51314-4347-Refinery Reduces Crude Overhead Corrosion through Analysis and Online Control

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Product Number: 51314-4347-SG

ISBN: 4347 2014 CP

Author: Nigel Hilton

Publication Date: 2014

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Crude overhead corrosion control is a major mechanical integrity concern within the refinery industry with several reported industry failures. Traditional corrosion monitoring and control revolves around periodic laboratory sampling analysis of the crude overhead sour water to determine the corrosive nature of the process (i.e. pH & Chlorides) and an indication of corrosion rates by the measurement of iron in the sour water.The Phillips 66 Humber Refinery in the United Kingdom is a typical refinery processing a wide variety of challenging crudes. As a result controlling corrosion in their crude overhead system remains one of their biggest challenges. Working with Nalco the refinery decided to trial Nalco’s new automation 3D TRASAR for Crude Overhead Systems. The 3D TRASAR unit is a patented approach combining equipment and process control allowing the refinery to continuously measure the boot water pH and automatically adjusting the neutralizer injection to achieve a control range whilst also measuring chlorides and irons hourly. This system has allowed the refinery to control their neutralizer addition gaining control of the pH and iron in the overhead system thus controlling the crude overhead corrosive environment in real time. The instrument has also allowed in-depth understanding of how the process conditions can change (i.e. slate changes) and the effects these changes can have on the overhead corrosion control.This paper will discuss the benefits and challenges to automating the crude unit overhead corrosion control system. The paper will present field data and corrosion performance results depicting the dramatic improvements in corrosion performance. Adoption of this technology has enabled Phillips 66 to meet their corporate KPI’s conformance of 90% or greater for pH and iron in the crude overhead on a crude unit that processes a daily variety of challenging crudes.