Predição da incrustação em um trocador de calor baseada em redes neurais artificiais

A serious problem that affects an oil refinery s processing units is the deposition of solid particles or the fouling on the equipments. These residues are naturally present on the oil or are by-products of chemical reactions during its transport. A fouled heat exchanger loses its capacity to adequately heat the oil, needing to be shut down periodically for cleaning. Previous knowledge of the best period to shut down the exchanger may improve the energetic and production efficiency of the plant. In this work we develop a system to predict the fouling on a heat exchanger from the Potiguar Clara Camarão Refinery, based on data collected in a partnership with Petrobras. Recurrent Neural Networks are used to predict the heat exchanger s flow in future time. This variable is the main indicator of fouling, because its value decreases gradually as the deposits on the tubes reduce their diameter. The prediction could be used to tell when the flow will have decreased under an acceptable value, indicating when the exchanger shutdown for cleaning will be needed

Contribuição ao desenvolvimento de ontologias para processos petroquímicos : estudo de caso em uma planta DEA

In the last decades, the oil, gas and petrochemical industries have registered a series of huge accidents. Influenced by this context, companies have felt the necessity of engaging themselves in processes to protect the external environment, which can be understood as an ecological concern. In the particular case of the nuclear industry, sustainable education and training, which depend too much on the quality and applicability of the knowledge base, have been considered key points on the safely application of this energy source. As a consequence, this research was motivated by the use of the ontology concept as a tool to improve the knowledge management in a refinery, through the representation of a fuel gas sweetening plant, mixing many pieces of information associated with its normal operation mode. In terms of methodology, this research can be classified as an applied and descriptive research, where many pieces of information were analysed, classified and interpreted to create the ontology of a real plant. The DEA plant modeling was performed according to its process flow diagram, piping and instrumentation diagrams, descriptive documents of its normal operation mode, and the list of all the alarms associated to the instruments, which were complemented by a non-structured interview with a specialist in that plant operation. The ontology was verified by comparing its descriptive diagrams with the original plant documents and discussing with other members of the researchers group. All the concepts applied in this research can be expanded to represent other plants in the same refinery or even in other kind of industry. An ontology can be considered a knowledge base that, because of its formal representation nature, can be applied as one of the elements to develop tools to navigate through the plant, simulate its behavior, diagnose faults, among other possibilities

Avaliação da biodessulfurização de 4-metildibenzotiofeno por Rhodococus rhodochrous (NRRL B-2149)

Crude oil has between 0.04 up to 5% of sulphur, the higher the oil the higher the sulphur levels. Sulphur usually gives problems such as corrosion in refinery, and once burnt produces SO2 that goes to atmosphere. This work aim to investigate the capacity of Rhodococcus rhodochrous (NRRL B-2149) to metabolize the model compound 4-methyldibenzotiophene (4-MDBT), to remove the sulphur and transform it in 2-hydroxybiphenyl (2-HBF) and sulphite using the 4S pathway. Kynetic runs were carried out in shaker at 120 rpm and 32°C. Samples were taken every 12h to assay substrate consume as well as cells production using HPLC. Results showed that R. rhodochrous NRRL B-2149 can use the 4S pathway in order to remove sulphur without change the carbon chain of the molecule as well as that cells and 4-MDBT affects the product formation. The production of 2-hydroxybiphenyl has interest for industry once it is a potent biocide. However, evaluation is necessary in order to obtain better results compatible with industry needs

Pirólise de borras oleosas de petroleo utilizando nanomateriais

The oily sludge is a complex mix of hydrocarbons, organic impurities, inorganic and water. One of the major problems currently found in petroleum industry is management (packaging, storage, transport and fate) of waste. The nanomaterials (catalysts) mesoporous and microporous are considered promising for refining and adsorbents process for environment protection. The aim of this work was to study the oily sludge from primary processing (raw and treated) and vacuum residue, with application of thermal analyses technique (pyrolysis), thermal and catalytic pyrolysis with nanomaterials, aiming at production petroleum derived. The sludge and vacuum residue were analyzed using a soxhlet extraction system, elemental analysis, thin layer chromatography, thermogravimetry and pyrolysis coupled in gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py GC MS). The catalysts AlMCM-41, AlSBA-15.1 e AlSBA-15.2 were synthesized with molar ratio silicon aluminum of 50 (Si/Al = 50), using tetraethylorthosilicante as source of silicon and pseudobuhemita (AlOOH) as source of aluminum. The analyzes of the catalysts indicate that materials showed hexagonal structure and surface area (783,6 m2/g for AlMCM-41, 600 m2/g for AlSBA-15.1, 377 m2/g for AlSBA-15.2). The extracted oily sludge showed a range 65 to 95% for organic components (oil), 5 to 35% for inorganic components (salts and oxides) and compositions different of derivatives. The AlSBA-15 catalysts showed better performance in analyzes for production petroleum derived, 20% increase in production of kerosene and light gas oil. The energy potential of sludge was high and it can be used as fuel in other cargo processed in refinery

Sistema Especialista para Supressão Online de Alarmes em Processos Industriais

Operating industrial processes is becoming more complex each day, and one of the factors that contribute to this growth in complexity is the integration of new technologies and smart solutions employed in the industry, such as the decision support systems. In this regard, this dissertation aims to develop a decision support system based on an computational tool called expert system. The main goal is to turn operation more reliable and secure while maximizing the amount of relevant information to each situation by using an expert system based on rules designed for a particular area of expertise. For the modeling of such rules has been proposed a high-level environment, which allows the creation and manipulation of rules in an easier way through visual programming. Despite its wide range of possible applications, this dissertation focuses only in the context of real-time filtering of alarms during the operation, properly validated in a case study based on a real scenario occurred in an industrial plant of an oil and gas refinery

Avaliação da remoção de sulfeto de hidrogênio do gás natural em uma coluna de absorção

Natural gas, although basically composed by light hydrocarbons, also presents in its composition gaseous contaminants such as CO2 (carbon dioxide) and H2S (hydrogen sulfide). Hydrogen sulfide, which commonly occurs in oil and gas exploration and production activities, besides being among the gases that are responsible by the acid rain and greenhouse effect, can also cause serious harm to health, leading even to death, and damages to oil and natural gas pipelines. Therefore, the removal of hydrogen sulfide will significantly reduce operational costs and will result in oil with best quality to be sent to refinery, thereby resulting in economical, environmental, and social benefits. These factors highlight the need for the development and improvement of hydrogen sulfide sequestrating agents to be used in the oil industry. Nowadays there are several procedures for hydrogen sulfide removal from natural gas used by the petroleum industry. However, they produce derivatives of amines that are harmful to the distillation towers, form insoluble precipitates that cause pipe clogging and produce wastes of high environmental impact. Therefore, the obtaining of a stable system, in inorganic or organic reaction media, that is able to remove hydrogen sulfide without forming by-products that affect the quality and costs of natural gas processing, transport and distribution is of great importance. In this context, the evaluation of the kinetics of H2S removal is a valuable procedure for the treatment of natural gas and disposal of the byproducts generated by the process. This evaluation was made in an absorption column packed with Raschig ring, where natural gas with H2S passes through a stagnant solution, being the contaminant absorbed by it. The content of H2S in natural gas in column output was monitored by an H2S analyzer. The comparison between the obtained curves and the study of the involved reactions have not only allowed to determine the efficiency and mass transfer controlling step of the involved processes but also make possible to effect a more detailed kinetic study and evaluate the commercial potential of each reagent

Extração e pirólise do óleo de girassol (Helianthus annus l.) visando a produção de biocombustíveis

Nowadays, the growing environmental worry leads research the focus the application of alternative materials from renewable resources on the industrial process. The most common vegetable oil extractant using around the world is the hexane, a petroleum derived, toxic and flammable. Based on this fact, the goal of this work was to test vegetable oil extractions from sunflower seeds cultivated on the Rio Grande do Norte State using two extraction process, the mechanical expelling and solvent extraction, this one using hexane and ethanol as a alternative solvent. The solvent extractions were carried out in the Soxhlet extractor in three different extraction times (4, 6, and 8 hours). The effect of solvent and extraction time was evaluated. The mechanical extraction was carried out in a expeller and the sunflower oil obtained was characterized by its physical-chemical properties and compared with sunflower refinery oil. Furthermore this work also explored the pyrolysis reaction carried out by thermogravimetry measurement as alternative route to obtain biofuel. For this purpose the oil samples were heated to ambient temperature until 900°C in heating rate of 5, 10, 20ºC min-1 with the objective evaluated the kinetics parameters such activation energy and isoconversion. The TG/DTG curves show the thermal profile decomposition of triglycerides. The curves also showed that antioxidant presents on the refinery oil not influence on the thermal stability of sunflower oil. The total yield of the extraction s process with hexane and ethanol solvent were compared, and the results indicated that the extraction with ethanol were more efficient. The pyrolysis reaction results indicated that the use of unpurified oil required less energy to obtain the bio-oil

Avaliação e modelagem da absorção de H2S do gás natural em coluna de leito estagnado

Natural gas, although basically composed by light hydrocarbons, also presents contaminant gases in its composition, such as CO2 (carbon dioxide) and H2S (hydrogen sulfide). The H2S, which commonly occurs in oil and gas exploration and production activities, causes damages in oil and natural gas pipelines. Consequently, the removal of hydrogen sulfide gas will result in an important reduction in operating costs. Also, it is essential to consider the better quality of the oil to be processed in the refinery, thus resulting in benefits in economic, environmental and social areas. All this facts demonstrate the need for the development and improvement in hydrogen sulfide scavengers. Currently, the oil industry uses several processes for hydrogen sulfide removal from natural gas. However, these processes produce amine derivatives which can cause damage in distillation towers, can cause clogging of pipelines by formation of insoluble precipitates, and also produce residues with great environmental impact. Therefore, it is of great importance the obtaining of a stable system, in inorganic or organic reaction media, able to remove hydrogen sulfide without formation of by-products that can affect the quality and cost of natural gas processing, transport, and distribution steps. Seeking the study, evaluation and modeling of mass transfer and kinetics of hydrogen removal, in this study it was used an absorption column packed with Raschig rings, where the natural gas, with H2S as contaminant, passed through an aqueous solution of inorganic compounds as stagnant liquid, being this contaminant gas absorbed by the liquid phase. This absorption column was coupled with a H2S detection system, with interface with a computer. The data and the model equations were solved by the least squares method, modified by Levemberg-Marquardt. In this study, in addition to the water, it were used the following solutions: sodium hydroxide, potassium permanganate, ferric chloride, copper sulfate, zinc chloride, potassium chromate, and manganese sulfate, all at low concentrations (»10 ppm). These solutions were used looking for the evaluation of the interference between absorption physical and chemical parameters, or even to get a better mass transfer coefficient, as in mixing reactors and absorption columns operating in counterflow. In this context, the evaluation of H2S removal arises as a valuable procedure for the treatment of natural gas and destination of process by-products. The study of the obtained absorption curves makes possible to determine the mass transfer predominant stage in the involved processes, the mass transfer volumetric coefficients, and the equilibrium concentrations. It was also performed a kinetic study. The obtained results showed that the H2S removal kinetics is greater for NaOH. Considering that the study was performed at low concentrations of chemical reagents, it was possible to check the effect of secondary reactions in the other chemicals, especially in the case of KMnO4, which shows that your by-product, MnO2, acts in H2S absorption process. In addition, CuSO4 and FeCl3 also demonstrated to have good efficiency in H2S removal