XRG’s Xceed™ Case Study – VPR Energy

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XRG completed a multi-phase revamp project at Vitol’s VPR Energy refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands. XRG and VPR worked together to transform the site and equipment into one of Europe’s best environmentally performing sites.

PHASE I
Background

A crude heater in the Netherlands was suffering from the following:

  • Severe tube degradation caused by creep
  • Short run-lengths between decokes
    • Due to high radiant tube metal temperatures, the heater was down for cleaning every 3-9 months
  • Capacity constraint
    • Limited heater firing rate was frequently the main refinery bottleneck
  • Convection fouling/degradation

Project Goals

  • Eliminate flame impingement
  • Improve fuel efficiency from 78% to >91%
  • Increase capacity by 20-30%
  • Reduce coking
  • Meet NOx emissions (< 70mg/Nm^3 on NG)

Solution

Phase I

  • Reduce burner quantity from 15 to 5
  • New ULN burners
  • Add a balanced draft, air preheat system
  • Replace convection section


Flames before revamp

3D model of APH system addition

XRG scope was turnkey including design, material supply, demolition, and installation.

PHASE II
Eliminate Purchase Gas, Reduce Emissions, and Increase Capacity 

Purchase gas became increasingly expensive, which:

  • Reduced profitability
  • Increased flame length on refinery fuel gas
  • Increased tube metal temperature (coking) from fuel gas change
  • Limited Capacity
  • Increased NOx emissions from reduced natural gas fuel

Phase II Goals:

  • Further increased capacity
  • Reduce shock tube metal temperatures
  • Reduce NOx emissions
  • Maintain or improve onstream time

Phase II Implementation

  • Installed Xceed™ by XRG
    • Two rows of Xceed™
    • Diverted and diluted 60% of fuel
  • Seamless system that operates with no operator intervention
  • Minimal change to fired heater


Xceed™ Technology installed at VPR Energy

Floor burner flame at 5 psig 

Stack sample: 18.6 ppm NOx/0 ppm CO

Phase II Results

  • Further increased capacity
  • Lowered flame lengths which reduced shock TMTs by 27C and peak radiant TMTs by 40C
  • NOx emissions reduced from 38.5 to 19 ppm when firing LPG
  • Operates without purchase gas

 

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ERWIN PLATVOET
As CTO of XRG, Erwin is a true innovator, whose career spans more than three decades in heat transfer and combustion industries. Erwin is a graduate of Twente University in the Netherlands with a MS in Chemical Engineering. Erwin has served the industry around the globe in a variety of roles including Research and Development Engineer, Cracking Furnace Specialist, and Director of Engineering, and now CTO. Erwin holds eight patents in fired heat transfer and emissions control technology, has published numerous papers, and co-authored the John Zink Combustion handbook and Industrial Combustion Testing book. Erwin has been an active member of the API 560 and API 535 subcommittees and taken an active role in revising these standards.
BAILEY HENDRIX
Bailey graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Upon graduation, she joined the private sector as an Applications Engineer in Tulsa, OK at a local combustion company where she managed the sales activities for the process burner refining market. She quickly accelerated her career, becoming the Refining Account Manager responsible for all business development and sales of process burners in North and South America. Her strong leadership skills and interpersonal qualities led her to a position as the Western Hemisphere Sales Director for the process burner business, leading a group of sales engineers in the areas of new equipment, retrofits and burner management systems. Her financial and commercial acumen drives the success of XRG Technologies’ business development.
ALLEN BURRIS
Allen’s background includes 10 years of experience in designing and selling process burners. Allen is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and is a licensed professional mechanical engineer in the State of Oklahoma. His knowledge and superior customer focus led him to a career change to process design, custom-engineered fired heater sales, and associated sub-systems for the petrochemical, refining and NGL industries. With more than two decades of experience in the combustion and fired heater industry, Allen has what it takes to overcome challenges associated with complex projects and possesses.
TIM WEBSTER
With over 25 years of experience in the combustion industry, Tim brings a wealth of industry experience and technical expertise to XRG. Tim graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from San Jose State University and received a Master of Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. Tim began his career engineering custom combustion systems for a wide range of applications including boilers, heaters, furnaces, kilns, and incinerators. Tim is a licensed professional mechanical engineer in the states of California, Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, has authored numerous articles and papers, and has co-authored several combustion handbooks.
matt martin
As the Lead Scientist at XRG, Matt has over 30 years of experience in the combustion industry. He specializes in CFD of fired equipment, including UOP platforming heaters, burners in process heaters, thermal oxidizers and flares with over 300 simulations of installed, field-proven equipment. Matt received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics from the University of Tulsa. He has written numerous publications, is listed as inventor or co-inventor on 27 patents and was awarded the title of Honeywell Fellow in 2011 for technical excellence and leadership.
gina briggs
Gina is a native Oklahoman and attended the University of Tulsa, graduating with a BSBA in Accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Global Management Accountant. Gina began her career with the Tulsa office of Deloitte Haskins and Sells, providing audit and tax services. Since leaving Deloitte, she has held CFO positions with privately held companies in the manufacturing, construction and distribution industries. In 2013, she began a consulting practice providing contract CFO services to companies, one of which was XRG and joined XRG as CFO in 2019. Gina has always enjoyed working in the small business arena, helping business owners to profitably grow and manage their businesses.