Consultancy firm Gulf Advanced Process Technologies (GAP-Tech), active in process engineering and optimisation, achieved great success in a debottlenecking study recently of a Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) at an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia, the company reported.

“Through modifications in the existing system an increase of around 20 per cent in the throughput will be achieved after the implementation of the study,” it said. The estimated cost was about one fifth that of the conventional solution, namely addition of a new heat exchanger train, according to the company.
Dammam-based GAP-Tech explained that the bottleneck in the unit was the furnace that had limited capacity.
“The crude oil goes through a preheat train, that is a series of heat exchangers, where it is being heated up by the pumparounds and products from the column to a certain extent prior to its entry into the furnace. It was this preheat train that GAP-Tech focused on and made recommendations that will effectively increase its performance. One of the tools used was pinch analysis that enabled better heat integration within the unit, thus increasing energy recovery.”
The modifications recommended by GAP-Tech included repiping of some heat exchangers, changes in the internals of the units and addition of equipment - a few heat exchangers.
“These modifications were verified by vendors ensuring the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed modifications,” the company said.

Complete solution
“The result of the study was a complete solution including hydraulic analysis, column calculations and all the other aspects that will actually enable the unit to handle the increased throughput. Furthermore, GAP-Tech allied with equipment manufacturers and vendors for better cost estimation and technical evaluation of the study.”
As part of its services, GAP-Tech provides technical studies, software tools,  training and basic engineering for energy and process industries through process integration and optimisation, energy and utilities cost reduction, environmental compliance and greenhouse gas emissions reduction, capital minimisation for process expansions and grassroot projects;  infrastructure modernisation and optimal assets management.
It specialises in providing integrated energy and utilities performance management solutions and process improvement strategies that maximise operational efficiencies and help improve designs of complex energy-intensive facilities.
“As a systems integration firm, our mission is to deliver complete customer satisfaction. This can only be achieved by recognising our client’s needs, understanding their performance measures and delivering solutions that are complete and timely,” a company spokesman says.
“We apply the following strategies: acquire, sustain and develop expertise with a focus on maximising local contact; promote awareness and support clients to establish sustainability programmes; support clients to optimise heir facilities design and operation; establish a sustainable research and development programme.
GAP-Tech begins each project with a comprehensive assessment of the facilities current energy and utilities requirements.
“We evaluate our clients’ processes, systems and budget requirements and then recommend alternative schemes that will improve their operations while decreasing their long-term costs,” the spokesman said.
“GAP-Tech walks each client through a step-by-step process of developing the technical specifications, business models and complete project plans that provide positive economic benefit.
“Through the application of cost-effective solutions we help our customers reduce energy and utilities costs and improve productivity. We use advanced engineering solutions to deliver these results and have a process in place for the continuous improvement of our technologies. We utilise industry knowledge and real-world experience to deliver significant value for each client.”
GAP-Tech has extensive expertise in the following:
• Improving the performance of energy and utilities systems in  complex industrial sites.
• Designing and developing projects targeted at increasing   process yields, improving plant reliability, increasing    capacities and reducing process-related costs.
• Improving the design and operations of water and wastewater  systems in industrial facilities and developing regulatory   compliance strategies as well as operations optimisation.
• Developing strategies and projects to satisfy a variety of   environmental issues, including cost effective reduction of   emissions as well as optimising operations within defined   emission limits.