Application of PIONA Characterisation in Refinery Process Modeling

Abstract

Refnery feed and product streams consist of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons ranging from C1 molecules to C200 and higher molecules depending on the fuid type (e.g., crude feed, kerosene products, Residue, etc.). The traditional approach to characterise the refnery fuid is by generating Pseudo-components based on the fuid laboratory analysis, mainly the boiling point range and the fuid bulk properties analysis. Although this approach to defne the refnery process feeds and products can capture the required mass and energy balance to a certain extent, a much detailed analysis of the refnery fuid cannot be performed with a high degree of accuracy due to the inherent limitation in the traditional Pseudo-component defnition approach. A case study on the new simulation approach was performed by defning the refnery fuid characterisation using the PIONA distribution methodology using a commercial process simulator. A comparison was made between traditional Pseudo-component characterisation vs. PIONA characterisation on the simulation results and calculated parameters. A signifcant improvement in simulated parameters was observed, contributing to higher accuracy in refnery process modelling. In addition, this new PIONA characterisation approach will support rigorous modelling of various refnery reactors for better reactor performance prediction.