1 reply to this topic

[Vivienne]

Hello Everyone,



Anyone processing ESPO( East Siberian Pacific Ocean) Crude oil blend? Just in case you are, appreciate if you can share operational issues and concerns experienced in processing ESPO crude. In our case, we have seen signs of accelerated fouling in pre-heat exchangers due to high BS&W. We limit mixing to our crude mix to about 45%. Appreciate to know your experience in ESPO processing.

[obsidian_dust]

Vivienne,

My refinery never goes that high in processing ESPO. By about 34% ESPO in mixed crude we already observed significant decrease in pH of CDU overhead receiver water bootleg (since it happened before we equipped our unit with proper corrosion inhibitor injection, the pH could be as low as 3,5. By proper corr. inhibitor injection, it shouldn't be a bi problem). Our refinery was designed for processing sweet crude with S<0,2%, so processing ESPO whose S=0,6% is quite challenging. All straight run products has higher sulfur content but it could be accommodated in our treating units to achieve on specification product. About one or two times we got cu strip as high as 2C in our butane product (whose feed come totally from CDU overhead system), there shouldn't be a problem if you has butane or mix LPG treating unit (such as KOH treater).