7/15/2019 Neutralizing amine overdosing risks - Vacuum overhead - Flat

Refinery DiscussionsNeutralizing amine overdosing risks - Vacuum overhead Flat

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Started: 7/10/2019 2:44 PM View Properties Reply

Neutralizing amine overdosing risks - Vacuum overhead

Good morning everyone,

Farhat, Mohamad
My customer and ourselves are experiencing H2S detection issues when sampling the vacuum boot water. We usually sample it 1x week as per of our weekly service and the
operation does it 1x shift in order to adjust EC1008A injection if necessary to keep the pH in the 5-6 pH range.

The boot water goes directly to the sewer and the sampling zone is at risk as well, with frequent H2S detection nearby. My customer thought about recycling this same boot
water to the desalter wash water, like we are doing on another crude unit. They tried a temporary installation without success. Until they find a permanent solution (which
maybe could be applied in the next turn around 1 year from now), they are thinking about keeping a high neutralizer amine injection rate and reduce/eliminate sampling
frequency.

Actual injection rate is around 6 ml/min, which leads to 2-3 ppm. Amine is injected in the steam eductors. Chlorides concentration varies between 10-25 ppm. This crude unit
feed is a mix of Bakken and MSW crude.

Here is what I think the risks of having a high pH profile in this overhead, with overdosing amine injection :

Increased amine-salt formation

H2S solubility increases at high pH with can lead to further formation of iron sulphide, in other terms more potential fouling and under deposit corrosion.

I received these questions (in red) from my customer so that they could decide if they go forward with overdosing the amine or not:

1) Is there a well know corrosion risk of overdosing EC1008A in this vacuum overhead ?
I believe it is amine-salt deposition. But still, with all the turbulence occuring in the system, does salting likely to occur ?
2) What is the maximum pH that could be reachable with overdosing ?
Is EC1008A considered as a weak of strong base ? If it is a weak base I guess we could simulate the maximum pH with a sample in the lab.
3) Is there any other risk associated with overdosing the amine ?
As I mentioned, I know that a high pH profile increases the H2S solubility in naphta, so more iron sulphide formation and it leads to potential fouling and under deposit
corrosion. Is it right ? Is there anything else?
4) Is there other risks of not knowing the chlorides or the pH in that system ?

Until they fix the sample point issue and H2S emanation, they are considering to cut down the sampling frequency. Anything we could recommend or suggest with this
situation ??

Your thoughts will be appreciated,

Moe

Posted: 7/10/2019 2:46 PM View Properties Reply

Please note that Pathfinder model is not representative for this vacuum overhead system.

Farhat, Mohamad

Posted: 7/12/2019 8:54 AM View Properties Reply

Mohamad

in general most of your questions should be answered using Pathfinder. You need to work on this model to make it run properly. You can test different dosages of neutralizer
(pure EC1008A has a pH of 12)
Romero, Raul
Salting potential can happen if you have a vacuum system with precondenser. In general there is a lot of water condensate in a vacuum system that salting is not a concern.
High ph in the condensate can produce "black water" what means SFe is been removed from the system allowing for more corrosion (typically above ph of 8-8.5)

Posted: 7/15/2019 1:18 AM View Properties Reply

It is certainly not recommended to work blind. In fact, to be sure you should analyze the condensed water from each VDU OVHD stage. Check with your customer if there are
no temporary measures that can be put in place to make sampling safe.

Also check the condensers metallurgy, if there is copper alloy in there it is at higher risk for high pH.
pH's will normally not become extreme as there is H2S in the OVHD gas to react with and buffer the amine. Still a pH of 8 and higher is possible.
Claesen, Chris

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