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What are the causes of high pressure drop in Kerosene hydrotreater reactor (Kerosene hydrotreating Unit) and how can they be solved?
 
Answers
14/07/2015 A: Eric Vetters, ProCorr Consulting Services, ewvetters@yahoo.com
Sometimes kero hydrotreater reactors will hit a dry point in the reactor, which can lead to fouling deposits and/or formation of color bodies.
21/06/2015 A: Ralph Ragsdale, Ragsdale Refining Courses, ralph.ragsdale@att.net
A common cause is from solids in the reactor inlet stream. The most common solid is iron sulfide from corrosion of the furnace tubes. Lately, staged loading of various kinds of trap material are being employed. This material is designed to contain the solids in a manner that retards pressure drop buildup.
18/06/2015 A: Keng Chung, Well Resources Inc., kengchung@hotmail.com
A common pressure drop problem of naphtha/kerosene hydrotreating is due to fouling of olefins/diolefins (see OGJ paper by Sok Yui).
18/06/2015 A: Zoltan Fodor, MOL Group / Production Technology, zfodor@mol.hu
We had similar problems in our Kero and Naphtha HDTs. The cause is mainly feed contamination particles in our case. We installed a more fine feed filter and always use dust baskets in the top layers. This is usually not recommended by catalyst manufacturer, they have their own grading system to prevent pressure drup build up, but our experience shows that it is not enought in our case. Baskets help a lot. HTAS recommended to use them if they are more than 1/3 full az EOR, but you can't tell that if you don't already have them. If you only use ceramic balls on top you can try a grading system first. Also its worth to check the hydrogen ratio and purity to be sure that its not caused by H2 starvation coking.