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March

2017

HYDROCARBON

ENGINEERING

150

HEAT TECHNOLOGY

Q

Why is heat technology so crucial to downstream

process plant operations?

Downstream oil and gas operations, and particularly refinery

processes, require a large quantity of heat for the various

reactions, and are therefore extremely energy intensive. This is

a key issue in a period where optimising the use of energy

represents a main focus for many oil and gas players. In this

scenario, heat transfer technologies play a key role: they may

become instrumental for the strategies of oil and gas

companies to help them optimise the use of energy, and to

support their mid and long-term objectives.

Q

What are the main applications for your company’s

heat technologies or equipment within the

downstream industry?

The main applications for Kelvion’s heat transfer technologies

in the downstream sector are in refining and petrochemicals.

The technologies’ principal application fit is in refineries on

distillation units (particularly atmospheric distillation units, or

ADUs), on fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) units, on hydrotreaters

(HDTs), and on the heavy processes (e.g. visbreakers). In these

applications, the technologies assist in increasing the

possibility of energy optimisation. An example is the crude

preheat trains on an ADU, where Kelvion’s technologies offer

improved thermal efficiency, increasing the temperature

obtained before the fired heaters. Secondly, they assist in

mitigating fouling effects – another major issue in refineries

– again, with an increase in the energetic efficiency of the

process units, and a reduction in unexpected shutdowns for

maintenance. In both cases, the technologies assist in reducing

OPEX within refineries.

Q

What was your company’s first heat related

equipment or technology aimed at the downstream

oil and gas industry?

A welded plate heat exchanger, called K°Bloc, which is used on

many processes, but particularly on crude preheat trains on

ADUs. This technology offers the possibility, with a highly

turbulent flow, to cross temperatures, and is very well adapted

to interchanging and heat recoveries.

Q

In what ways can heat technology help to improve

energy efficiency and reduce emissions at process

plants?

This technology, because of its geometry, can preheat the

crude oil by 10 – 50°C more, compared to traditional shell and

tube heat exchangers, which have a completely different

geometry and, as a consequence, behaviour. A lower heat

demand to the fired heater – to achieve the temperature level

required before the distillation columns – results in an

important OPEX saving for the refinery, and, as a direct

consequence of the lower heat demand to the fired heater, a

reduction in emissions.

Q

How have R&D methods evolved over the past

10 years in relation to downstream heat technology?

R&D has evolved in two directions: the research of more

compact and efficient technologies, allowing better

performances, and the need for improved reliability. Reliability

is key to refiners to ensure smooth operations and avoid

unexpected shutdowns: from mechanical reliability, to better

resistance, to fouling effects, to the possibility of performing

maintenance operations in a user friendly way.

Q

Talk us through your company’s design process for

new heat technologies or equipment.

Kelvion only produces heat transfer technologies. Being

completely focused on this means that the company has

regular market intelligence activity – in the form of a constant

dialogue with refineries – to understand their needs in terms

of heat transfer. The company then combines the input from

refineries with its R&D activities to develop improvements that

can fit with an industrial logic, and at the same time represent

a real benefit for downstream facilities.

Q

Explain how new heat equipment or technology is

tested.

The company submits newly developed equipment to several

cycles of theoretical and practical tests, both in-house and

through external dedicated structures. This typically takes a long

time, and during this process the required corrective actions are

put in place, depending on the levels of tests. The final step

involves, excluding any eventually required certification, a

certain number of field tests, under real operating conditions.

Those field tests are conducted (in general on units not at full

scale) by installing the heat exchangers within refineries that

have the possibility to support this cooperation, to verify the

behaviour of the units under real operating conditions.

Q

What has been your company’s biggest

technological breakthrough in terms of

downstream heat technology?

Kelvion’s portfolio includes many different technologies: from

air coolers to shell and tube heat exchangers, from welded

plate heat exchangers to gasketed plate heat exchangers, to

cooling towers, and so on. One important achievement has

been the development of a special tube technology, Diesta,

carried out together with Technip and Wieland.

Q

How has the recent oil market volatility affected

the heat technology/equipment sector?

The current oil market volatility has impacted the whole

sector, but in many cases has changed the investment drivers

for refiners. Today, and even more in the current market

conditions, energy and energy savings remain an important

driver for refiners’ investments. Looking at the market from

this perspective, heat transfer technologies might receive a

positive impulse – under the condition of having the proper

technologies, fitted to achieve energy optimisation.

Q

Where do you see the heat technology market in

10 years?

Heat exchangers in 10 years will be used in more and new

applications, and will have reached improved efficiency

levels, performing better in terms of both mechanics and

reliability. New construction materials, new manufacturing

processes and innovative geometries will make the use of

heat transfer technologies even broader than today.

FABRIZIO PALMERI, KELVION, ITALY