By Ravi Kant
Proper training of plant personnel is integral to the implementation of refining, petrochemicals and gas processing projects and to ensure continued safe and profitable operation of these facilities. In today’s complex process plants, UOP recognizes that the owner has to make a commitment to continuing personnel development in order to be truly successful. UOP training programs have been developed based on many years of providing licensed process technology, consulting services, and training of industry personnel. The UOP training methodologies are specifically designed to help meet the goals of the facility owners and to improve their staff’s capabilities related to the plant operations as well as the execution of capital or other major projects.
“Fluid Catalytic Cracking” (FCC) is a key process unit in the refineries and its efficient and safe operation significantly impacts the profitability of the refinery. UOP offers a very comprehensive and complete portfolio to provide FCC Technology training to its customers. The FCC training portfolio delivers knowledge through many avenues. Historically, UOP has provided most of the FCC training in the classroom either at a UOP training facility or at a customer site. More recently, UOP has added Web-Based Training, Expert Systems, and Training Simulators to its portfolio. Each of these new training tools provides new and modern methods to make the UOP offering in the FCC technology area more effective and relevant. A brief description of UOP’s FCC technology courses and other training tools is presented here.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Process Web-Based Training
This course provides a broad overview of the UOP FCC Process and is a pre-requisite to many of the FCC training courses. The Web Based Training (WBT) teaches the basic concepts of UOP’s FCC process technology. The interactive sessions cover topics from overviews and chemistry to catalysts, process variables, process controls and more. The programs use high-quality graphics and animations to enhance understanding and retention. The WBT is designed for process engineers and operations personnel who are new to a process unit or those who are in need of refresher training. Sessions are hour long modules that are convenient for any schedule and can be accessed from any network-connected PC.
FCC Process
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Process – Standard (includes Web-Based Training)
This course provides a broad overview of the UOP FCC Process. Typical operation, control, design and troubleshooting of FCC units during startup, normal operation, shutdown, and emergencies are covered. The course emphasizes the technology aspects of the UOP FCC Process and includes process calculations, fluidization, and process variables. Class participants gain a broad working knowledge of the UOP FCC Process from recognized industry experts that enable them to keep abreast of evolving FCC technology. This course includes a Web-Based Training pre-requisite that should be completed by the registrant prior to the commencement of the course.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Process – Advanced
This advanced course provides an in-depth technical review of FCC unit operations for experienced process engineers. Process variables, controlling the heat balance, catalyst functionality and management, process optimization, fluidization, and troubleshooting are emphasized. Participants work with leading specialists from each FCC field to discuss the engineering considerations for revamps, de-bottlenecking and current control systems.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Training Simulator Course
This training is led by UOP technical experts and teaches the participants how to operate the UOP FCC Training Simulator to get hands-on practical experience of normal operation, shut down, emergency procedures, and achieve an insight into the dynamic cause and effect relationships of the UOP Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) Process. In addition, real world scenarios are provided to enable participants to develop an understanding of unit operations and troubleshooting skills. The hands-on nature of the UOP Training Simulator allows the students to “learn by doing” and results in an improved retention of skills and knowledge. Web-Based Training is a prerequisite for this class to refresh the participant’s knowledge of the UOP FCC Process. The UOP Training Simulator used in the course is also available for purchase.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Process Std. Troubleshooting and Operations
This course is designed for an experienced FCC engineer or operator looking to gain a better understanding of the tools available for monitoring and troubleshooting of the FCC Unit. The course discusses the normal daily operations of the FCC Unit and provides the basic calculation methods and the best practices used to monitor normal operations. Through lecture, team work and exercises, participants will gain the fundamentals to troubleshoot common FCC Unit issues. The classroom learning will be enhanced with real world case studies highlighting issues such as: catalyst losses, main column salt deposition, and exchanger fouling.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking – Emergency Interlock System
This course is presented on-site and is designed for instrument and electrical maintenance supervisors and technicians as well as process and mechanical engineers associated with the FCC Unit. The course covers the theory, operation, troubleshooting and maintenance of the reactor/regenerator section of the FCC Process Emergency Interlock System (EIS) and associated field mounted instrumentation. Training is divided into “field” and “inside” sections.
Fluid Catalytic Cracking Expert Systems
UOP Expert Systems for FCC technology are computer based tools for troubleshooting operating issues. They have been developed by UOP FCC experts and are based on decision tree diagnostics. They can be used as a training tool as well as for actual troubleshooting. These tools make UOP FCC expertise available to our customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Two unique Expert Systems are available: FCC Catalyst Containment Troubleshooting and FCC Main Column & Crude Desalter Troubleshooting.
Summary
The training tools for the refinery FCC units described above constitute a very comprehensive offering and make UOP very well positioned to provide meaningful and very effective training to your engineering and operating staff for safe and efficient operation of these units. UOP has similar training offering for many refinery, petrochemical, and gas processing technologies. To see all our training options and register for our courses, please visit www.UOPTraining.com or contact the UOP Customer Training Department.