Best Practice 06 September 2021

SABP-A-133
Aromatics Adsorbent Towers, ON/OFF Valves Leak Test Guideline During
Normal Operation
Document Responsibility: Process Engineering Standards Committee

Previous Revision: new Next Revision: 06 September 2021

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 Document Responsibility: Process Engineering Standards Committee SABP-A-133
Issue Date: 06 Septmber 2021
Next Revision: 06 September 2031 Aromatics Adsorbent Towers, ON/OFF Valves
Leak Test Guideline During Normal Operation

Contents

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 Document Responsibility: Process Engineering Standards Committee SABP-A-133
Issue Date: 06 Septmber 2021
Next Revision: 06 September 2031 Aromatics Adsorbent Towers, ON/OFF Valves
Leak Test Guideline During Normal Operation

1. Scope
The scope of this Best Practice is to provide a leak test guidance for licensed Aromatics adsorbent
tower at SATORP, Petro Rabigh Co. or Jizan Refinery on its on/off valves. The best practice
covers mainly the guideline on how to perform the leak test on those valves at different operation
zones/scenarios. Moreover, it covers how to set the valves in maintenance and the conditions to
reset from maintenance. The best practice will also indicate the maximum acceptable number of
valves that can be in a failure/maintenance status.

2. Conflicts and Deviations

The current document is a Best Practice which has been developed based on the existing
standards, practices followed in the industry and those recommended by the Process Licensor.
Any conflicts between this Best Practice and other applicable Saudi Aramco Engineering
Standards (SAESs), Standard Drawings (SASDs), or industry standards, codes, and forms, the
mandatory standards shall prevail.

3. References
All referenced specifications, standards, codes, drawings, and similar material are
considered part of this Best Practice to the extent specified applying latest revisions
unless stated otherwise.
3.1. Saudi Aramco References
None
3.2. Industry Codes and Standards
None
3.3. Other References
None

4. Terminology
None

4.1 Acronyms
None

4.2 Definitions
The following definitions will apply throughout this document:

On/Off Valves: The operating 144 valves around the adsorbent tower (licensed unit at SATORP,
Petro Rabigh Co. and Jizan Refinery) that will operate according to the current configured zone

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 Document Responsibility: Process Engineering Standards Committee SABP-A-133
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Next Revision: 06 September 2031 Aromatics Adsorbent Towers, ON/OFF Valves
Leak Test Guideline During Normal Operation

(Zone1, Zone2, Zone3 and Zone4) at different streams (Feed, Desorbent, Extract, Raffinate and
Backwash). The on/off valves could be referred in this document as XV.

Operating Parameters: calculated or directly measured values that indicates the performance of
a sub-unit of the overall complex. These variables tend to be specific to the technology to which
they refer.

Constraints: these may be hard constraints (emissions limits) or soft constraints (superficial
velocity). In the context of an optimization solution, certain constraints may be included in the
optimization problem.

SCS (Sequential Control System): the individual variable that is used to control the operation
of the adsorbent tower that operates with 144 valves.

Sequence execution: This is the variable upon which action is taken to optimize the Eluxyl and
the associated control valve including the on/off valves. Executing the sequence means starting
the switching process and the zones will start moving around the adsorbent towers.

Control Variable (or Independent Variable): the individual variable that is used to control the
operation of the unit. This is the variable upon which action is taken to optimize the unit.

Unit Operation Control Panel: this is a screen which summarizes the operation of a section of
the process and gives all of the operating parameter pertaining to that section.

The plant: in the context of this document, this refers to the BTX aromatics complex and excludes
off-sites and other units.

5. Background
Several issues and problems can appear during the startup of the aromatics complex and of
course, during the normal operation, especially with the adsorbent tower on/off valves which
requires a guidance on how to detect which valve is leaking out of 144 operating valves to prevent
propagation of the problem and stop the loss. Troubleshooting support to various operating
Aromatics facilities with similar leaking valve scenarios exposed the need to have a more
standardized valve leak test guide in order to more effectively identify and fix the problem.
Therefore, this Best Practice document was developed in order to provide a foundational
understanding of the Aromatics adsorbent tower on/off valves and to guide the customer during
this type of troubleshooting activity.

6. Variables and Calculation Types

All variables will fall under the following categories:

Raw (as-measured): variables measured directly from the plant.

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Leak Test Guideline During Normal Operation

Corrected: flow variables that are corrected to account for temperature, pressure, and density
variations from the flow meter design.

Reconciled: variables that have been through a data cleansing routine and have had an offset
applied.

Steady State: variables that have been generated by the steady-state calculation engine. Note
that there may be differences between reconciled variables and steady state variables due to the
non-steady-state nature of the process.

Optimized: variables that have been calculated by the optimization engine.

7. General Considerations

7.1. Valve maintenance

A valve can be set in maintenance automatically after failure detection or on operator request. A
valve in maintenance is not operated anymore by the sequence. However, the operator can still
operate the valve. In case of valve malfunction, the sequencing is automatically adjusted to allow
maintenance intervention on the failed valve without stopping the production (refer to Automation
Book). After maintenance operation, the normal sequencing is restarted by resetting manually the
valve out of maintenance state.

7.2. Maximum Valves in Failure

On each flow (Feed, Desorbent, Extract or Raffinate), 2 valves in maintenance on consecutive
beds are allowed. By default, if more than two valves on consecutive beds are in maintenance,
the sequence is automatically stopped. On each flow, a maximum number of 5 non-consecutive
valves in maintenance are allowed. If the actual number of valves in maintenance on the flow is
higher than the maximum number, the sequence is automatically stopped. The maximum non-
consecutives valves authorized in maintenance mode is set to 5 by default. The maximum
consecutive valves authorized in maintenance mode is set to 2 by default. If the maximum allowed
number of valves in maintenance mode is exceeded, the unit will automatically shut down.

It is highly recommended, as soon as two consecutive valves on the same service are set in
maintenance, to repair/assess the situation on at least one of the two valves for removing the
maintenance state. Operating on a continuous manner with two consecutive valves in
maintenance increases drastically the probability of losing the production if the valve upstream or
downstream falls into maintenance for any reason.

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 Document Responsibility: Process Engineering Standards Committee SABP-A-133
Issue Date: 06 Septmber 2021
Next Revision: 06 September 2031 Aromatics Adsorbent Towers, ON/OFF Valves
Leak Test Guideline During Normal Operation

7.3. Conditions to set manually a valve in maintenance

During sequence execution, the operator should not set a valve in maintenance in the following
cases:

• The valve is operated by the sequence in the current, next step or previous step.

• There is already the maximum number of valves in maintenance for this flow.

• The valve is closed to 2 consecutive valves already in maintenance on this flow.

• Try avoiding, as far as possible, to set into maintenance a valve which is next to another valve
which is already in maintenance.

7.4. Conditions to reset the maintenance

During sequence execution, the operator should not reset the maintenance in the following case:
The valve is operated by the sequence in the current step, next step or in the previous step.

Ensure, before removing the maintenance state on the XV, that the related upstream block valve
is opened. If the block valve is forgotten in closed position, when this specific XV will be opened
by the SCS, the unit will either instantaneously hit the Pressure Safety Low Low, PSLL (if the
valve is a Feed or Desorbent) or open the top PSV (if the valve is Raffinate or Extract). In both
scenarios, the unit will be shutdown by SCS to preserve the molecular sieve.

7.5. Max valves in failure in SCS

This functionality is available from the specialist level (The licensor account in the SCS).
Nevertheless, the SEND button is available from the operator level. Click on Max Valves in Failure
Settings button of the “Configuration Menu”. In the view Max valves in failure, the maximum
number of non-consecutives valves and the maximum number of consecutives valves in
maintenance mode allowed on each stream can be configured by the specialist (Licensor) only.

If the number of valves in maintenance on one stream is higher than the corresponding maximum
number, an alarm will be set and will stop the SCS sequence automatically.

NOTE: These default values should not be changed without the licensor specialists’ authorization. The user
can choose to send these parameters to the PLC by clicking on the Send button for each one.

8. Leak Test During Normal Operation

1- During normal operation, if the plant engineer can’t meet specification, the following action to
be taken:

• Make sure that all operating parameters are as of design configuration.

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Leak Test Guideline During Normal Operation

• If all parameters (through SCS) have been configured as of the design but still off spec
product is obtained, it is highly likely that on/off valve is leaking (assuming no mechanical
failure inside the adsorbent tower at this moment).

• Initial guess in which valve is passing (EX, RA, F or D) to be made, and that can be
predicted by looking where is the off spec i.e. PX slip to Raffinate (PX recovery) or PX
purity.

• Most of the valves that are passing are EX and RA valves based on previous experience.

2- Leak detection device and connection: There are no special specification to be on the testing
apparatus. Therefore, end user can fabricate or order some device from the licensor as it is
shown the figure 2. This device is consisting of two flowmeters installed in parallel to assure
more accurate result in which:

• One with 1-10 L/hr. range.

• Another with 10-100 L/hr. range.

Figure 1 Example of the leak testing apparatus

The connection: The device inlet is connected to the high-pressure side and the outlet to the low-
pressure side as shown in Figure 2.

• For Feed and Desorbent on/off valve leak test, inlet should be connected to the header
side and the outlet to the adsorbent tower side.

• For Extract and Raffinate on/off valve leak test, inlet should be connected to the adsorbent
tower side and the outlet to the header side.

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 Document Responsibility: Process Engineering Standards Committee SABP-A-133
Issue Date: 06 Septmber 2021
Next Revision: 06 September 2031 Aromatics Adsorbent Towers, ON/OFF Valves
Leak Test Guideline During Normal Operation

Figure 2 Leak test apparatus connection

3- The guideline to perform the leak test is as follows. For an example, assume Raffinate valve
is leaking, leak test is made during the Raffinate withdrawal cycle while the tested on/off valve
is closed.

NOTE: For extract and raffinate on/off leak test, depending on the pressure on header side, the possible
valve leakage may not be observed. The measurement should be performed when current extract or
raffinate on/off valve in operation is located below the on/off valve which is tested (header pressure
lower than adsorbent tower pressure).

• To avoid any oxygen introduction, it is necessary to sweep all the leak testing
arrangement system with nitrogen before starting the test. It is recommended to
sweep with nitrogen at the workshop or using portable nitrogen cylinder to sweep before
connecting the device to the valve.

• It is necessary to put the valve in maintenance mode then to close the block valve between
the On/Off valve and the header during the operation.

• Connect the flexible hoses on each vent of the block valve located on the header side.

• Connect the leak test device the flexible hoses located on adsorbent tower and headers
side for on/off valve leak test.

NOTE: If the leak test device is as per picture, it is not required to connect differently the device
according to the pressure differential and leak direction. It is only required to operate the 4-block
valves differently to allow the flow to go in one or the other direction. For example, the flow in
Figure 3 tested on the “Left to Right” direction. If the 4-block valves position swapped, the
direction will be “Right to Left”.

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 Document Responsibility: Process Engineering Standards Committee SABP-A-133
Issue Date: 06 Septmber 2021
Next Revision: 06 September 2031 Aromatics Adsorbent Towers, ON/OFF Valves
Leak Test Guideline During Normal Operation

• Open the vent valve slowly to fill the leak test devise through the flexible hose.

• Close the block valve located on the header side.

• Observe the measurement and the flow inside the rotameter.

• In case a leak of more than 1 L/hr is detected, the on/off valve needs to be
dismantled and handed over to Maintenance for repair.

• While isolating the valve, we need to wait at least 24 hours and observing the
performance to give further confirmation. If we see increasing in PX recovery or
purity, it means that valve is passing (this is an extra cross check and confirming
that the valve is passing. Deciding which valve is passing could be done without
this step).

4- To save time and to keep the production without bypassing the bed for long time, we need to
ensure all necessary equipment are available. For example, arrange the crane, make sure
the rail in working and make the spare valve available in the ground.

5- In case of bypass valve is in maintenance and it been received and installed and ready for
operation, make sure to put it in service back to the same cycle you dropped the valve from.
The dead volume liquids could lead to product off spec if the valve returns to other sequence.
An example of that is what happened in one of the Saudi Aramco JV, one of the bypass valves
stuck in closed position during Raffinate sequence and they dropped the valve, fixed and
installed. They returned the valve in service during Extract sequence so they went product off
spec for some time. That could have been avoided if they had returned the valve back to the
same sequence position where they took it from.

6- In case a common pump around suction on/off valve needs to be repaired, The MOVs for the
stand by pump around can be replaced without stopping the sequence, as they can be isolated
from the running pump-around.

7- In case the leak is minor, it could be ignored. However, once the leak is severe enough, the
PX purity and recovery will be impacted to the point where continued operation is not feasible,
and the leaking valve must be identified and dropped for the necessary maintenance and
repair

9. Document History
06 September 2021 New SABP

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