Coker Revamps: Increase Capacity and Improve Operability RPEC 2009

By John D. Elliott, Foster Wheeler USA Corporation INTRODUCTION Delayed cokers are essential residue conversion facilities in many refineries. As market position, crude supply and operating strategies shift toward higher capacity and heavier crudes it is usually necessary to revamp the delayed coker in response. REASONS FOR COKER REVAMP PROJECTS In almost all refineries having a delayed coker, the refiner targets an optimum performance for the refinery by maximum residue conversion with the coker. New cokers are relatively expensive. The high cost requires that refiners maximize capacity of existing plants for revised and expanded operating targets. About ninety percent of the delayed cokers operate in fuel grade mode and in those refineries it is not uncommon for the crude capacity to be limited by the coker and its capacity to convert residue. One typical reason for revamping cokers is refinery crude conversion to lower cost, heavy crude which would increase the rate of coker feedstock. This coker feed would be heavier with lower API gravity and higher carbon residue content. The greater volume of heavier feed requires that the coker deal with increased coke production as well as the increased feed. Other reasons for coker revamps include safety, environmental and maintenance needs. These are common with older cokers, which need to be updated to be in line with todays modern designs. Safety and environmental upgrade drivers may not include economic issues. Therefore these types of revamps, especially if extensive, are usually bundled with capacity expansion or product upgrades. DELAYED COKER REVAMP STRATEGIES Cycle Reductions Delayed coking is a flexible process, which is relatively easy to crank up for additional capacity. New cokers are generally designed to operate on a 32 to 36 hour total cycle, for example, an 18-hour coking cycle followed by an 18hour decoking cycle for each pair of drums. Since new equipment has built-in capacity factors for wear and process variability, it is possible to reduce the cycle time, increase capacity and increase operating pressure up to the bottleneck limits after confirming the safety of modifications and revamp operations. This approach will provide a quick increase in unit capacity and
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most refiners have no trouble reducing 18-hour coking cycles to around 15 hours or slightly less with very minor debottlenecking. This is typical of a minimum capital revamp to achieve 20 percent more throughput. Additional cycle time reductions to 14 hours or even 12 hours will provide capacity increases of up to 50% (i.e.,18/12) and require more extensive equipment and systems debottlenecking. The current coking cycle benchmark is about 12 hours although 11 hours is achieved at a few sites. Charts showing the scheduling of typical 16 and 12 hour coking cycles for 6 drum operations are shown below. Note that there are overlaps in several segments of the 12-hour decoking cycle. These overlaps require adding additional resources for Blowdown and coke handling systems.

COKE DRUM CYCLE SIXTEEN HOUR COKING CYCLE

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17
SF

18

19

20 Q

21

22

23 D

24

25 U

26 K

27

28 T

29

30

31 P

32

A B C D E F

SF

Q T P
SF

P
SF

Q T P
SF

P
SF

LEGEND

HOURS 16

ACTIVITY COKING STEAMOUT TO FRACTIONATOR STEAMOUT TO BLOWDOWN QUENCH AND FILL DRAINING UNHEADING DECOKING REHEADING AND TESTING PREHEATING TOTAL

SF

0.75 0.25

Q D U K T P

5 2 0.5 3 0.5 3.5 32

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Pressure Increase/Recycle Decrease Most delayed coker capacity revamps anticipate that the coking pressure will increase. This allows greater capacity utilization of existing vapor filled equipment. Coke drum operating pressure increases of 40 to 75 percent above original design parameters may be considered as necessary to reduce capital spending on an ambitious capacity increase revamp. Achieving the pressure increase is frequently within the design pressure capability of the original equipment. Simultaneously it is possible to achieve greater feed throughputs by reducing the coker internal recycle. Most modern fuel cokers already operate at recycle rates under 10 percent. At higher than standard low pressure operation, 15 psig (1.05 kg/cm2), converting a 5 percent recycle to operation to 2 percent or even zero recycle can partially compensate for the pressure increase. However, zero recycle operation can put undue stress on already overburdened heavy gas oil hydrotreating. The impact of using reduced recycle can be seen in the following table, which compares the end point of the heavy coker gas oil (HCGO) product with a cokers operating condition.

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Capacity

Cycle Time 18 hrs. 15 hrs. 12 hrs.

Orig. Design 1st Expansion Ambitious Expansion

100% 120% + 150%

Pressure Recycle HCGO EP, PSIG F (C) (kg/cm2) 15 (1.05) 5% 1070 (577) 20 (1.41) 4% 1060 (571) 30 (2.11) 2% 1045 (562)

Implicit in the HCGO end point value is the impact on the quality of the stream and the product yields from the coker. Other strategies for dealing with higher quantities of coker residue feedstock and revamping the coker include: Reducing feedstock by distillation or deasphalting upstream of the coker Adding coke drum capacity Upstream Reduction of Coke Feedstock Most fuel grade coker feeds are vacuum residue (VR). As the Vacuum Unit capacity is increased it is common for the VR cut point to drop to or below 1000F. Frequently a coker revamp is accompanied by a revamp of the Vacuum Unit to handle larger amounts of heavy residue. It is normally economic to expand that revamp to include a higher residue cut point. Newer structured packing designs are particularly useful to reduce flash zone pressure and increase the yield of vacuum gas oil while mitigating the impact on heater outlet temperature and duty requirements. The coker revamp is then geared to process a (relatively) smaller volume of heavier residue. An example of how a Vacuum Unit revamp to a deeper cut point can be used to minimize a coker revamp when looking to process 20% additional crude is shown in the following table.
Operation Crude Throughput, BPSD Atmos. Distillates, BPSD Vacuum Distillates, BPSD Base 200,000 95,920 36,680 20% Expansion 240,000 115,104 50,496 1050F+ Maya 74,400 4,522 5,981 14,652 18,940 15,078 5,224 Factor 120 120 138

(1000F TBP)

(1050F TBP)

Coker Feed, BPSD Coker Products, BPSD Gas (FOEB) C3/C4 LPG Naphtha LCGO HCGO Coke, STPSD

1000F+ Maya 67,400 3,966 5,333 13,341 16,975 15,673 4,357

110 114 112 110 112 96 120

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There are a number of cokers that operate with a percentage of feedstock from solvent deasphalter (SDA) pitch. The SDA unit makes a deep cut into the residue feed and reduces the volume of coker feed. Needless to say the quality of that feed is much heavier. Foster Wheelers ASCOTsm process uses an integrated SDA-Coker approach to process up to 100 percent heavy pitch. For revamp situations it may not be necessary to process all resid through the deasphalter. The following example shows how deasphalting a portion of the residue to be destroyed can minimize the revamp for the coker itself. The example is given for Maya Vacuum Residue to be consistent with the deepcut example. Maya has relatively poor inherent Deasphalting characteristics and greater benefit may be achieved on other crude feedstocks.

Operation Crude Throughput, BPSD Atmos. Distillates, BPSD Vacuum Distillates, BPSD

Base 200,000 95,920 36,680 1000F+ Maya 67,400 Coker 67,400 3,966 5,333 13,341 16,975 15,673 4,357 SDA 32,000

35% Expansion 270,000 129,492 49,518 1000F+ Maya 90,990 Coker 78,190* 4,790 6,274 15,192 20,197 15,029 5,157

Factor 135 135 135

Vacuum Resid, BPSD

135

Feed, BPSD Coker Products, BPSD Gas (FOEB) C3/C4 LPG Naphtha LCGO HCGO/ DAO Coke, STPSD

116 121 118 114 119 96 118

12,800

HCGO

* 58,990 BPSD Vacuum Resid + 19,200 BPSD SDA Pitch

In most cases this concept of reducing the volume of coker feedstock is a very economic means of reducing the cost of a coker revamp. The coker feed volume reduction also improves the coker liquid yields by allowing operation at a lower pressure. COKE DRUM CAPACITY Coke drums handle the produced coke volume and the vapor produced from the coking reaction. Either the coke loading or vapor loading will control the drum service. Vapor loading can be manipulated by increasing pressure in the coker up to the limit of the coke drum to handle the volume of the coke produced.

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High coke drum vapor velocity has the drawback of increased carryover of tars and fines to the fractionator. One easy means of increasing drum volumetric utilization is by decreasing outage. Care needs to be taken as this can result in increased carryover also. Antifoam injection systems with advanced control can reduce the carryover due to foaming. However physical entrainment still needs to be considered in the design of overhead lines and fractionator systems. Large capacity increases require physically adding coke drum capacity. This can be accomplished in a number of ways. 1. Drum Extensions: While this does not increase diameter for velocity limited drums, the extension of length would provide more volume and/or greater outage. Such a revamp would entail modifications for the top operating level and piping. The resultant increased load on the structure also needs to be checked. This is usually an expensive option. Drum Replacement with a Larger Diameter: This revamp option is dependent on structural loads for the increased drum volume and filled weight. Typically 6 inch to 1 foot (152 mm to 305 mm) increases in coke drum diameter are possible. This can provide increased drum volume of 7 to 10%.

2.

3.

Add New Pair of Drums: This can be used for large increases in capacity. If the new drums are the same size as the old, the resultant drum volume increase is 33% for a 6-drum coker, and 50% on a 4-drum coker. Coupled with cycle time reductions and increased operating pressure, this can be a very effective means for large revamps. When executing this type of revamp, it is normal to include a new heater with the new coke drum module. Coke handling is another major issue and the system needs to be expanded to accommodate the operation of the new drum pairs. In order to be useful, this type of revamp needs to provide a capacity increase greater than can be achieved by cycle time reduction. For instance, a coker operating on 14 hours cycles can achieve up to 17 percent increase in capacity by reducing cycles to 12 hours. Adding a new pair of drums can provide higher throughput often at relaxed cycle times. Add Only One Drum: Adding a single drum to a coker and operating it as a sequential operation provides additional drum volume. The typical 3-drum coker operation is sequential and there is no inherent reduction in drum vapor velocity for this approach. However when the feedstock is significantly heavier or there are local issues precluding an aggressive cycle time reduction, the 3-drum operation may be useful.

4.

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Three drum revamps have been used to expand existing 2 drum cokers with the new drum and structure being fitting into a location adjacent to the existing drums and utilizing existing coke handling facilities. Usually the existing heater can be used to service all three drums. Operation consists of filling each drum sequentially followed by a doubled period for decoking. Therefore the decoking cycle tends to be very relaxed. For this revamp to be economic, the coking cycle needs to be less than what can be achieved by cycle time reduction of a drum pair. For instance: a three drum coker with 9 or 10 hour coking and 18 or 20 hour decoking respectively provides more capacity than a drum pair operating on 12 hour coking cycles. A typical schedule for a 10 hour/ 20 hour coking/ decoking cycle on a 3 drum operation is shown below.

Secondary Objectives While capacity is the main reason for revamping cokers there are a number of secondary goals that need to be developed when planning a revamp strategy. These include: Improved yield performance Improved product quality Disposal of refinery slops and sludges Recovery of Blowdown vent vapors Installation of safety interlock systems Maintenance related opportunities Reduced operating expenses Unheading system upgrades

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Improved yields are obtained by reducing pressure and recycle. Opportunities to mitigate the increased coking pressure associated with most capacity revamps need to be reviewed for economic benefit. Possible options include compressor revamp, fractionator overhead condenser revamp, and judicious replacement of vapor line segments, fractionator internals replacement and change-out of large vapor valves. Cokers can be revamped to reprocess slops. In most cases the slops should be dewatered before injection into the process. A good location for introducing heavy oil slops into a coker is at the coke drum overhead line quench point. This also holds for Coker Blowdown Wax Tailings. It is well established that fuel cokers are a good unit for disposing of moderate amounts of refinery sludges by injecting them into the coke drum during the initial coke quench period. Direct recovery of Blowdown vent vapors by the wet gas compressor reduces flaring and/or takes a load off the flare vapor recovery system. Safety is an important aspect for design and operations. Many older cokers can benefit from upgrades to current standards for safety interlock systems on heaters, coke cutting system and coke drum isolation valving. It must be noted that a few revamps have been justified solely based on upgrades of the safety interlocks systems and/or installation of slide valve unheading devices.

Maintenance opportunities can range from preventive coke drum plate replacement to bridge crane electrical upgrades to retrofit for on-line spalling of the heater.

PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS During the planning, execution and management of a revamp project, there are quite a few practical considerations that must be addressed that are specific to each delayed coker. Feedstock If the revamp envisions a change of feedstock, there needs to be an evaluation of the new feed and the cokers ability to deal with it. Besides coke formation and yield there are a number of other issues to be considered e.g. fouling tendencies due to poor desalting or incompatibility of blends or the presence of organic chlorides. Metallurgical issues due to increased sulfur; TAN and chlorides have a critical impact on the future operation of the revamped coker and are common when switching to heavier crudes. Revamps to heavier, higher viscosity feedstock will impact heat transfer in existing feed preheat exchangers and in the coker heater. Relatively poor desalting of heavier crudes can adversely affect sodium levels in the coker feedstock which will promote coker heater fouling.

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Coke Drums Decisions made to achieve a cycle time reduction can be critical. Generally it is best to maintain as long a period of coke quenching as possible to minimize coke drum stresses and provide better quenching with fewer hot-spot incidents. Coke cutting time can be increased if larger drums are to be used or they are packed to handle more coke by using shorter drum outages. This will impact the coke cutting system and the coke dewatering and handling systems. The warm-up period is typically shortened to achieve shorter cycles. However, if the coke condensate system is not designed for the required higher flows the drums may not reach recommended minimum temperatures which can adversely impact the coke drum life. Heaters Heaters can handle additional feedstock by firing harder - up to a point. Most new furnaces are designed with low radiant flux rates, approximately 13,500 Btu/hr-sf (36,600 kcal/hr-m2) on a double fired basis equivalent to about 9,000 Btu/hr-sf (24,400 kcal/hr-m2) on a single fired basis. This provides plenty of surface area for increased firing at higher flux rates. Burner change out and other combustion side modifications also need to be evaluated. Concern about a reduction in run length is often mitigated by an increase in velocity. High asphaltene and high viscosity heavy feeds need to be carefully evaluated because of their impact on heater run length. Other ways to manage run length issues are: Convert to on-line spalling or on-line pigging if the heater configuration allows Preheat feed to a higher level

A practical limit for preheating feed is typically 700F (371C). With some furnaces designed with independent convection sections, a refiner may consider use of online steam decoking or on-line pigging. Environmental emissions can be improved with the use of ultralow-NOx burners and/or the addition o a selective catalytic reduction system. Tube metallurgy upgrades and coatings for tubes and refractory are being considered on revamps but there is not yet a clear industry consensus on their use. When a heater revamp doesnt make sense it is often useful to consider a supplemental heater. The supplemental heater can be placed in parallel with the existing heater or used on the fresh feed to supply supplemental preheat.

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Blowdown System Cycle reduction revamps will require the Blowdown system to handle higher flows. While the Blowdown Tower can often handle the additional load, the Blowdown Condenser will require revamping. With increase in coke drum pressure, examination of Blowdown Vent Vapor disposition will need a hydraulic review. It may be necessary to install a vent gas compression system. Coke Dewatering and Handling Because of the additional coke volumes, any revamp needs to consider the coke dewatering and handling system. Minor revamps might require additional backup coke handling equipment, e.g., a second crane or front-end loader. The coke crusher may need higher horsepower to deal with the extra coke. Most common is a rescheduling of coke loading over a longer period. Shorter cycles will result in shorter periods of coke pit or pad retention and time for fines settling. Additionally the typical increase in cutting water volume will put a greater load on fines settling. This may require the refiner to use supplemental coke fines recovery such as hydroclones, or a simple upgrade of the maze operation with over flow/under flow weirs to the clear water sump. Coke transport is usually handled by providing more resources, e.g. more trucks or speeding up conveyors. One unique but generally expensive option is a conversion to a slurry hydraulic transport system based on the slurry pump coke handling system. Conversion to heavy crude feeds typically produce shot coke, which has operational challenges in direct load coke handling systems. Conversions to pit or pad operations can be hampered by plot availability and construction downtime. Safety and Operability Any expansion needs a careful review of safety systems for the new service. Relief valves, inlets, laterals and flare header may need upgrading. A Hazop review must be performed and operating procedures rewritten. Shot coke conversions coupled with a short cycle operation will require upgrading of older unheading systems for safe, reliable and sustainable operations. The Blowdown system is an important relief flow path for the coke drum PSVs in most units. It must be reviewed for new relief flows or an alternative disposition determined. One option may be using a surplus vessel for discharge accumulation and condensation. Safety interlock systems for the coke drum isolation valves, heater system and coke cutting system should be reviewed and upgraded if needed. It is generally recommended to upgrade the isolation valves to be motor operated for short cycle operations.

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Many refiners want maximum automation of the coker structure operations with the goal of minimizing operators attendance end eventually eliminating the scheduled need to have operators in the structure. The systems and designs required to accomplish this are extensive and include motor operators on many valves that were previously operated manually; top and bottom slide valve devices; and an auto-shift cutting tool. Coke cutting and valve switching would then be performed from a remote location rather than being handled manually by an operator located in the coke structure. Older cokers may require upgrades to current standards and best practices for coker structure safety and egress. These upgrades can entail: multiple stairwells, including freestanding towers protected operator shelters egress firewalls water spray systems for personnel protection during egress.

Constructability Any change in equipment requires a constructability review to minimize shutdown requirements and ensure that critical installations can be installed during a planned turnaround. Pre-shutdown and post-shutdown activities are scheduled and planned. In some cases equipment may be temporarily moved to provide access for new items, which may be installed while the unit is operating. Construction activities during unit operation are carefully controlled. Care must be taken with underground work near adjacent structures. In some cases use of isolating sheet piling is necessary. Impact of Coker Revamp on Refinery Operations The major reason for nearly all coker revamps is overall refinery expansion and greater production of light refinery products. The Crude/Vacuum Unit feeding the coker may require modification or expansion. Likewise downstream hydrotreating and conversion units must be evaluated for the increases in coker products especially if it is determined that their specification will change as a result of design trade off or change in feedstock quality. Benchmarking Against Best-in-Class Coker Features The final realization of the coker revamp is a matter of optimization of numerous issues. Economic realities can be a constraint. When planning the design features to be included in a coker revamp, it is useful to test features of the revamped coker against a benchmark for preferred coker design. The following is a partial guide listing benchmark features of best-in-class designs for new cokers.

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Feed/ Operating Parameters - Deep vacuum residue feed from heavy crude: 1050 F+ (565 C+) or greater - 10 ppmw Na content maximum - Low pressure coking:15 psig (1.05 kg/cm2) or slightly less) - Ultra-low recycle at TPR=1.05 for maximum clean liquid products - Low cycle times o 16 to 18 hours: new units o 12 to 14 hours: revamped units o Coke quench time maximized to minimize drum stresses. Coke Drums - Large Size: 28 to 32 ft. (8.5 to 9.75 M) diameter for minimum number of modules - Advanced plate chemistry and finishing specifications - Minimum or no plate thickness changes - Advanced drum unheading o Hydraulic operation o Top unheading: remote operated, e.g. slide valve type o Bottom unheading: closed system using DeltaValve or Zimmerman-Jansen slide valves - Motor driven major isolation valves; interlocked isolation valving - High viscosity antifoam (100,000 cks) with additive nozzle away from exit vortex Heater Foster Wheeler double fired 1 year plus run length with on-line spalling Ultra-low NOx burners with SCR if required Minimum length transfer line

Coke Cutting Large flow, high pressure jet pump Hydraulically operated winches/rotary joint Combination cutting tools Free fall arrestor Interlocked safety system Consider variable speed drive for energy savings

Coke Dewatering and Handling High volume maze for fines recovery and/or secondary fines recovery Full drum volume below chute Covered conveyors Drum drain to pit On-site coke storage for draining/cooling
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Slop/ Sludge Handling Sludge injection during coke quench Slop, wax tailings & coke condensate used as overhead line quench Overhead line quench spray nozzle Slops dewatering using waste heat

Fractionator Spray chamber wash zone Flash zone heat shield Coke screen & coke fines removal circuit Heater charge pump with coke crushing impeller On-line water wash capability Direct recovery of coke condensate/wax tailings into fractionator

Blowdown System Robust Blowdown drum internals Continuous operation for coke drum PSV discharge Direct recovery of vent vapors

Safety Interlocks Total automation features Coke drum inlet isolation valves, switch valve, utility valve and bottom unheading Coke drum outlet isolation valves and Blowdown valves Coke drum vent, PSV isolation and drum top unheading device Heater pass flow, fuel pressure and combustion air Coke cutting system

Structure Safety multiple stairwells, including freestanding towers protected operator shelters egress firewalls water spray systems for personnel protection during egress.

Conclusion: Coker revamps require significant evaluation and planning if they are to be successful. This paper presents the most common strategies that are used. Implementation of the necessary revamp concepts requires a deep knowledge of coker design, coker design execution and coker operations.

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