SUMMER VOCATIONAL TRAINING

REPORT ON

INDIAN OIL CORPORATION LIMITED

BARAUNI REFINERY
PERIOD OF TRAINING
(16th MAY 12th JUNE 2016)

Submitted By :
SATYAM VIVEK
ROLL NO:- 13/CH/29
B.Tech (Chemical Engineering)
NIT DURGAPUR

INTRODUCTION
The word petroleum has been derived from two Latin words Petra
(meaning rock) and Oleum (meaning oil). As petroleum is obtained
from sedimentary rocks of earth, it is also called mineral oil. Petroleum
is a fossil fuel which is formed when dead plants (like sea weeds,
marine algae) and lower forms of animals (like plankton) remain buried
for several hundred years. It consists of hydrocarbons of various
molecular weights (mostly alkanes, cycloalkanes and various aromatic
hydrocarbons), organic compounds (like oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur)
and trace amounts of metals such as iron, nickel, copper and
vanadium.
Petroleum is also called crude oil which is the mixture of various
components. Crude oil cannot be used directly. It has to be separated
in various fractions and that purpose is fulfilled in a refinery. Crude is
the raw material for petrol, diesel, LPG, kerosnene etc which are major
conventional fuels used all over the world. The process of manufacture
of petroleum products consists of first drilling out of the crude oil from
various sources like sea beds, oil wells and then the various products
are separated by the process of refining and then the are treated in
different units to maintain the norms and standards.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the training
department of Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Barauni Refinery for
granting me this golden opportunity to be a part of this esteemed
organization as a vocational trainee. I would like to thank Mrs.
Krishna Kumari, Officer (T&D) for her constant assistance provided
during the time of this training. I would also like to thank the Fire
and Safety Department, Barauni refinery, Indian Oil Corporation
Limited for making me aware of the various risks and potential
hazards present in the refinery campus and the measures to
control them.
I am grateful to Mr. Sujit Kumar Ghosh, CPNM (OM&S, Utility) and
Mr. Biplob Biswas, CPNM (Units) for their constant guidance and
enlightening words during the course of this training. I would also
like to thank Prof. Anup Kumar Sadhukan, Head of the Department
of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology,
Durgapur for permitting me to undergo this vocational training. I
would be doing injustice if I forget to thank all the shift in-charges
and engineering assistants who made us aware of the process
undergoing in the plant. Last but not the least, I would like to
thank my parents for their constant support and guidance.

ABOUT IOCL
Indian Oil Corporation Limited, established in 1959, is Indias largest
commercial enterprise. It serves mainly India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and
Middle East. The main products are fuels, lubricants and
petrochemicals. Indian Oil Corporation Limited owns ten of Indias total
twenty two refineries , which are situated in Barauni, Panipat, Mathura,
Koyali, Guwahati,Haldia, Digboi,Bongaigaon, Narimanam. Barauni
Refinery was the first refinery of IOCL built in collaboration with Russia
and Romania. As India's flagship national oil company, Indian Oil
accounts for 56% petroleum products market share,42% national
refining capacity and 67% downstream pipeline throughput capacity.
Situated 125 kilometres from Patna, IOCL Barauni was built with an
initial cost of 49.40 crore. Barauni refinery was commisioned in 1964,
with a refining capacity of 1 MMPTA. But now its capacity is 6
MMPTA.Matching secondary processing facilities such as Reside Fluid
Catalytic Cracking (RFCC), Diesel Hydro treating (DHDT), Sulphur
Recovery Unit (SRU) have been added. Barauni Refinery was first
designed to receive sweet crude from Assam, but after establishment
of other refineries in Assam, sweet crude is now sourced from Africa,
South East Asian and Middle East countries like Nigeria, Iraq and
Malaysia. It receives crude from Paradip on the east coast via Haldia by
pipeline. With various extensions Barauni Refinery now can process
both high sulphur and low sulphur crude oil. High sulphur oil is cheaper
than low sulphur oil-thereby increasing not only the capacity but also
the profitability of the refinery.

DEPARTMENTS FIRE AND SAFETY

DEPARTMENT
Fire and Safety Department of Indian Oil Corporation Limited is concerned
about the fire hazards and safety of the company employees and labours.
Fire and Safety officials train the labours in a daily manner. A person can
enter the Battery Area if and only if he/she has a safety pass. This safety
pass is issued by the Fire and Safety Department officials only.

IMPORTANT TERMINOLOGIES:
Safety- Safety is a condition which gives us freedom from hazards, risk,
accidents which may cause injury, damage and loss of materials or property
and even death.
Accident- It is an unexpected or unplanned event which may or may not
result in injury or damage or property loss or death.
Injury- It is defined as harmful conditions sustained by the body as a result of
accident.
Hazards- Inherent properties of a substance or an occurrence which has
potential to cause loss or damage of properties or life.
Risk- Ill probability of the potential for loss or damage or injury.

SAFETY MEASURES:
Different safety measures are taken to reduce the chances of hazards.
Mobiles, laptops, pendrives and cameras are prohibited inside the battery
area. Cars which are allowed to enter the battery area are provided with
spark arrestors. Cigarette, alcohol and other inflammable objects are not
allowed inside the battery area. Fire alarms and Fire Extinguishers are
present within a considerable distance inside the refinery. Workers are
always advised to use their PPEs.
Personal Protection Equipments or PPEs
Personal Protection Equipments are provided for the workers. These
equipments are as follows:
Safety shoes/Gumboots for protection of feet

Safety helmet for protection of head

Face shield for protection of face

Ear plug and ear muffs for protection of ears

Hand gloves for protection of hands

Apron for protection of body

Dust mask for protection of nose

Safety goggles for protection of eyes

Safety belt for work at height

Hazard Siren Code

The major types of Siren codes are:
A continuous test siren is sounded every morning at 7 am for 2
minutes.
Small fire-no siren.
Major fire- a wailing siren for 2 minutes
Disaster-3 times wailing siren for 2 minutes at intervals of 1 minute in
between (8 minutes in total)
Fire Extinguisher
Three types of fire extinguishers are there:
Dry Chemical Powder (DCP) - for control of any type of fire.

CO2 gas extinguisher-for control of electrical fire hazards.

Foam for control of liquid/oil fire hazards.

Red and Green tag system is there for marking of an object. Workers are
always advised not to use the red tag objects as they may cause an
accident.
There are also 5 assembly points in the refinery. All employees and workers
are advised to assemble there in case of a siren.
The aim of Indian Oil Corporation Limited is Zero Accident and Fire and
Safety department plays an important role in that.

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT
The production unit is the heart of the refinery. In this department the crude
is processed and its components are extracted. The products are treated to
meet the market quality. The storage and movement of oil also comes under
this department. The production department consists of the following units:
Atmospheric and Vacuum Distillation Units(AVUs)
Catalytic Reforming Unit (CRU)
Motor Spirit Quality Project(MSQ)
Coker Unit
Barauni Expansion Project
Diesel Hydro treatment Unit (DHDT)
Sulfur Block (S-Block)
Hydrogen Generation Unit(HGU)
Resid Fluid Catalysed Cracking
LPG Recovery Unit(LRU)
LPG Treatment Unit(LTU)

ATMOSPHERIC AND VACUUM

DISTILLATION UNITS
(AVUs)
The Atmospheric and vacuum Distillation units (AVUs) are also called primary
or mother units. The function of these units is to receive crude oil and treat
them by fractional distillation and recover their components. There are three
AVUs in Barauni Refinery, namely AVU-1, AVU-2 and AVU-3. AVU-1 and AVU-2
are designed for handling sweet (low sulfur) crude only whereas AVU-3 is
designed for handling sweet as well as sour(high sulfur) crude. The columns
and furnaces of AVU-3 are lined with stainless steel for handling sour crude.
AVU-2 has a special provision for recovery of ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel)
(commercial name: JET A1) from crude oil and also for LPG caustic wash.

FEEDSTOCK: Crude oil from storage as feed.

PROCESS: The AVUs receive crude oil from storage as feed by a pump

which is then passed through a train of heat exchangers (Train 1) where the
temperature of the crude oil is raised to about 140-1500C. After this, the
heated crude oil from Train 1 is pumped to a desalter vessel, where salts
dissolved in crude and water present along with it is separated. This is done
by injecting water 4-5% by volume of the crude oil. Asphaltenes and finely
divided sediment solids are absorbed on the oil water interface and stabilize
the emulsion. An electrostatic field of about 6000 V to 20,000 V is generated
by means of two transformer grids. The resulting large water droplets
(globules), along with water insoluble solids, then settle to the bottom of the
desalter. This brine is removed at intermittent intervals.
Desalted crude is then passed through a series of heat exchangers (Train-2)
and then fed to the pre-topping column. In this pre-topping column,
unstabilized gasoline is recovered from the top, which is then cooled by a fin
cooler and then a condenser and then fed to another fractionating column,
called stabilizer column. From the stabilizer column, Liquefied Petroleum Gas
(LPG) vapours are obtained from top which are then cooled and sent to LPG
Treatment Unit (LTU). The bottom product of Stabilizer column is Stabilized
gasoline, which is cooled and sent to rundown. The bottom product of pretopping column is pre-topped crude which is then heated in a series of heat
exchangers (Train-3). One part of it is sent to a reboiler furnace whose
vapours are again fed back into the bottom of the pre-topping unit.
The other part is heated by a furnace and then sent to the Main Fractionating
Column (MF). From the Main Fractionating column, stabilized gasoline
vapours are obtained as top product which is cooled in fin cooler, followed by
condensing in heat exchangers and then sent to storage. The side products
obtained are Heavy Naphtha, Straight run Kerosene Oil (SKO), Aviation

Turbine Fuel (ATF), HighSpeed Diesel (HSD) (also known as Gasoil). The
bottom product of the main fractionating column is Reduced Crude Oil (RCO).
There is stripper column for straight run kerosene oil where the volatile
components present in the straight run Kerosene are stripped out and then
kerosene is sent to storage. This is done mainly to regulate the flash point
property of kerosene oil. If the flash point is high, amount of stripping steam
used will be less and vice versa. HSD, which is a component for the diesel oil
is also sent to storage and then further treated in DHDTU.
Further components can be extracted from reduced crude oil in a
fractionating column, but that would require a very high temperature at
which, the reduced crude oil might undergo thermal cracking, which is
undesirable. To avoid this the RCO is further distilled in the vacuum column .
The vacuum column works on the principle that the boiling point or volatility
of liquids are lowered in the presence of vacuum, thus thermal cracking can
be avoided. Vacuum is maintained inside the vacuum column by means of a
steam jet ejector system, which works on the principle of Bernoullis
theorem. The Reduced Crude Oil is then heated in another furnace.
Turbulizing steam is also added at this stage to prevent cracking of the RCO
within the furnace and then the heated RCO is fed to the vacuum distillation
unit. From the vacuum distillation unit, gasoil is recovered as top product.
The side products obtained are Light Vacuum Gas Oil (LVGO) and Heavy
Vacuum Gas Oil (HVGO). The bottom product of vacuum column is called
Short Residue (SR) or Vacuum Residue (VR). The Vacuum residue is sent to
storage. VR is the main feed for COKER units whereas LVGO, HVGO and VR
are the main feed for RFCCU.
In all the AVUs, the furnaces use Fuel Oil (FO) and Fuel Gas (FG) as the
source of fuel. Steam is used in furnaces using Fuel oil as a fuel, to atomize
the fuel oil into small droplets for more efficient burning. Oxygen from
ambient air, required for combustion of fuel in the furnace is drawn into the
Air Pre-Heater (APH) by means of a Forced Draft (FD) fan. The flue gases
leaving the stack of the furnaces at high temperature are made to exchange
heat with the inlet air inside the Air pre-heater by means of an Induced Draft
(ID) fan, before discharging them into the atmosphere. This combination of
Forced Draft and Induced Draft is known as Balanced Draft and is employed
in all the furnaces, operating in the AVUs.
In pre-topping column and main fractionating column, to maintain the pH
and reduce the corrosive nature, some external chemicals are added.
Ammonia is injected in form of aqueous solution from the top to maintain the
pH in the range of 6.2 to 6.6. Injection of ammonia is vital for protection of
overhead equipments. However, excess ammonia will spoil the brass tube
bundles of overhead condensers. Ahuralan is the trade name of an organic
inhibitor compound, which is used for preventing corrosion of condenser shell
by forming a thin protective layer on the equipment.

CATALYTIC REFORMING UNIT (CRU)

The purpose of CRU is to convert low octane naphtha into higher octane
reformate products for gasoline blending and aromatic rich reformate for
aromatic production in presence of catalyst and hydrogen.
Basically, the process re-arranges or re-structures the hydrocarbon
molecules in the naphtha feedstock as well as breaking some of the
molecules into smaller molecules. Naphtha feeds to catalytic reforming
include heavy straight run naphtha. It transforms low octane naphtha into
high-octane motor gasoline blending stock and aromatics rich in benzene,
toluene, and xylene with hydrogen and liquefied petroleum gas as a byproduct.
CRU is not advantageous to operate with lighter hydrocarbons .So splitter
was required to get suitable cut of feed for reformer. Since reforming reaction
is carried out in presence of catalyst, but impurities such as sulphur,
nitrogen, water, di-olefins, olefins, arsenic and heavy metals including water
act as catalyst poison so hydrotreater was required to remove impurities and
water.

REACTION CHEMISTRY:
MAIN REACTIONS IN HTU (Hydrotreater Unit):

1. Hydrofining reactions:
(A) Desulphurisation:
In desulphurisation reaction marcaptanes, sulphur and disulphide are easily
removed.
RSH + H2
RH + H2S
RSR/ + 2H2
RH + R/H + H2S
RSSR/ + 3H2
RH + R/H + 2H2
(B) Denitrification:
RNH2 + H2

RH + NH3

(C) Deoxygenation:
Phenol + H2

Benzene + H2O

2. Hydrogenation:
In hydrogenation di-olefins and olefins are converted to saturated
compounds.

3. Adsorption of metal also takes place.

CATALYTIC REFORMING PROCESS:

1. Dehydrocyclisation
of
Paraffin:
aromatisation
of
paraffin
to
dehydrocyclisation).

The
dehydrogenation
and
aromatics
(commonly
called

2. Dehydrogenation of Napthenes:
Example is conversion of methylcyclohexane (a naphthene) to
toluene.
3. Isomerisation of Paraffins:
Example is isomerisation of normal paraffin to isoparaffin.
SIDE REACTIONS:
1. Cracking
Hydro cracking
Hydrogenolysis
2. Dealkylation
Coking
Dismutation
Alkylation

PROCESS-Heavy NAPHTHA (I.B.P - 1400 C) from storage tank is heated to

950 C in the heat exchanger. The NAPHTHA is sent to NAPHTHA splitter unit
(NTU) where light NAPHTHA vapour (I.B.P 700 C) is obtained as top product
from the stripper column. The NAPHTHA vapour is then cooled in air
condenser before it is sent for storage. A part of light NAPHTHA is sent as top
reflux back to splitter column to maintain the top temperature. One part of
the bottom product is sent as reflux to splitter unit after reboiling and the
other part of bottom product is sent to furnace and then to HDT
(hydrotreater) reactor.
Removal of sulphur, nitrogen, water, di-olefins, olefins, arsenic and heavy
metals takes in HDT reactor in presence of H2 and hydrotreater catalyst
(high alumina content with cobalt and molybdenum oxides). The products
from the reactor are cooled by flowing through the air cooler and heat
exchanger and are sent to HDT separator where sour water is separated from
the boot. The hydrogen-rich gas from the overhead of HDT separator is sent
to HGU and other part is purge to FG (fuel gas) system. The bottom liquid
product is heated in heat exchanger before it is sent to stripper column. The
top product from stripper column is sent to stripper reflux drum whose top is

purge to FG system and the bottom part of drum is sent as reflux to stripper
column.
The bottom of stripper column is filtered and then sent to packinox heat
exchanger (plate type). It is then sent to another heat exchanger to preheat
the feed mixture and then to the reformer preheater. The three reformer
reactor in series along with interheater are used to convert the low octane
hydrocarbon to high octane hydrocarbon by cracking at elevated
tempertures using reformer catalyst (very pure alumina extrudates
impreganated with platinum and promoters). The product from reactor is
then cooled in a shell and tube heat exchanger and then in a packinox heat
exchanger (plate type).the product is then sent to reformer separator. A part
of the top product from reformer separator is sent to recycle gas compressor
and the other part is sent to H2 rich knockout drum and the remaining is
flared off. The bottom of the reformate separator and the H2 rich gas after
compression and cooling is sent to HP absorber.
H2 rich gas from top is sent to HGU system or is utilized in FG system. The
bottom product of HP absorber is condensed in a condenser and sent to LPG
absorber. The top product is the LPG absorber off gas which is sent to FG
system. The bottom product from LPG absorber is heated in a heat
exchanger and then it is sent to stabilizer column where LPG is recovered
from top and the bottom product, the reformate is sent for storage.

MOTOR SPIRIT QUALITY UNIT (MSQ)

Motor spirit quality unit was successfully commissioned in year 2011.The
prime purpose of this unit is to upgrade the quality of petrol to match to the
norms of EURO-3.
MSQ plant consists of three plants in series namely 801,802 and 803.

801 PLANT
In this plant Naphtha is treated in order to produce
1. A Light naphtha for C5 C6 isomerization unit.
2. A heavy naphtha.

PROCESS:
First naptha is treated in an adiabatic reactor over a fixed bimettalic catalyst
bed within a H2 environment at low temperature to hydrogenate the diolefin, followed by the treatment in second reactor at moderately high
temperature in the range of 260-290 Cto promote the chemical reaction.
Next raw desulfurized products are stripped to remove light ends, gaseous
products including H2s and water.
This treated naphtha is separated into two parts
a. Light Naphtha
b. Heavy Naphtha

802 PLANT
In the 802 plant, various reactions take place so that Octane number of
gasoline is enhanced.
Chemical reactions involved in the process are:
1. Benzene hydrogenation
C6H6 +3H2
2. Isomerization
CH3-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH3

C6H12
Isopentene

803 UNIT (PRIME G+ UNIT)

The basic purpose of this unit is to achieve a deep hydrodesulfurization of
LIGHT CRACKED NAPHTHA and HCN, while substantially avoiding any loss of
Octane number.
FEEDSTOCK: SATURATED FEED FROM 802 PLANT
PROCESS: Prime unit consists of two reactors in series.First reactor is SHU
and second reactor is HDS.
SHU REACTOR
In this reactor diolefins are hydrotreated and sulfur compounds are
converted to heavier sulfur species. The effluent from reactor is sent to
splitter column where it is split into 3 fractions.
a. Light cracked naphtha
b. Heart cut
c. Heavy cracked Naphtha
CHEMICAL REACTIONS INVOLVED;
1. Hydrogenation of Di olefins
2. Isomerization of Olefins
3. Hydrogenation of olefins
HDS REACTOR
In the HDS Reactor Desulfurization of gasoline takes place. The main benefit
here is that high degree of desulfurization is achieved, while limiting the
Olefin saturation.
CHEMICAL REACTIONS INVOLVED:
1. Desulfurization
2. Hydrogenation of olefins
3. De-Nitrogenation

COKER - A &B
Delayed Coking is a thermal cracking process used in petroleum refineries to
upgrade and convert petroleum residuum (bottoms from Atmospheric and
Vacuum distillation of crude oil) into liquid and gas product streams leaving
behind a solid concentrated carbon material, petroleum coke. Delayed
Cokers can convert even the heaviest residues to lighter distillates and
provides much needed flexibility to the refiners to process a wide variety of
crude oil. It, therefore, is the most widely used process all over the world.
The goal for delayed coker operation is to maximize the yield of clean
distillates and minimize the yield of coke. Delayed coking technology is
preferred for upgrading heavier residues due to its inherent flexibility to
handle even the heaviest residues while producing clean liquid products. The
main products of delayed coker operation is off-gas (from which LPG is
recovered), naphtha, Light Gas Oil (LGO) and Heavy Gas Oil (HGO). LGO is
sent to Hydrotreater for production of Gas Oil and HGO to refinery FO Pool/
RFCC feedstock. The yield slate for a Delayed Coker can be varied to meet a
refiners objective through the selection of operating parameters. Three
operating parameters govern the yield pattern and product quality of
Delayed Coker
Temperature
Pressure

Recycle Ratio (RR)

Increasing coking temperature decreases coke production and increases

liquid yield and gas oil endpoint. However, temperature can be adjusted only
by a narrow range to control volatilities left in coke. Increasing pressure
and/or Recycle Ratio (RR) increases gas and coke make and decreases liquid
yield and gas oil endpoint. RR can be varied from 0% to 120%. Recycle Ratio
is defined as (Composite feed to Coker Heater)/ (Primary feed to
Fractionator bottom).

THEORY OF PROCESS-Delayed coking is a thermal conversion process

by which a residual stock or crudes, bottom of the barrel material is
upgraded to more valuable distillates. This process also produces a solid
carbonaceous matter called coke. Petroleum coke mainly formed by two
different mechanisms
High molecular weight compounds, such as asphaltenes and resins,
tend to dealkylate to straight chain compounds and CH2 groups when
subjected to high temperature. In this process a residue of carbon (i.e
coke) is left behind.
Dehydrogenation of heavy oils followed by polymerization and
condensation of free radicals from high molecular weight compounds
(mainly aromatic hydrocarbon) lead to formation of coke.

There are three types of chemical reaction processes which occur

continuously without any distinct steps in the coking process: Dehydrogenation The initial reaction in carbonization involves the
loss of hydrogen atom from an aromatic hydrocarbon and formation of
aromatic free radical intermediate.
Rearrangement Reactions Thermal rearrangement usually leads to
formation of more stabilized aromatic ring system which forms building
block of graphite growth.
Polymerization of aromatic radicals Aromatic free radicals
polymerized in the process of coking reaction. This process is initiated
in the liquid phase and continued in different steps.

FEEDSTOCK:
Feedstock can have a considerable amount of metal (Ni + V), Sulphur, Resins
and Asphaltenes. Most typical feedstock is Vacuum Residue. It can also
process refinery slop oil/sludge. Atmospheric residue is also occasionally
processed.

DELAYED COKING PROCESS:

The feedstock is pumped by coker feed pumps from coker feed tanks located
outside the Battery limit, to the feed surge drum. Provision to receive hot
short residue and remaining streams from the unit, in the feed surge drum is
kept.
The feed from the feed surge drum is pumped to Main Fractionator, under
its level control, by feed pumps. The feed is preheated in preheat exchangers
using Kerosene product, Light Diesel Oil (LDO) product and LDO Circulating
Reflux (CR) respectively. The temperature at the outlet of the preheat train is
about 240C.
The preheated fresh feed is fed to the Main Fractionator bottom surge
section. The mixed stream of feed and recycle in the weight ratio of 100:70 is
fed to the two coker furnaces by their respective fractionators bottom
pumps.
The fractionators bottom material (fresh feed + recycle) at temperature of
315-320C is fed to the two passes of each Coker Furnaces. Turbulising water
is added to each pass after the flow control valves. This water vaporizes and
the effective volumetric flow inside the tube increases so as to move the
adherent HC liquid film in the tube walls faster. This minimizes coke
formation and increases heater run length.
The outlet of the convection section of the furnace goes to the top section of
radiation zone and finally comes out from the bottom most tube of radiation

section. The fuel firing in the heater is controlled by its outlet temperature.
Either fuel gas or fuel oil can be selected for control via selector switch. Fuel
oil is atomized by Moderate Pressure (MP) steam under differential pressure
control.
Each furnace has two coke chambers (a cylindrical, insulated vessel). The
feed inlet to the coke chambers is from the bottom. The heated charge stock
enters the bottom of the coke chamber which is under the normal coking
mode through the 4 way switch valves. The vapours from the coke chambers
are led from the top vapour outlet line to the quench column.
Steam and water connections have been provided at the inlet of the coke
chamber for steam heating, pressure testing, steam stripping and water
cooling in the coke chamber during routine operations. Anti-foam injection
facilities are provided at the top of the coke chamber. It helps in
preventing/minimizing the boil over inside the coke chamber.
The flow from the furnace is alternated between the two coke chambers, to
allow removal of coke from one drum while the other is on-steam. Coking
reaction continues to occur in the coke chamber and the sensible heat of the
incoming transfer fluid from the furnace supplies the required reaction heat
for coking in the coke chambers. Thus the unvaporised portion of the furnace
effluent settles out in the coke chamber where the combined effect of
retention time and temperature causes the formation of coke.
The vapours pass on from the top of the chamber to the downstream quench
column. LDO quench has been provided immediately at the vapour outlet
line of the coke chamber to quench the vapours and minimize the coking and
fouling in the overhead vapour line. The bottom outlet line has two streams,
routed to respective circuits.
Delayed coker drum cycle length varies from unit to unit. However, typically
it is kept within 16 to 24 hours.

PRODUCTS OF DELAYED COKING:

1. Delayed coker produces desirable liquid products (naphtha and gas oil)
and by-products and by-products coker gas and solid coke.
2. Coker off-gas goes to the gas plant where C3 and C4 are recovered as LPG
and the lighter end can be used as fuel gas in the refinery.
3. Naphtha contains high olefin content and this stream is usually sent to
hydrotreater for stabilization.
4. Light Coker Gas Oil (LCGO) is sent to diesel hydrotreater for production of
diesel. Typical end point of this stream is around point of this stream is
around 370 C.
5. Heavy Coker Gas Oil (HCGO) is sent to FCC/ RFCC for production of
valuable distillate products. Typical end point of this stream is around s
around 538 C.

BARAUNI EXPANSION PROJECT (BXP)

Four plants are covered under the Barauni Expansion Project which was
commissioned to meet the present regulatory norms of sulphur, benzene and
other constituents in the finished HSD, Motor Spirit.
Diesel Hydro treatment Unit (DHDT)
Sulfur Block (S-Block)
Hydrogen Generation Unit(HGU)
Resid Fluid Catalysed Cracking

DIESEL HYDROTREATER UNIT (DHDT

UNIT)
The main purpose of the DHDT unit is to hydro treat the diesel components
from atmospheric and vacuum units, Delayed Coker unit and fluidized
catalytic cracking unit to produce HSD meeting EURO-III/IV specifications.
The product diesel will have minimum cetane number of 51 and sulphur
content less than 0.05% by weight.
The other process objectives of the DHDT unit are the stabilization of the wild
naphtha generated in the unit such that it can be routed to refinery gasoline
pool & the amine treatment of the sour off gases produced in the unit.

FEEDSTOCK- Feed from SRK-II, Coker and OM & S.

PROCESS-Feed from straight run kerosene-II (SRK-II) , Coker kerosene-I
(CK-I), Straight run gas oil from low sulphur imported crude (SRGO-LS),
Straight run gas oil from high sulphur crude (SRGO-HS), Total cycle oil (TCO)
from FCCU and Light coker gas oil (LCGO) are received into the surge drum.
Oily water system is removed from the boot of the surge tank and the cold
feed from the tank passes through feed preheater. Hot feed joins the stream
before feed filter. The filter arrest particles of size greater than 25 microns
before receiving the feed into the feed surge drum.
The feed from the surge drum is pumped and heated in a heat exchanger
and the compressed hydrogen gas from compressor section joins the feed
and enters in seven numbers of passes before entering into the furnace. It is
further heated up to the required temperature in a furnace (using FG).
The reactor inlet temperature is controlled by controlling the fuel oil/fuel gas
pressure to the burners. Hydrogenation of olefins and aromatic compounds
and desulphurisation takes place in the three reactors in presence of Axens
catalyst (HR-448). The catalyst is composed of varying amounts of nickel or
cobalt with molybdenum oxides on an alumina base. [FIXED BED CATALYTIC
PROCESS]

In order to limit the temperature rise inside the reactor, cold recycle
hydrogen gas quenches are provided under flow control to maintain the
catalyst bed temperatures.
The reactions taking place inside the reactor are given below:
RSH + H2
RH + H2S
RSR/ + 2H2

RH + R/ H + H2S

RSSR/ + 3H2

RH + R/ H + 2H2 S

R-CH=CH2 + H2

R-CH2-CH3

R-NH2 + H2

RH + NH3

The effluent from reactors is cooled and routed to High Pressure (HP)
separators. The vapour phase from high pressure separator is sent to recycle
gas (H2) compressor (RGC) section. The bottom product (liquid hydrocarbon)
of HP separator is sent to Low Pressure Separator / flash drum. Part of this
liquid hydrocarbon is sent to PRT (Pressure Recovery Turbine) for running the
feed pump. Gas (mainly H2S) from flash drum is cooled in exchanger and
sent for amine wash. Amine absorbs the H2S and this rich amine is then sent
to SRU. 23
The bottom of flash drum (liquid hydrocarbon) is sent to stripper column.
Stripper steam is given at bottom to control flash point of diesel and to strip
off remaining H2S, C3 and C4. Desulfurized diesel is obtained from the
bottom of stripper column.

HYDROGEN GENERATION UNITS (HGUs)

The Hydrogen Generation Units were established under the Barauni
Expansion Project (BXP) in the year 2001. Hydrogen is required for removal
of Sulfur present in fuel oils and is used by units like DHDTU and CRU. A
fraction of the generated hydrogen is also used by the HGU itself. Indian Oil
Corporation Limited, Barauni Refinery is equipped with two Hydrogen
Generation Units, namely HGU-1 and HGU-2. As a fuel, hydrogen has a very
large calorific value 141790 kJ/kg. As a result, this plant is handled with
extreme care and precaution. The reformer of HGU is equipped with 118
burners.
PROCESS: 900C Naphtha is taken as the feed for Hydrogen Generation unit
(HGU). The unit also has a provision for intake of 1400C Naphtha as feed if
required. However, mainly 900C naphtha is taken as feed and 1400C
naphtha is utilized as a fuel in the reformer furnace. The 900C naphtha is
stored in a naphtha surge drum and then pumped to a feed vaporizer where
it is partially vaporized. It is then sent to a heat exchanger, where it is
heated.
By means of an ejector mechanism, the feed is sent to the hydrogenerator
unit, where Sulfur and Chlorine present in the feed naphtha is hydrogenated.
It is then passed through a chlorine guard, where HCl reacts with the packing
present in the chlorine guard tower, leading to removal of chlorine and
generation of hydrogen. After this stage, it is made to pass through two
sulfur absorbers, which removes sulfur present in feed naphtha as Hydrogen
Sulfide (H2S) and then to the pre-reformer.
Inside the pre-reformer, the feed is cracked by high pressure steam, and it
breaks down into synthesis gas (CO + H2) liberating about 40% of Hydrogen.
The synthesis gas is then passed through the main reformer and the
outgoing stream is collected in the cold collector. The gas stream is then
cooled in a waste heat boiler followed by 1st boiler feed water pre-heater
and then taken to the Medium temperature shift converter (MT Shift
converter), where synthesis gas is converted to Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and
hydrogen is liberated.
The output gas stream of MT shift converter is passed through a 2nd Boiler
Feed Water pre-heater, cooled and the liberated gas stream is passed
through a low temperature shift converter (LT Shift Converter) where
remaining Carbon Mono-oxide of synthesis gas is converted to Carbon
Dioxide and hydrogen gas. The out-going gas stream is passed through a deaerator reboiler, followed by cooling in air cooler and water cooler.
The gases are then subjected to Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) where all
gases other than hydrogen are adsorbed. These adsorbed gases are then
used as fuel for the main reformer, where it is burnt. The liberated hydrogen

product is then sent to different units, such as DHDTU and CRU, which mainly
use them for removal of sulfur present in fuel oils.

SULFUR BLOCK (S- BLOCK)

Hydrogen Sulfide also referred to as sour gas or acid gas is commonly
present in natural gas and oil formations. At low concentrations, it smells like
rotten eggs. It is EXTREMELY dangerous as it is heavier than air, impairs our
ability to smell/detect with increasing concentration, and exposure to >500
ppm can be fatal! With respect to safety and product specifications, it must
be removed from natural gas and petroleum products. The Sulphur Recovery
Unit in the Refinery takes care of the sour off gases from the various units for
removal of Hydrogen Sulphide. This is done by Amine treatment after which
sulphur is recovered from the off gases.
THEORY OF PROCESS-The Sulfur Recovery Unit (SRU) is based on the
modified Claus Process, which is a two-step reaction scheme overall. A
portion of the total H2S is burned in the Reaction Furnace to form SO2. Then,
the H2S and SO2 react, at an optimal 2:1 ratio, to form elemental Sulfur (Sx)
across the Claus Reactors. After each catalytic stage, liquid sulfur is
recovered in the Claus Condensers. The remaining unreacted H2S and SO2
then proceed to the next stage, where the equilibrium-limited Claus reaction
continues in the presence of Claus catalyst. In general, gas processing plants
and oil refineries are required to recover between 95 and 99.99 percent of
the total sulfur introduced to the SRU. A conventional 2-stage SRU, with two
Claus Reactors, is typically expected to recover 96+ percent. For a 3-stage
SRU, the general expectation is 98+ percent. If necessary, a Tail Gas Cleanup
Unit (TGCU) is required to recover the remainder.
H2S + O2
SO2 + O2 + Heat
2H2S + SO2
3/2 S2 + 2H2O - Heat
FEEDSTOCK-Rich amine from RFCCU, DHDT, LPG and Coker.
PROCESS-SRU consists of four main basic units:
1. Amine Recovery Unit (ARU).
2. Sour Water Stripper Unit (SWSU).
3. Sulphur Recovery Unit (SRU).
4. Liquid Nitrogen Unit.
In ARU, rich amine is first heated in a boiler to raise its temperature. H2S and
other light gases come out at the top of the vertical absorber unit. Lean
amine is supplied back to DHDT/RFCCU, where it is required.
R2NH3S
R2NH + H2S
(R2NH3)CO3
R2NH + CO2 + H2O.
Where R is CH3CH2OH.
The top product of the ARU, also known as Sour water, is sent to the SWSU.
Sour water contains H2S and NH3, phenol, cyanides, chlorides, CO2 and
hydrocarbon. In SWSU, sour water is heated to reduce the solubility of NH4+
and HS- in the water phase. This shifts the equilibrium to left. This lets the
H2S and NH3 to come out of the solution and to be easily stripped away as
gases. But NH3 being extremely soluble in water, some ammonium salt

persists in sour water. This can be released from the solution by the injection
of a strong base such as NaOH.
The H2S is then sent to the Claus section, where partial combustion of H2S
occurs with a ratio controlled flow of air, giving product with 0.5-0.7% H2S,
which is sent to the inlet of the super Claus reactor. The remaining H2S
reacts with SO2 to form Sulfur (g). Total 70% sulfur conversion occurs in this
stage. The reaction as a whole is exothermic.
Sulfur obtained is then passed through a Waste Heat Boiler (WHB), which
drops its temperature from about 290C to about 160C. The primary
function of WHB is to remove the heat generated in the main burner.
Secondarily, it utilizes the above mentioned heat to produce HP steam.
The process gas from the WHB is passed into the 1st Sulfur condenser,
where the formed sulfur is removed from the gas. The process gas leaving
the sulfur condenser still contains a considerable concentration of H2S. H2S
and SO2 react again to form sulfur, but this time at a lower temperature.
In the super Claus stage, the remaining H2S is selectively oxidized to sulfur.
For this reason it is essential that the combustion in the main burner is such
that in the downstream of the third reactor, the amount of H2S is in the
range of 0.5-0.7 volume% and the SO2 concentration as low as possible.
Before entering the 1st reactor, the process stream is reheated to obtain the
optimum temperature for high conversion. In the 1st reactor, only 20%
conversion occurs and after that the reaction stops. The effluent from 1st
reactor passes to the 2nd sulfur condenser. The process gas flows is routed
to the 2nd steam reheater, which passes it to the 2nd reactor where
equilibrium is established. Only 5-8% conversion occurs here. The process
gas from the 3rd condenser is routed to 3rd steam reheater and then passed
to 3rd reactor where equilibrium is established. In this reactor, less than 5%
conversion of sulfur occurs. The sulfur is condensed in the 4th condenser.
If sulfur has H2S greater than 0.5-0.7 volume%, it is passed through super
Claus section, otherwise not. The process gas from 4th sulfur condenser is
routed to the 4th steam and the passed to the reactor which contains super
Claus catalyst. Before it enters the reactor, a
controlled amount of air is added. In the reactor, the H2S reacts with oxygen
to form sulfur according to the following reaction.
H2S + O2
S8 + H2O + Heat
General Chemistry:
2H2S + O2
2H2S + O2

Sn + H2O
2SO2 + 2H2O

The sulfur is condensed in the 5th sulfur condenser. A separator is installed

downstream of the last sulfur condenser to separate entrained sulfur mist.
The sulfur reheated, condensed and separated in the condenser and
coalesce is drained via sulfur locks and the sulfur cooler into the sulfur yard
or sulfur pit.

The tail gases leaving coalesce still contain an amount of H2S, which is
dangerous if released directly to the atmosphere. Therefore the gas is
thermally incinerated converting residual H2S and sulfur vapor to SO2 in the
presence of O2. After that, the gas is cooled in the incinerator WHB, HP
steam is produced. It is used to remove SOx, NOx and COx from the system.

RESID FLUIDIZED CATALYTIC CRACKING

UNIT
(RFCCU)
Refineries vary by complexity; more complex refineries have more secondary
conversion capability, meaning they can produce different types of
petroleum products. Resid Fluidized Catalytic Cracking, a type of secondary
unit operation, is primarily used in producing additional gasoline in the
refining process. The Fluidized Catalytic Cracking is a very important
procedure of cracking the heavier molecular weight gasoline to lower
molecular weight gasoline with the help of a fluidised bed of catalyst. The
Fluid Catalysed Cracking Unit which is getting both short residue (SR) and
Heavy Vacuum Gas Oil (HVGO) as feed is called Resid Fluidized Catalysed
Cracking Unit (RFCCU). The RFCCU under Barauni Expansion Project (BXP) of
Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Barauni refinery was established in 2001 to
process the bottom product of Vacuum Column of Atmospheric and Vacuum
Distillation Units.
THEORY OF PROCESS: Cracking means conversion of heavier molecular
weight gasoline to lower molecular weight gasoline. Cracking can be of two
major types-Thermal Cracking and Catalytic Cracking. Thermal cracking uses
very high temperature whereas Catalytic cracking is done in presence of
catalyst at moderate temperature. Catalytic Cracking can produce more
gasoline than thermal cracking and hence Catalytic Cracking is majorly used
in refineries.
Catalytic Cracking needs Catalyst Regeneration System. The partially spent
catalyst is continuously regenerated in the air regenerator. The partially
spent catalyst is known as equilibrium catalyst. These need to be
regenerated because coke is deposited on the surface of catalyst. These
need to be removed or otherwise the catalyst will be deactivated.
FEED STOCK: The Short Residue and Heavy Vacuum Gas Oil is the feed of
RFCCU. This is heated in a heat exchanger before feeding it in the Reactor.
PROCESS:
MAIN REACTOR:
The preheated feed is fed to the reactor bottom, known as Riser. The
cracking reactions are carried out in this riser part. Steam is also fed in the
riser to maintain fluidity of the highly viscous feed. The partially spent
catalyst along with product vapour goes up. The reactor consists of a cyclone
separator at the top. It separates the product vapour from the partially spent
catalyst. The product vapour leaves the reactor from the top and is fed to the

main fractionating column. The partially spent catalyst cannot go up through

the separator and is fed to regenerator from reactor.
REGENERATOR SYSTEM:
The Regeneration System here is a two stage Regenerator. The partially
spent catalyst comes through the Spent Catalyst Slide Valve (SCSV) to the
1st regenerator. Air from the Main Air Blower (MAB) comes to 1st regenerator
at 700 0C. Seventy percent of the catalyst is regenerated in this 1st
regenerator. Another cyclone separator is placed after it so that air cannot
pass to the second regenerator.
Due to positive pressure head the catalysts come to the Second Regenerator
system. Air enters the regenerator at a temperature of 760 0C. The rest
thirty percent of the regeneration system is carried out here. The second
stage regenerator also consists of a cyclone separator which takes the
regenerated catalysts and they are sent to Withdrawal Well. The entrained
air which passes to withdrawal well is sent back to second regenerator.
Flue gas from 1st and 2nd stage regenerator goes to the stack.
Regenerated Catalyst is comes to the Withdrawal Well and they are sent to
the reactor through Regenerated Catalyst Slide Valve (RCSV). The
regenerated catalysts are added in the riser part.
Air should not go into the reactor anyway as it may cause explosion. To
prevent the flow of air into the reactor, we place the cyclone separator at the
top of both the regenerators.
Flow of product vapours in the regenerator system can be considered as it
will cause loss of product only and there will not be any chance of serious
accident. But flow of air in the reactor must be prevented in anyway.
MAIN FRACTIONATING COLUMN:
The reaction product vapours (at 535 0C and 1.72 bars) flow from the top to
the bottom section of the distillation column where they are distilled into
several fractions:
The off gas (mainly C1-C2) from the top goes to the LPG Recovery Unit.
The C3-C4 fractions go to LPG Treatment Unit.
Light Cracked Naphtha (LCN) and Heavy Cracked Naphtha (HCN) are
sent to Motor Spirit (MS) pool.
Light Cycle Oil (LCO) and Heavy Cycle Oil (HCO) is sent to Diesel Hydro
treatment Unit (DHDT)
Decant Oil (DCO) is sent to Carbon Black Feed Stock (CBFS)

LPG Recovery Unit (LRU)

Recovery of heavy hydrocarbons (C3+) or LPG from refinery purge and fuel
gas stream is more profitable than sending these high value components to
fuel. So LPG Recovery Unit is introduced in the refinery. LPG components are
produced in many refinery operations. Traditionally absorption and cryogenic
systems are used in LPG Recovery Unit.
THEORY OF PROCESS- The off gases from the AVUs and Coker Unit
contains C1 - C4 and some amount of sulphur. The critical pressure of C3 and
C4 gases is 10-12 kg/cm2. These gases when liquefied under pressure are
called Liquefied Petroleum Gases. It is a mixture of propane(30-40%) and
butane(60-70%).Propane and Butane can be easily liquefied and stored in
cylinders .It is of high calorific value(45,500 kJ/kg). LPG Recovery Unit
recovers the LPG present in the off gases of AVUs and Coker Unit and this is
sent to LPG Treatment Unit (LTU).
FEEDSTOCK-Off gases from AVUs and the Coker Unit is the feed of LPG
Recovery Unit.
PROCESS-The off gas from AVUs and Cokers are sent to LPG Recovery Unit.
These gases are stored in a knock out drum (V1) at a pressure of about 1.7-

2.2 kg/cm2. Liquid and gas get separated in this knock out drum and that
liquid free gas is sent to a compressor through a turbine. This is called the
first stage suction. Gases leave the 1st stage compression at a pressure 6
kg/cm2. Then it is sent to an intercooler (E1) (water cooler). After cooling, the
gases are again stored in a knock out drum (V2) where the liquid is
separated. The gases from the knock out drum are sent for 2nd stage
compression through a turbine. The final discharge after the second stage
compression is at a pressure of 13 kg/cm2. During compression, spill back
method is used to maintain a constant gas flow in the compressor. The gases
leaving the 2nd stage compression is sent to another knock out drum (V3)
via a water cooler. In V3, it is separated into three parts- the gases at the
top, the condensed liquid at the middle and the phenolic water at the
bottom.
From the knock out drum V3, the gases are sent to absorber column (C1)
column. Kerosene and naphtha are also added in C1. The top gases
consisting of C1, C2 and sulphur are sent to a vessel from where it is sent to
Amine Treatment Unit (ATU). Sulphur gets separated in ATU and the gases
C1, C2 are sent to Refinery Gas Header (RGH). The bottom product is sent to
stripping column, C2.
The condensed liquid present in the middle of knock out drum V3 is also sent
to column C2 along with the bottom residue of C1. C2 column is a stripping
column where MP steam is used as the stripping medium. The stripped out
gases coming out from column C2 consists of C1,C2 and some amount of C3.
The residue of C2 column is sent to column C3.
Column C3 is the Debutaniser column. The operating pressure of this column
is 10.2-11 kg/cm2. The top gas from this column is LPG which is sent to LPG
Treatment Unit (LTU). The bottom product of this column is naphtha which is
divided into two parts, one is sent to column C1 and another is sent to MSQ.
The bottom product of knock out drum i.e., phenolic water is sent to Sulphur
Recovery Unit (SRU).

LPG TREATMENT UNIT (LTU)

LPG produced in different units must be treated well to remove all the
impurities. In LPG Treatment Unit LPG is treated with amine and then passed
through a sand filter to get the sellable product.
FEEDSTOCK- The LPG from LRU,AVUs and RFCCU is received in LPG
Treatment Unit.
PROCESS- The LPG gas coming from different units is stored in a vessel. The
gases are then sent to a column through a heat exchanger. Amine is added
in this column at the top and middle of the column. This is sent to a settler
where amine is separated. The LPG is sent to a heat exchanger (LPG

cooler).After that LPG is passed through a Sand Filter and then it is sent to
storage.

CONCLUSION
This industrial vocational training at IOCL Barauni was a golden opportunity
for me and a perfect platform for learning about the practical applications of
the theories we learnt in our course. The process of separation based on
relative difference in the boiling point and volatility was applied to
commercial purpose by industries to extract valuable fuel components from
crude oil and refine them as per market demands for sale in the market. It
can be clearly seen that unit operations of chemical engineering are
intertwined with the various processes used for extraction and refining in the
oil refinery.
The experience and knowledge gained from this industrial vocational training
are immense. It made me acquainted with the various basic processes which
are undergoing in different units in the refinery as well as the basic
underlying concepts involved in each process. There are also certain salient
features which are unique to Barauni refinery which are not present in any
other refineries of this esteemed corporation.
I gained knowledge during this training in various aspects as an engineer in
an industry.
Training here, enhanced my cognition, as the employee were very helping
and all the doubts and question that arise in my mind were discussed.