Caustic Tower Operation at Westlake Chemical

The Westlake Petro 2 Caustic Tower was designed by ABB Lummus utilizing two packed beds and a top section of trays for Water Wash. This report will discuss the findings involving red oil generation and how the red oil is removed from the Caustic Tower. The red oil treatment programs provided by Nalco, Dorf Ketal, and GE Betz will be evaluated. The correct red oil treatment is important to implement the new red oil removal procedure.

The ABB Lummus method for red oil removal is cumbersome, and it requires much outside operator time to accomplish. A new successful method for red oil removal from the Caustic Tower will be described.