Nelson Complexity

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• Vacuum Distillation Unit
• Atmospheric Distillation
• Fluidised Catalytic Cracker
• Visbreaker
• Steam Methane Reforming

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• A Glossary of Petroleum Refining Terms

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Nelson's Complexity Factor

• In the Refining Industry, a common index termed as "EDC" - Equivalent Distillation Capacity is defined to calculate the benchmark of manpower requirement.
• Calculation of EDC is a two-step process.
  • The first step is the multiplication of the capacity of each unit in the refinery with the Nelson's complexity factor
  • The second is the sum of these products to arrive at the EDC for the refinery in total.

Nelson Complexity Index

• Nelson Complexity Index is a measure of secondary conversion capacity in comparison to the primary distillation capacity of any refinery.
• It is an indicator of not only the investment intensity or cost index of the refinery but also the value addition potential of a refinery.
• The index was developed by Wilbur L Nelson in 1960 to originally quantify the relative costs of the components that constitute the refinery.
• Nelson assigned a factor of one to the primary distillation unit.
• All other units are rated in terms of their costs relative to the primary distillation unit also known as the atmospheric distillation unit.

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