Level Measurement Solutions for Catalytic Steam Strippers
The catalytic cracking process can be altered or adjusted in order to produce different end products. Variations in catalytic cracking include Selective Component Cracking (SCC) for polypropylene production, a two-vessel and external-reactor design for processing heavy residue feeds, and a universal oil products (UOP) process for converting gas oils and resid feedstocks.
All crackers employ steam strippers to remove hydrocarbons entrained in the spent catalyst. In steam strippers, the flow of vapours from the steam separates these hydrocarbons from the liquid petroleum, leaving behind the fractions that can be used to produce polypropylene, UOP, and other end products. catalytic steam stripper
Magnetrol® has produced an applications brochure for the petroleum refining industry detailing level measurement challenges and solutions for each step of the refining process. This blog post is part of an occasional series exploring each application in detail.
Level Measurement Challenges and Considerations
Stripper level control allows sufficient residence time for stripping steam to displace hydrocarbons for recovery. It also maintains sufficient pressure to keep air in the regenerator from reverse flow into the reaction system, thereby causing a hazard. A waste heat recovery steam drum would also require monitoring. Level instruments used to monitor the stripper and associated steam drum should be able to withstand steam environments, maintain reliable measurement, and protect against accidents.
Level Measurement Solutions
MAGNETROL has produced level solutions for catalytic steam strippers:
- For point level
Series 3 float-actuated external cage level switch or B40 float-actuated level switch
- For continuous level
Eclipse® Model 706 guided wave radar transmitter or E3 Modulevel® displacer transmitter
- For visual indication
Atlas or Aurora® magnetic level indicators can be supplied with switches or transmitters
More Information
For more information on level measurement solutions for steam strippers and other petroleum refining applications, download the petroleum refining brochure.
