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Coke Drum Foam-Overs Causes & Cures

By Norm Lieberman There are two types of coke drum foam-overs - bad and very bad:

Drums that carry-over during filling - Bad Drums that carry-over after being filled -Very Bad

Results of a drum carry-over are quite variable, depending on how much coke has been carried into the fractionator, and now the fractionator is designed to deal with carry-overs. On most newer cokers, a circulating fractionator bottoms pump, and an external filter permit modest amounts of coke (a few tons) to be extracted from the fractionator in a day or two. A typical 12' diameter fractionator can tolerate a single carry-over of 20 or 30 tons of coke. Carry-over amounts greater than these amounts will: 1. Cause cavitation of the heater charge pump 2. Increase heater tube skin temperatures. 3. Knock the fractionator off-line. Carry-Over After Switching I've had a wonderful opportunity to study this problem in great detail last month. My client has four coke drum density level indicators, drum top pressure indicators and the combined drum outlet temperature located on the switch deck. This allowed me to observe the response of the coke drums, as the operators manipulated the drain, steam, switch and vapor valves. This coker has a tendency to carry-over on almost every switch. My observations: Made after watching half a dozen switches indicated.

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Foam-overs occur from the full drum, due to a loss in drum pressure. Pressures must be measured at the top of the coke drum, not 100 feet away at the pressure gauge located upstream of the vapor valves. For a few minutes after the switch, these pressures may be moving in opposite directions. A drum pressure drop of one psi in two minutes, is sufficient to initiate a foam-over. Once started, foam-overs are harder to suppress, then if never allowed to start in the first place. Rapid coke drum switching, does not necessarily promote an increase in foam front height, if the operators closely controls the full coke drum pressure. A 10% - 15% reduction in coke drum density, at the lower drum level indicators proceeds, by a few minutes, a drum carry-over. However, this cannot be used as a warning for action. It's already too late. The drain valve from the warming drum must be closed before switching drums. However, closing the drain valve 3 or 5 minutes before switching is looking for trouble. The warm-up condensate can fill the feed line to the empty coke drum with lighter hydrocarbons. Then, when the 920F resid hits the 300F to 500F condensate in the feed line, the resulting surge in vapor pressures-up both coke drum. If the pressure in the full coke drum then is permitted to drop back to it's pre-switch pressure, a foamover from the full drum is likely. Naturally, an incompletely drained drum may cause a massive pressure swing. At the now defunct Western Slope Refinery, I observed a 15 psi pressure swing due to a poorly drained drum. The resulting coke drum carry-over knocked the heater charge pumps off-line. Maintaining an ascending pressure at the top of the full coke seemed to be the best way to suppress foam-overs. For a period of 15 minutes, starting with the time the drain valve is closed, the full coke drum pressure ought to be increased by "x" psig. But what does "x" depend on? A typical valve for "x" is one psi per five minutes. However "x', the rate of the increase in the pressure drop profile needed to suppress foam-overs, is a function of:

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1. Coke drum outage. A small outage being 18' to 22' 2. Low coke drum top temperature (i.e. less than 815F) promotes unstable foam fronts, which requires a more positive ascending pressure profile to suppress. 3. Lighter coker feeds, slop in feed, low coke drum pressure, high recycle rates, excess steam in the heater passes, and other factors that increase drum vapor velocities, require a larger "x" valve. 4. Many of my clients use a tremendous amount of steam in the coke drum structure, most of which goes into the coke drums, which increases velocity. Many operators will double the amount of anti-foam injection a few minutes before switch time, then reduce it back to normal, when the drum pressures have stabilized (10 or 15 minutes later). I believe this to be a good practice. Total silicon contamination of coker naphtha will only increase by about 3%. On the other hand, this will not compensate for a sudden drop in coke drum pressure of 2 or 3 psi. Also, once the coke bed in the full drum starts to really fluff-up, a coke drum carry-over can't be positively stopped with anti-foam injection. To achieve an ascending pressure profile, the operators have a number of choices. My favorite one is to just pinch-back on the vapor valve from the full drum. This requires a local pressure indication from the top of the coke drum, transmitted down to the vapor valve. A more conventional method is to hold back pressure with the combined vapor line warm-up valve, which is often an HIC control valve. This method however, has the disadvantage of increasing the pressure of both the full and empty drums. That is, five times as much coke drum volume has to be pressured-up, as compared to my favorite method. Increasing the fractionator pressure, by slowing down the wet gas compressor, and/or reducing the HCGO pump around rate also works. But this involves increasing the pressure of the fractionator and both coke drums. This is even less responsive than the previous suggestions. Regardless of the method chosen to obtain an ascending drum pressure after the switch, the hotter the coke drum vapor outlet (upstream of the overhead vapor line quench), the more stable the coke bed will be. Also, as liquid yields increase (about one volume percent for every increase of 8F in drum top temperature), the higher temperature off-sets the loss in liquid yield due to the 40 minutes period, when the coke drum pressure is higher than optimum. (Drum pressure should not be decreased until the steamed drum is lined-up to the blow down system). Steaming out the coke drum When the "little" steam (3,000 - 4,000 lbs./hr) is introduced into the coke drum, the foam front, at first, is actually suppressed. That's because the steam will, for 10 or 15 minutes, cause an increase in the pressure in the drum being steamed. However this effect only lasts a short time. Then, the pressure in the drums will start to fall, unless the operator intervenes, to maintain an ascending pressure profile. If the empty coke drum being switched into is cold (300F condensate outlet), then the tendency to lose pressure, in the full drum being switched out of, is greatly enhanced. That's because the combined vapor flow from both drums will be low, until the empty drum heats to full coking temperatures (790F). The combined effect of steaming a full drum, when the pressure in the drum is falling, can get pretty ugly. But, simply shutting off the "little" steam, once the coke bod begins to expand will - well, start polishing up your resume, because that will accelerate the rate of pressure decline, and pull the drum over. Coke Drum Carry-Over While Filling This occurs less frequently, then a foam-over after the switch. Often, the anti-foam is not added properly; diluent is added, but no silicon; a wrong anti-foam flow is displayed; the antifoam injection point is plugged. Or "your cup runneth over." The gravity of the coker feed (API) drops, and the operators neglects to cut coker feed. The bearings on the drill steam hoist motor of "A" drum are gone, and the "B" drum cycle needs to be extended just a little bit too long.

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Properly calibrated K-ray level detectors give adequate warning to the alert operator. Some refiners have vibration probes (like those used to detect pump shaft vibration) on the overhead vapor line. At least for shot coke, this will identify when a coke carry-over begins. Reducing the heater outlet temperature, by 5F to 10F will temporarily stop the carry-over, by reducing the vapor generation in the coke drum. Summary Maintaining a gradually increasing pressure in the drum to be quenched, of several psi, for about 15 minutes after the switch, will off-set to some extent, marginally low drum temperatures; shortened coke drum cycles; low drum outages; higher feeds; low coke drum pressure and rapid coke drum switches. Send mail to Info@Coking.com with questions or comments about this Delayed Coker (www.coking.com) web site. Copyright: April 21, 2011 09:47 AM

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