Hydrocarbon Processing - December 2021 - GP-15

SPECIAL FOCUS: PLANT DESIGN & PROCESS CONTROL
gan practicing the transfer of spent caustic in the extractors to
the prewash drums for full reuse. This initiative reduced spent
caustic generation by a significant amount.
Additional training and online monitoring. The last initiative
involved the use of awareness programs, additional training
and the implementation of an online monitoring dashboard.
The plant engineering team realized the need for greater
awareness among young engineers and operators, as well as
more training to operate the Merox system efficiently. Caustic
dumping and refreshing were considered preferred practices
to control product sulfur; therefore, a learning environment
was created to troubleshoot the Merox process and provide
more in-house training and workshops to the operators
and engineers.
An operator handbook, Sulfur Troubleshooting Guide, was
published with simplified system troubleshooting charts. Additionally,
an online troubleshooting dashboard in the plant
information and distributed control systems was developed
to be accessible to engineers and operators for critical parameters
for online monitoring, as well as comparison with standard
operating range parameters, for easy identification and
correction of out-of-range parameters.
In addition to the Merox system, the amine system was
included in this dashboard. Amine system parameter monitoring
is equally important to avoid H2
S and COS carryover
into the Merox system. This initiative significantly helped reduce
product sulfur without frequent caustic dumping from
the system.
Takeaway. The successful implementation of several initiatives
to optimize the LPG Merox process contributed significantly
to the enhancement of Merox treating efficiency by reducing
operating cost by more than $0.5 MM/yr, both from
the use of fresh catalyst and the disposal of spent caustic.
Additionally, these initiatives reduced spent caustic generation
from the LPG Merox process by approximately 50%. All
of the projects were implemented without process modification
or CAPEX by the company. GP
PUKHRAJ GARG has served as a Lead Process Engineer
with Saudi Aramco's Ju'aymah NGL fractionation plant since
2012. He is a certified Professional Engineer with more than
17 yr of experience in the oil and gas industry. He previously
worked with Reliance Industries, UOP and DuPont as a
Process Engineer. Mr. Pukhraj holds BS and MS degrees in
chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT) in Bombay and Mumbai, India, as well as an Executive Post Graduate
Diploma in capital and finance from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)
in New Delhi, India.
UTHMAN A. AL-DAHLOUS is an Engineering Superintendent
at Saudi Aramco's Ju'aymah NGL fractionation plant.
He has more than 24 yr of experience in NGL fractionation
and petroleum refining. Mr. Al-Dahlous holds a BS degree
in chemical engineering from King Fahad University in
Saudi Arabia.
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Hydrocarbon Processing - December 2021

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