JP-7854677-B1 - Fuel oil refining method, fuel oil refining apparatus, and fuel oil refining system

JP7854677B1JP 7854677 B1JP7854677 B1JP 7854677B1JP-7854677-B1

Abstract

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for refining fuel oil is provided, comprising: a coarse filtration step to remove coarse particles from the fuel oil; a moisture removal step to remove water from the fuel oil; a microfiltration step to remove fine particles smaller in diameter than coarse particles from the fuel oil; a gas removal step to remove gases dissolved in the fuel oil by reducing the pressure of the fuel oil; a quality verification step to verify the quality of the fuel oil; and a shipment control step to permit shipment of the fuel oil only if the gas removal step has been performed and the quality satisfies all of the following conditions (i) to (iii): (i) Water content measured by the Karl Fischer method is 0.1 volume% or less; (ii) Cleanliness code as defined in ISO 4406:2021 is 18/16/13 or less; (iii) Two-phase ratio is 0.05 volume% or less. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Inventors

光山昌浩

Assignees

サステイナブルエネルギー開発株式会社
バイオソリッドエナジー株式会社

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20260123

Claims (20)

A method for refining fuel oil, A coarse filtration step to remove coarse particles from the fuel oil, A water removal step to remove water from the fuel oil, A precision filtration process to remove fine particles with a particle size smaller than the coarse particles from the fuel oil, A gas removal step is performed by reducing the pressure of the fuel oil to remove gases dissolved in the fuel oil, A quality verification process for verifying the quality of the aforementioned fuel oil, A fuel oil refining method comprising a shipping control step that permits the shipment of the fuel oil only when the gas removal step has been performed and the quality satisfies all of the following conditions (i) to (iii). (i) Moisture content measured by the Karl Fischer method is 0.1% by volume or less. (ii) Cleanliness code as defined in ISO 4406:2021 is 18/16/13 or less. (iii) Two-phase ratio is 0.05% by volume or less.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, The fuel oil refining method wherein the water removal step is performed by removing free water and coarse droplets using a coalescer or a centrifuge.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, The aforementioned precision filtration step is carried out using a filter element having a performance of 5 μm absolute and a β value of 200 or more, in a method for refining fuel oil.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, The gas removal step is performed under reduced pressure of 50 kPaA to 70 kPaA, with a residence time of 2 minutes to 5 minutes, in a fuel oil refining method.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, A fuel oil refining method wherein the gas removal step is performed in such a way as to minimize the power consumption per unit (kWh/kL) while maintaining the quality, with the temperature, processing flow rate, and vacuum level of the fuel oil as variables.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, Furthermore, a fuel oil refining method comprising an adsorption polishing step between the gas removal step and the quality verification step, wherein an adsorption polishing step is included to remove impurities from the fuel oil using an adsorbent.
In the fuel oil refining method according to claim 6, A fuel oil refining method wherein the adsorption polishing step is performed or discontinued based on the amount of polar compounds in the fuel oil and at least one of the differential pressure profile in the gas removal step.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, A fuel oil refining method in which, in the quality verification step, the two-phase ratio is estimated based on the drive gain or sound velocity index of a Coriolis flow meter, or the mass difference or volume difference before and after the gas removal step.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, A fuel oil refining method in which, in the aforementioned shipment control step, shipment of the fuel oil is permitted only if the quality satisfies the following condition (iv) in addition to the aforementioned conditions (i) to (iii). (iv) The variation range of the density at 15°C is ±0.1 kg/ m³
In the fuel oil refining method according to claim 9, A fuel oil refining method comprising the following steps: in the shipment control step, if at least one of the above conditions (i) to (iv) is not met, the fuel oil is returned to the gas removal step.
In the fuel oil refining method according to claim 9, The aforementioned shipping control process is equipped with a switchable demo mode and shipping mode. In the aforementioned demo mode, while allowing fluctuations in the apparent volume of the fuel oil, the shipment of the fuel oil is prohibited. A fuel oil refining method in which, in the aforementioned shipping mode, the fuel oil is permitted to be shipped only if the quality satisfies all of the aforementioned conditions (i) to (iv).
In the fuel oil refining method according to claim 1, further, In the storage process, the fuel oil authorized for shipment in the shipment control process is stored in a storage tank. A fuel oil refining method comprising a return step in which the fuel oil stored in the storage tank is returned to the coarse filtration step based on at least one of the following: the exponential moving average (EWMA) of the number of particles in the fuel oil, the residence time of the fuel oil in the storage tank, and the ambient relative humidity of the fuel oil.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, A fuel oil refining method wherein the fuel oil shipped in the aforementioned shipping control process is fuel oil whose quality during custody transfer is guaranteed.
In the fuel oil refining method according to claim 13, In the aforementioned shipping control process, The fuel oil being shipped is fuel oil for emergency diesel generators at nuclear facilities. A fuel oil refining method that permits the shipment of the fuel oil only if the criteria for the quality verification process described above also satisfy all of the following conditions (v) to (vii). (v) Moisture content measured by the Karl Fischer method is less than 0.05% by volume, and the total amount of moisture and precipitate according to ASTM D2709-22/ASTM D975-24 is 0.05% by volume or less. (vi) Cleanliness code according to ISO 4406:2021 is 17/15/12 or less. (vii) Complies with the Clear & Bright visual inspection according to ASTM D4176-22.
In the fuel oil refining method described in claim 1, In the quality verification process, the moisture content is measured sequentially and continuously using a moisture sensor, the measured moisture content is converted to a moisture content according to the Karl Fischer method based on reference information, it is determined whether the converted moisture content is within the range of condition (i), and the converted moisture content, condition (i), and the determination result are automatically saved as audit history information. The aforementioned reference information shows the relationship between the moisture content of the fuel oil as measured by the moisture sensor and the moisture content according to the Karl Fischer method. Fuel oil refining method.
A device for refining fuel oil, A coarse filtration section for removing coarse particles from fuel oil, A water removal unit that removes water from the fuel oil, A precision filtration unit that removes fine particles with a particle size smaller than the coarse particles from the fuel oil, A gas removal unit removes gases dissolved in the fuel oil by reducing the pressure of the fuel oil, A quality verification unit for verifying the quality of the aforementioned fuel oil, A fuel oil refining apparatus, comprising a shipping control unit that permits the shipment of the fuel oil only when the gas removal unit is in operation and the quality satisfies all of the following conditions (i) to (iii). (i) Moisture content measured by the Karl Fischer method is 0.1% by volume or less. (ii) Cleanliness code as defined in ISO 4406:2021 is 18/16/13 or less. (iii) Two-phase ratio is 0.05% by volume or less.
In the fuel oil refining apparatus according to claim 16, The fuel oil refining apparatus comprises a water removal unit equipped with a coalescer or centrifuge for separating free water and coarse droplets.
In the fuel oil refining apparatus according to claim 16, The fuel oil refining apparatus comprises a precision filtration section equipped with a filter element having a performance of 5 μm absolute and a β value of 200 or more.
In the fuel oil refining apparatus according to claim 16, Furthermore, the fuel oil refining apparatus includes an adsorption polishing section, which is positioned between the gas removal section and the quality verification section and has an adsorbent material for removing impurities from the fuel oil.
In the fuel oil refining apparatus according to claim 16, A fuel oil refining apparatus comprising a quality verification unit equipped with a two-phase ratio estimation means for estimating the two-phase ratio based on the drive gain or sound velocity index of a Coriolis flow meter, or the mass difference or volume difference before and after the gas removal unit.

Description

This disclosure relates to a fuel oil refining method, a fuel oil refining apparatus, and a fuel oil refining system. Patent documents 1 and 2 describe methods for improving the degree of refinement of fuel oil produced by modifying the processing steps in the manufacturing process. Special table 2018-521162 publicationSpecial table 2018-520228 publication This is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of an example purification system.This is a conceptual diagram illustrating the approach to optimizing conditions in the gas removal section. This diagram shows conceptual relationships (or estimated relationships) and is not limited to measured values.These are conceptual diagrams (Figure 3(a)) for estimating the correlation between the two-phase rate estimated based on the drive gain or sound velocity index obtained from a Coriolis flow meter and the two-phase rate measured at a laboratory scale, and (Figure 3(b)) for estimating the correlation between the two-phase rate estimated based on the mass and volume differences before and after gas removal and the two-phase rate measured at a laboratory scale. These diagrams show conceptual relationships (or estimated relationships) and are not limited to measured values.These are block diagrams showing the hardware configuration of the information processing device (Figure 4(a)) and the functional configuration of the information processing device (Figure 4(b)).This figure shows an example of a screen for an information processing device.This flowchart outlines the fuel oil refining method according to this embodiment.This is a flowchart showing the process for optimizing conditions in the gas removal process.This flowchart shows the flow of monitoring and cleaning methods for tanks during the storage process.This flowchart details the return process. The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The various features shown in the embodiments below are interchangeable. [Purification System] First, an embodiment of the purification system will be described. Figure 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of an example of a purification system. The purification system 100 shown in Figure 1 comprises a purification device 1, an information processing device 10, a supply unit 20, a discharge unit 30, and a storage tank 9. In this specification, the upstream side with respect to the flow direction of the raw materials and products will also be simply referred to as the "upstream side," and the downstream side will also be simply referred to as the "downstream side." <Supply section> The supply unit 20 supplies fuel oil to the refining unit 1. The supply unit 20 only needs to be able to supply fuel oil to be received by the refining unit 1. For example, the supply unit 20 could be a container such as a raw material tank, a pipe connected from a raw material hydrocarbon supply source such as an oil refinery, or other equipment. The fuel oil is not particularly limited, but may include, for example, naphtha, gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, diesel fuel, heavy oil, etc. In this embodiment, high-quality diesel fuel (fuel oil for emergency diesel generators) suitable for use in emergency diesel generators at nuclear facilities is used. The effect of using the refining system 100 is even more pronounced when such high quality is required. <Discharge section> The discharge section 30 discharges the fuel oil refined and stored by the refining unit 1 as needed. The discharge section 30 only needs to be able to discharge (supply) the fuel oil refined by the refining unit 1, and can be, for example, a pipe connected to the fuel oil supply destination, or other equipment. The fuel oil supply destination can be a nuclear facility (nuclear power plant, etc.), a construction equipment yard, etc. <Purification equipment> (Overall structure) A refining device 1 is connected between the supply unit 20 and the discharge unit 30 as described above. The refining device 1 is configured to refine the fuel oil supplied from the supply unit 20 and to maintain (store) it in a high-quality state. As shown in Figure 1, the refining apparatus 1 mainly includes a coarse filtration section 2, a water removal section 3, a fine filtration section 4, a gas removal section 5, an adsorption polishing section 6, a quality verification section 7, and a shipping control section 8. In addition, each of these sections in the refining apparatus 1 is connected in series with the supply section 20 and the discharge section 30 by a liquid line LL1. This allows the fuel oil to be refined to a high quality state. In the purification apparatus 1, it is preferable that the liquid line LL1 and each of the lines described later contain non-copper stainless steel, fluororesin, etc., as the constituent material of the liquid-wetting portion of the flow path (especially the inside), and do not contain copper or copper alloys. This configuration allows for e