Distillation Columns, Operation
and Maintenance Seminar

Distillation processes lay at the heart of petroleum Refining and petrochemical manufacturing processes. These Industries must pay close attention to the control and operation of distillation columns particularly in today's highly competitive markets. Process understanding and process control combined with increasingly sophisticated process designs have placed growing demands on process personnel. In today’s computerized world the fundamentals of distillation are often overlooked. In each manufacturing operation, the challenge to optimally operate chemical plants and in particular distillation operations have become more complex.

This Distillation Columns, Operation and Maintenance training seminar is designed to give a comprehensive and thorough understanding of distillation technology, beginning with a systematic overview of the fundamentals of distillation and progressing by highlighting the much needed insight to operate and control distillation towers effectively. All the aspects of column design, choice of column internals and the various interactions of the process variables that lead to poor distillation operations will be examined.

This training seminar gives particular emphasis to problems that occur and how to solve them. It provides an excellent opportunity to develop a working knowledge of key techniques that can promote trouble-free operation and reduce distillation cost.

In this training seminar you will:

• Appreciate the important specifications and column design parameters
• Understand the importance of proper equilibrium stage selection and sizing
• Comprehend how to processes data relevant in column troubleshooting
• Learn the details of the impact of effective distillation column control
• Develop skills necessary to evaluate new technologies used in distillation columns

The participants will be encouraged to participate in highly interactive discussions, to advance their opinions and ideas. PowerPoint presentations, exercises, quizzes and lectures will be used through the training seminar and specific points will be reinforced by short videos and commercial software to relate the material they have learned.

Examples and cases studies taken from chemical manufacturing and petroleum refining will be used to demonstrate and integrate the various technical and nontechnical details important to the operation and control of distillation processes.