Chemical Engineering - Petroleum Refinery Engineering - Discussion

There are many types of heaters, such as pipe-still heaters, reforming furnaces, secondary reformer and shift converter and so on. But pipe-still heaters are widely used the fuel-burning heating equipment. Its function is that the feedstock continuously flowing through the heater pipes can be heated to a desirable temperature and sufficient heat for distillation and chemical reactions of the feedstock can be provided. Their application promotes the development of automation, continuous operation of the petrochemical production plants.

What is pipestill?

Please, anyone, give the explanation.

Before crude oil enters the fractionation tower (distillation column) , it needs to be heated to the desired temperature to separate its components efficiently.

A pipe still heater (also known as a fired heater or furnace) is the standard heating device used in refineries.
It consists of tubes arranged inside a firebox, where fuel combustion provides the necessary heat.
The heated crude then enters the fractionation tower, where it is separated into different fractions based on boiling points.

The other options are not commonly used for this purpose:

Electric immersion heaters are not practical for large-scale crude heating.
Steam coil heaters are used for low-temperature applications, not for preheating crude before fractionation.
None of these is incorrect because the pipe still heater is the correct answer.