CC-97-138 IMPROVING SYNCRUDE’S BITUMEN COLUMN YIELD USINGIiONEYWELL’S ROBUST MULTIVARIABLE PREDICTIVE CONTROLLER

Description:

Syncrude’s Diluent Recovery Unit (DRU) is the first process in upgrading diluted bitumen to synthetic crude oil. The interactive nature of this process and its unique operating problems had, in the past, produced gas oil of variable quality under sub-optimal operating conditions. A robust, multivariable predictive controller was implemented on the Bitumen Column in the DRU. This controller successfully increased the recovery of gas oil from the bitumen stream. Continuous control of the naphtha/gas oil separation in the bitumen column was achieved by implementing on-line inferential models for two cut-points. As the oilsand industry and Syncrude expand, the robust nature of the controller will be tested as further de-bottleneck activities are planned on being implemented in the coming years.