7 replies to this topic

[hianbotech]

I would like to have some guidelines regarding with the typical comsuption per utility station (air, water, steam) in a refinery.

Thanks

[markymaark]

The Utilities would be sized dependent on what the "refinery" would need. Smaller refinery needs less utilities.

This is a very generic question with a "plant by plant" answer.

[kkala]

In addition to post No 2, a utility station may not be dedicated to whole refinery. For instance, we required a utility station for a Boiler Plant in a refinery (limited to steam boiler, deaerator, daily fuel oil tank, back up diesel tank).
A way out is to specify what units (at present or in future) will be served by the utility station and base its capacity on their needs (peak neads of any two units may or may not occur simultaneously).

[ankur2061]

hianbotech,

The blog entry on some utility consumptions may provide some help such as water requirement for safety showers:

http://www.cheresour...tion-estimates/

Additionally, service water (generally treated water) from a utility service station is considered as 5 m3/h by many company guidelines on an intermittent basis. For example if there are 100 utility stations in a big refinery or petrochemical complex, then the service water design flow is considered with 10% of the service stations operating simultaneously at one time i.e. 10 stations. This means that the design flow rate considered for service water in your utility summary would be 50 m3/h on a continuous basis.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ankur

[hianbotech]

_{Thanks Ankur2061 for all information. it was very useful to validate my estimated.}

 

_{The values that we used in the project were:}

 

_{Instrument Air:}

_{1.7 Nm3/hr (per each control valve)}

_{For the rest o fhe on-off valve and special valves, vendors and instrumentation group gave us the estimated flowrate per actuation X valve.}

 

_{For Potable Water,}

 _{200 lt X day X operator}

 

_{For Safety Showers}

_{30 gpm  during 10 minutes per master safety shower, where a tank is installed.}

 

_{For Cooling Water System}

_{Client give us the criteria to determine the blowdown, drift losses and evaporation according with their standards. However this values are very similar to the values that you reported in your answer.}

 

_{For utility stations (plant water, steam, nitrogen),}

_{We calculated an estimated flowrate based on the size of the US connection and using a maximum typical velocity per system. In the case of the air we received vendor information of the typical pneumatic tools that client will use in the plant.}

 

_{Best regards and thanks again.}

[mm217]

hianbotech,

The blog entry on some utility consumptions may provide some help such as water requirement for safety showers:

http://www.cheresour...tion-estimates/

Additionally, service water (generally treated water) from a utility service station is considered as 5 m3/h by many company guidelines on an intermittent basis. For example if there are 100 utility stations in a big refinery or petrochemical complex, then the service water design flow is considered with 10% of the service stations operating simultaneously at one time i.e. 10 stations. This means that the design flow rate considered for service water in your utility summary would be 50 m3/h on a continuous basis.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ankur

Dear Ankur;

 

I have the same problem for estimating required plant water at basic phase engineering. Your suggestion was very useful about the flowrate of 5 m3/hr. Could you please denote which companies use this estimation. I have to refer to some standards or practice in my report. Furthermore, at start of basic i don't know the number of utility stations. Do you know any other estimation guideline in this regard?

Thanks a lot.

mm217

[ankur2061]

mm217,

 

I do not have any written standards or practice related to service water consumption for utility stations. Although I keep myself abreast of many international standards such as API & ISO I haven't seen this kind of guideline in any of them.

 

However, simple logical assumptions can be adopted to find out the flow rate of service water per utility station:

 

Utility station service water line size: 1" or ID 25 mm (0.025 m)

Nominal velocity in service water line: 2.5 m/s

Volume flow rate: (pi /4)*0.025²*2.5*3600 = 4.42 m³/h

Provide a 10% margin = 1.1*4.42 = 4.86 m³/h 'say' 5 m³/h per station

No of Utility Stations = 100 (say)

Total Flow rate = 100*5 = 500 m³/h

Utility station flow rate is intermittent and not continuous

Assume 10% utility stations of the total operating simultaneously

So maximum continous flow rate requirement = 500*10% = 50 m³/h 

 

The above logical steps and assumptions provide a fairly conservative design estimate for the service water requirement for any plant.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

Ankur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mm217]

mm217,

 

I do not have any written standards or practice related to service water consumption for utility stations. Although I keep myself abreast of many international standards such as API & ISO I haven't seen this kind of guideline in any of them.

 

However, simple logical assumptions can be adopted to find out the flow rate of service water per utility station:

 

Utility station service water line size: 1" or ID 25 mm (0.025 m)

Nominal velocity in service water line: 2.5 m/s

Volume flow rate: (pi /4)*0.025²*2.5*3600 = 4.42 m³/h

Provide a 10% margin = 1.1*4.42 = 4.86 m³/h 'say' 5 m³/h per station

No of Utility Stations = 100 (say)

Total Flow rate = 100*5 = 500 m³/h

Utility station flow rate is intermittent and not continuous

Assume 10% utility stations of the total operating simultaneously

So maximum continous flow rate requirement = 500*10% = 50 m³/h 

 

The above logical steps and assumptions provide a fairly conservative design estimate for the service water requirement for any plant.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

Ankur.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Ankur;

 

I appreciate your explanation. It was helpful.

Thanks a lot.

 

mm217