Preflash Options for Light Crude Processing

Current trends in the crude petroleum supply are making large quantities of lighter crudes available. These crudes have API gravities of 40° or higher (SG of less than 0.8251). Over the last 20 years the refining industry invested heavily in capability for processing heavy crudes. Running light crudes stresses the capacity of the atmospheric crude unit in these plants. The most common method of debottlenecking light crude capacity adds a preflash drum or preflash column to the crude unit. This presentation examines multiple options for adding a preflash drum or tower and how to connect this to the existing unit.