Keep your project on-time and on-budget with UOP Modular CCR Regenerator Section
By: Mohamed Shakur
In 2009, one of UOP’s customers placed an order for four modular CCR Regenerator sections to go with their UOP CCR Platforming units. The customer chose UOP because they were concerned about logistics, meeting the project schedule, the ability to maintain high quality with stick built field construction, avoiding delays due to weather, and labor availability. On-time completion is a vital component of a construction project’s success. In many remote locations and in emerging economies, more than 70% of projects can experience time delays. Delays negatively affect the project’s profitability by not only increasing the project costs but by forgoing the opportunity costs of lost production.
Rely on UOP’s Experience
Continuous Catalyst Regeneration (CCR) is used on the UOP CCR Platforming process and the UOP Oleflex process. UOP has been providing modular construction of the CCR Regenerator section to refiners and petrochemical producers for 28 years and has delivered more modular CCR sections than any other EPC in the world. UOP has sold 58 modular CCR Regenerators of various unit styles of which 39 are of the latest generation CycleMax modular CCR section supply is proven to be the most cost effective and time saving alternative to the conventional field stick built approach (see Figure 1).
Figure 1
Rely on UOP’s Expertise
The CCR Section is a very sophisticated part of the process that is used to burn coke off the catalyst and return it to fresh activity. The catalyst promotes dehydrogenation, dehydrocyclization and isomerization reactions and the CCR section maintains the catalysts’ high activity and selectivity with low attrition rates to reduce operating expenses.
Conventional construction techniques employed in a typical refinery and petrochemical process must overcome several unique challenges that are particular to the CCR section:
1. The equipment must to be positioned in series and in a “flow-down” fashion, resulting in a relatively narrow, “high-rise” process unit (see Figure 2).
2. There are more than 500 instruments and special metallurgy for piping and vessels with operating temperatures greater than 500 °C (900 °F).
3. A user-friendly layout at lower decks, where equipment, piping, and instrument density are high.
4. A large number of high temperature and stress-critical process piping loops and equipment.
5. Stringent layout requirements of piping, equipment, and instruments for process reasons.
No compromise on value, quality or safety
Value is derived from our firm price and schedule, avoiding weather related delays, minimizing on-site activity and avoiding quality issues related to stick built. Weather related quality inconsistencies typical of field construction are eliminated since our modular construction is performed in a shop environment with controlled access to tools and materials. The CCR section is prefabricated to the maximum extent possible prior to shipment resulting in simple and efficient installation. Construction site logistics and congestion are minimized by eliminating the need for multiple cranes and a large laydown area (see Figure 4). This helps customers to better manage their site activities and reduce the overall construction schedule by focusing on a reduced scope. UOP’s goal is aligned with our customer’s goal. Our success is not limited to meeting project specifications, but measured by a successful startup and operation of the unit. UOP is committed until the project is technically accepted and fully operational.
The highest quality is achieved by fabrication in a controlled shop environment with easy access to key resources. We ensure uniform quality of equipment and materials critical to operation of the CCR section through the relationships we have developed and maintained with manufacturers that supply the critical process equipment. UOP has developed specific inspection and testing plans for the CCR section to ensure the highest quality product with all critical QA/QC requirements fully incorporated. All equipment and fabrication of the CCR section is inspected by UOP inspectors, UOP Field Technical Services engineers, and various UOP experts and engineers in instrumentation, electrical, mechanical, and civil disciplines, resulting in a comprehensive quality check by experts who are intimately familiar with both process and mechanical requirements of the CCR section. UOP’s inspection and test plan includes both mechanical and process inspections, ensuring conformance to the project’s process performance requirements while eliminating unforeseen field construction problems or rework that can cause long project delays.
To learn more about UOP Modular CCR Regenerator Section, visit www.uop.com or talk to your local sales representative.