Fouling and Compatibility of Crudes as Basis for a New Crude Selection Strategy

摘要

Economic pressures on the refining industry are forcing many refiners to look at low price, high value crudes to improve margins. Some of these crudes are discounted because of perceived fouling or corrosion problems. A new strategy has been developed that allows refiners to choose crudes based on an estimate of their relative processing costs. A cornerstone of this strategy is a thorough understanding of the compatibility and fouling behavior of crudes. Correlations have been developed to characterize the crudes and translate typical assay parameters into fouling, compatibility, corrosion, and emulsifying tendencies. In turn, these tendencies are converted to a relative processing cost. Examples will be presented of the application of this new strategy, which has been successfully used in several refineries. This paper emphasises the fouling and compatibility issues.