Increasing Butadiene Unit Run-Length and Reliability with Advanced Antifoulant Technology

In recent years, ethylene producers have made significant progress to reduce costs and increase productivity by increasing the time between plant turnarounds. This is increasing the need for improved run-length and reliability of the butadiene section of the olefins complex. Fouling control in the extraction section of the butadiene process is one of the most important challenges limiting run-length and reliability.

This paper discusses the fouling mechanisms in the extraction section and the challenges faced by butadiene producers to control fouling. Best practices and case studies are presented that show how improved fouling control can increase run length and reduce maintenance & energy costs. One case history focuses on improving control of stripper column pressure drop. The second case history discusses how pump strainer cleaning frequency can be improved with better fouling control and how this improvement is correlated with performance of the recovery heat exchanger and stripper reboiler. In both cases, improvements in monitoring and control of fouling provided the olefins complex with better predictability of planned outages.