Brown Burns, J.
Valero Energy Corp., San Antonio, Texas
Jill Brown Burns is a Director of technology at Valero, responsible for troubleshooting, operations and design of the many fractionation columns and crude and vacuum distillation units at Valero’s 14 refineries. Her previous experience includes positions at Marathon Petroleum and Sulzer Chemtech. Ms. Burns holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Oklahoma.
Many tray designs have been complicated by the hunt for the “perfect distillation tray” design.
In this study, a methodology was implemented to predict crude distillation tower flooding events based on key process variables, including product yields, column pumparound (PA) flowrates, column temperatures and overhead reflux flowrate.
In the collective experience of the authors, one of the most troublesome pieces of refinery fractionation equipment is the collector tray.
This case study shows how the installation of an unique piping and lance design achieved targeted liquid injection, quenched vapor hot zones and reduced resid entrainment into the heavy coker gasoil product.