Increasing Coker Liquid Yields using Good Optimization Techniques

There is an amazing story to share of pushing the yield envelope from one of the November 11 sessions at the RefComm® Bahrain 2015 Conference and Workshop.

Essam Al Otaibi, Process Engineer, SATORP

Many cokers in the world have high CCR and high heater fouling.  As such, they limit their heater outlet temperature to a level where the fouling is manageable. The decision reduces yield below the optimum level.

What if you knew it was possible to have a 29% CCR feed and a 942 °F heater outlet AND less than 1°F/day heater aging temperature? Many think this is impossible but today we heard that it is possible and being done.

With a properly designed Foster Wheeler unit (here in the Middle East) and good process optimization, it has been possible to increase liquid yield to 5-7% over design. Congrats to the design and operations team…quite a story to be heard!