube pitch.
Such condensers can never
be effectively cleaned as the
bundle cannot be extracted
from the shell side. Delta P
eventually becomes excessive.
The solution for a plant in
Louisiana was to purchase an
exchanger with these features:
• Pull-through bundle
• 1in tubes
• Rotated square pitch
• 1½in tube pitch.
A temporary fix is to circu-
late toluene and HCl through
the shell but this is only
partially effective.
Excessive CO2 and N2 in off-gas
Sample of off-gas from the seal
drum of a Missouri refinery
included 40% N2, 10% CO2 and
no O2. Lack of O2 and 10% CO2
indicates an air leak in the
vacuum heater transfer line.
There is no temporary fix for
this. It is a very dangerous
situation and requires immedi-
ate shutdown.
Erosion of steam nozzle
The ejector surged and lost
vacuum when the cooling
water temperature increased
by 5°F at a plant in Louisiana.
The moisture content of the
steam had caused nozzle
erosion after several years. The
nozzle was replaced. A more
than 5% increase in nozzle
throat diameter is excessive.
A temporary fix is to reduce
motive steam pressure below
design to reduce steam load to
the downstream condenser.
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Oversized condenser
impingement plate
Excessive ejector discharge
pressure caused surging at an
asphalt plant in San Francisco,
California. The problem was
excessive pressure drop in the
downstream condenser,
corrected by reducing the
diameter of the condenser
impingement plate to slightly
larger than the inlet nozzle,
with a temporary fix of
reduced motive steam
pressure.
Condensate back-up in
pre-condenser
Condensate backed up into the
pre-condenser and covered the
bottom edge of the vapour
baffle, greatly increasing
condenser delta P. The seal
drum at this Louisiana refinery
was found to be flooded.
The level indication was 60%,
when the actual level
was 100%+. The primary seal
drum pump was running
partly below its performance
curve.
A temporary solution was to
turn on the spare seal drum
pump and run two pumps in
parallel.
Excessive seal drum pressure
Back pressure from the seal
drum off-gas increased the
liquid levels in the condensers
due to back-up from the seal
legs at this plant in New
Orleans, Louisiana. The prob-
lem was high delta P through
the waste gas burner in the
vacuum heater. The burner
needed to be cleaned.
Temporarily, part of the seal
drum off-gas was diverted to
the gas compressor or to the
flare. However, flaring H2S rich
gas is no longer legal.
Excessive use of stripping in
crude tower bottoms
The jets were overloaded with
too much light hydrocarbons at
a plant in Alberta, Canada. Lab
analysis indicated that most of
the gas was not cracked gas
but virgin hydrocarbons from
the crude charge. Increasing
the crude tower bottom strip-
ping steam flow increased the
crude tower flash zone pres-
sure and made the problem
worse in the vacuum tower.
The solution was to add
more crude tower overhead
condenser capacity, with a
temporary fix of cleaning the
underside of the forced draft,
air-cooled overhead condenser
finned tubes on the crude unit.
High vacuum tower boot level
The vacuum tower boot resi-
dence time was excessive at a
refinery in Corpus Christi,
Texas, hence the bottoms
pumps were switched to
suction pressure control.
High liquid level in
pre-condenser
The condenser boot level was
excessive due to a faulty level
indication at a plant in
Louisiana. A leaking plug on
top of the level control was
allowing atmospheric air pres-
sure to depress the level
indication and so was
tightened.
Surprisingly excellent vacuum
This article closes with a posi-
tive experience from a recent
troubleshooting assignment.
Figure 2 shows an approximate
exterior temperature profile for
the first stage ejector on a
medium sized vacuum tower
in a refinery in Mexico. In 50
years of troubleshooting refin-
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 Troubleshooting checklist temperatures shown were skin
temperatures obtained with an
infrared gun. The ejector was
• Clean steam inlet nozzle throat.
• Check nozzle tip-to-diffuser inlet distance is set correctly. quite long (about 20ft, 6m) and
• Check if steam nozzle is loose. small in diameter (about 12in,
• Check if the diffuser body is leaking.
• Renew insulation on motive steam line to jets. 30cm). The motive steam
• Lower boot level in vacuum tower. visually appeared to be dry.
• Lower boot temperature in vacuum tower.
• Check condenser’s pass partition baffle for cooling water by-passing inside channel head.
• Check LVGO pumparound fan belts for tightness. Summary
• Optimise ratio of LVGO vs HVGO pumparound duties. The complexity of refinery
• Shut off LVGO pumparound trim air coolers for 20 minutes to sublime or melt off deposits.
• Check the ratio of C3/C4 saturates to C3/C4 olefins and check for virgin crude components in vacuum system malfunctions
vacuum tower feed. could extend this list, based on
• Check for leaking vapour baffle leaf seal strips and whether the impingement plate in
the pre-condenser is too large.
the author’s experience, by an
order of magnitude. Not many
Table 1 months go by before a new and
unexpected type of vacuum
ery vacuum towers, this is the considering that only one of the system problem is encountered.
best compression ratio ever two ejector trains was in More so than other types of
observed: service. refinery process equipment,
• Suction = 10 mm Hg The external temperature troubleshooting vacuum
• Discharge = 190+ mm Hg. profile shows a normal temper- systems requires determination
Overall compression ratio: ature rise upstream of the and dedication as well as care-
• 190/10 = 19. diffuser throat (see Figure 2), ful field observations.
The ejector inlet pressure was and then a large temperature To end, here (see Table 1) is a
taken with an absolute Hg drop just before the diffuser troubleshooting list for a refin-
manometer. The delta P across throat (which, according to ery vacuum system.
the condenser was neglected. theory, is to be expected). Just
Reference
The condenser vapour outlet at the throat, there is a sudden 1 Lieberman N P, Troubleshooting
pressure was measured with an temperature jump. That is the Vacuum Systems, Wiley Publications.
ordinary 0-30in Hg gauge, effect of the gas being
which was checked for zero at compressed as the flow changes Norman Lieberman is a field
atmospheric pressure and read from sonic to subsonic (the troubleshooter for refinery process
22.1in Hg at the jet discharge. ‘sonic boost’). problems and has been instructing
refinery troubleshooting seminars since
The refinery was at sea level, Thereafter, the temperature
1983. His company provides retrofit
but the condenser was elevated rise continues in a normal
designs for refinery vacuum systems.
about 100ft (30.5m) above pattern. The observed tempera- He graduated with a degree in chemical
grade. ture drop between 250°F and engineering from Cooper Union for the
Typical first stage ejector 170°F (120°C and 75°C), accord- Advancement of Science and Art in New
compression ratios range from ing to vendor publications is York.
two (bad) to eight (excellent). normal. But the author has only
The ejector itself had been seen this before when the
made locally in Mexico and no motive steam has been wet. LINKS
curve was available. While the The conclusion is that the sort
tower flash zone temperature of external temperature profile More articles from the following
was only 380°C (716°F), and the observed is characteristic of an categories:
feed rate was only 60%-70% of ejector in good mechanical Crude and Vacuum Units
design, still the compression condition, running lightly Revamps and Turnarounds
ratio of 19 is impressive, loaded. Note that all the

6 Revamps 2016 www.digitalrefining.com/article/1001321