SIMULATION OF ATMOSPHERIC CRUDE TOWERS INCLUDING PACKED-BED PUMP-AROUND ZONES USING A RATE-BASED SIMULATOR

A commercially available rate-based simulator was used to simulate the operation of an atmospheric crude tower with particular emphasis on the packed pump-around zones. The rate-based simulator did much better in predicting the pump-around draw temperatures and the external heat duties than the equilibrium stage simulator. The rate-based simulator avoids the empiricism, guess-work, and approximations of the conventional design methods for pump-around zones and permits their design to be based on mass and heat transfer fundamentals.