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Coke Drum Design
Coke Drum Design
T
he global supply of crude is 80 years and is used
getting heavier. In response, primarily as a fuel or for
refiners are making their refineries the production of anodes
flexible enough to handle the changing for the aluminum
feedstock. These crudes are cheaper than industry, electrodes for
sweet crudes due to their limited the steel industry,
processing capacity. One of the major graphite or similar carbon-
additions and targets for upgrades are based products. This
delayed coking units, which process the residue is then water
bottom-of-barrel material into valuable, quenched not only to
lighter products such as gasoline and allow for its removal once
distillates. Adding a delayed coker unit the vessel has been
to a refinery flow scheme provides a depressurised, but also to
two-fold financial incentive: cheaper cool it to the point where
feedstock and a higher volume of it will not self-ignite when
light products. exposed to air. As part of
In several parts of the world, North the delayed coking
America being more severe, refining process, coke drums
capacity is struggling to keep up with undergo severe thermal
the demand for products. Refiners are and pressure cycling, as
making strong efforts to improve the the vessel is filled with hot
reliability and availability of process product and subsequently Figure 1 Coke drum shell bulging in early 1960s
units, with the ultimate goal of water quenched after
decreasing the frequency of turnarounds coke formation. In the last decade, the demand for
and making process units safer. Due to the severe heating and delayed coking capacity has been
In an environment where it is very quenching rates of this process, the steadily increasing. Experts attribute this
profitable to keep refinery availability as useful life of coke drums is much shorter trend to refineries having to process
high as possible, efforts are directed than that of other pressure vessels more lower-quality crudes than in the
toward process units and equipment operating in non-cyclic conditions. This past, as previously discussed. Thus, few
that bear the most wear and tear. Also, it is because the severe operational refinery owners have the option of
is financially preferable to run heavier thermal cycling causes the plate and the increasing cycle time, as they must
crudes, especially when a refiner has an weld to be stressed with each cycle and, balance drum distortion with the desire
existing delayed coking unit. But due to their differential strengths, the to meet rising throughput requirements.
nothing is easy: delayed coking units drum may bulge and eventually crack in Instead, refiners must often resort to
require more maintenance than normal the vicinity of the circumferential weld shortening the coking cycle, adding
process units in a refinery, and seams. This leads to coke drums more units or doing both.
increasing the availability of this unit experiencing significant downtime
has a major impact on the long-term throughout their useful life to make Bulging and cracking
profitability of a refiner. needed repairs or partial shell replace- phenomenon
ments. It is a problem that has plagued Weil and Rapasky1 (1958) identified
Delayed coking process refineries for decades. radial bulging as a “re-occurring
Delayed coking is a process in which a Depending on the operating para- difficulty” that existed in essentially all
heavy residual feedstock is superheated meters, type of coke produced, feedstock operating coke drums of the time.
and then introduced into an insulated, and other variables, the cycle time of a Through extensive research carried out
vertically oriented cylindrical pressure given unit can be from as little as 14 on a total of 16 coke drums erected
vessel, commonly known as a coke hours to more than 24 hours. The between 1938 and 1958, they identified
drum. Vapours are then removed to be industry recognises that the shorter and a radial growth varying from almost
further refined into various petroleum more severe the cycle, the sooner and negligible to as much as 0.3in per year.
byproducts, leaving behind a high- more pronounced the bulging and The rate of bulging was found to be
density hydrocarbon residue referred to cracking will appear. To illustrate this, directly attributable to the “quenching
as petroleum coke. Petroleum coke is a Figure 1 is a photo that was taken from portion” of the operating cycle. They
solid coal-like substance that has been a coke drum shell replacement project, also recognised that the girth seams, due
commercially manufactured for nearly illustrating the severity of the distortion. to the higher yield strength of the weld
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is to base the thickness of the material on the yield strength of base metals and
the specified design pressure. Typically, weld metals varies with temperature,
the pressure is specified as varying which may make the yield strength
linearly from a minimum value at the differential greater than 10% at elevated
top of the vessel to a maximum at the temperatures. Also, controlling weld
bottom flange. Since overall vessel cost is metal yield strengths to a specific
a function of weight and thickness, the minimum/maximum in relation to the
tendency is to design each shell course as-supplied base metal typically requires
for the design pressure specified at the the use of weld processes that are not
bottom of the course. As a result, there necessarily productive or cost-effective.
are typically step reductions in thickness Blend grinding the weld profiles,
from one shell course to the next, as which reduces the geometric stress raiser
shown in Figure 3. However, the effects near the weld joint, can extend
resulting weld profile compounds the the service life of the weld joint and can
stiffening effect already present due to be cost-effective if properly specified Figure 5 Cylindrical shell sections of up to
the higher yield strength of the weld and managed. However, eventual repairs 46ft help eliminate several circumferential
metal, as shown in Figure 4. to the weld joint are inevitable. weld seams, increasing endurance under
The use of uniform shell thickness the most severe thermal cycles.
Increasing vessel life throughout the critical area of the vessel
Further effort to improving the reliability has an added material and labour cost. alloys translates into increased costs.
and lifespan of coke drums has focused But, as previously mentioned, not Some specifications are requiring
on developing or proposing measures to keeping a uniform thickness will increase increased NDE testing to be performed
mitigate the stiffening effect of the weld the stiffening effect of the metal used for and the acceptable flaw size reduced in
seams. Most of these measures, several of welding the circumferential weld joints. an attempt to get more uniform weld
which have been incorporated into And while the specification of very thick joint properties. This increases costs
numerous procurement specifications, and uniform shells will reduce the peak without having any effect on the basic
were aimed at reducing the discontinuity stresses caused by the thermal cycles problem of the circumferential welds
effect at the circumferential weld seam. somewhat, it will not reduce the effects acting as stiffeners. There is also some
The most common of these specifica- of the circumferential seams acting as evidence that excessive repairs during
tions were as follows: stiffeners during the quench cycle. manufacturing may, in fact, reduce
— Decreasing the weld metal yield Higher alloys such as 21/4 Chrome-1 service life by causing premature failures.
strength to be within a close percentage Moly are thought to be able to resist the
of base metal yield (ie, 0%, +10%) thermal cycling better because of their Elimination of
— Blend grinding the weld profile higher yield and better creep and creep- circumferential weld seams
— Specifying higher alloy materials (ie, fatigue resistance. While these higher When CB&I first approached the girth
21/4 Chrome-1 Moly and higher) alloys may increase the useful life of the weld distortion and cracking problem,
— Requiring more non-destructive vessels and slow down bulging, most of two observations were pivotal in the
examinations (NDE) and using more the newer drums manufactured from analysis. One was the well-known fact
restrictive NDE acceptance criteria than this alloy have not yet seen enough coke that the higher strength of the weld
the construction code requires production cycles to determine if this is metal in the circumferential seams tends
— Maintaining a uniform shell a major improvement. Plus, using these to have a stiffening effect that increases
Base metal Type Tensile ksi Yield min. Typical weld Tensile ksi Yield min.
(typ) ksi metal selection (typ) ksi
A516-70 Carbon steel 70–90 38 (46) EM12K 70–95 58 (61 )
A204 C Carbon-1/2 Moly 75–95 43 (52) EA2 70–95 58 (61)
A387-11, CL2 11/4 Cr-1/2 Moly 75–100 45 (58) EB2 80–100 68 (75)
A387-12, CL2 1 Cr-1/2 Moly 65–85 40 (50) EB2 80–100 68 (75)
A387-22, CL2 21/4-1 Moly 75–100 45 (58) EB3 90–110 67 (80)
405 (clad) 13 Cr 60–90 25 (36) ERNiCr-3 80–95 40 (52)
410S (clad) 12 Cr 60–90 30 (36) ERNiCr-3 80–95 40 (52)
All weld metal and base metal in typical PWHT condition for material combinations. All weld metal data is from the SAW (submerged arc welding) process
Table 2
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weld slot
1
1 –0
1/2 1/2
1 –11/4
2 –0
See note #1
entire can section. To replace the shells
on the four coke drums at the West
A 1 –511/32
Coast refinery, for instance, the damaged
Hot (Typ)
can sections had to be cut into smaller
box
vertical pieces, which were then
Lower skirt 1 removed plate by plate. Likewise, the
1 thk new vertical plates had to be lifted into
SA516–70 place piece by piece, as shown in Figure
Elevation View A–A
6. While not as fast as replacing the
Stretchout of top plate
entire can section, the plate-by-plate
replacement method is still a safe, low-
Figure 7 T-Rex skirt design cost solution.
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Vertical plate coke drums affects the overall throughput of the have coke drums that provide greater
Capex As previously mentioned, the refinery. Also, without a rigorous reliability than traditionally possible.
initial Capex outlays for four vertical inspection and maintenance schedule, Whether it is a retrofit application, a full
plate coke drums is assumed to be $26.1 failures can occur at inopportune times vessel replacement or part of a new
million. such as the summer driving season when process unit, vertical plate coke drums
Opex The vertical plate technology is product values are at their peak. Hence, will be able to endure the most severe
expected to defer cracking substantially. the direct financial losses due to outages thermal cycles and outlast any conven-
Since 75% of the critical circumferential are likely to be greater than described in tionally designed vessel. Implementing
weld seam footage has been eliminated, this discussion, and the corresponding a T-Rex or wrapper design for the
we can assume there will be 75% fewer benefits of vertical plate technology are support is expected to further improve
cracks. Thus, the Opex for shell cracking likely to be that much higher. the life of these vessels.
on a vertical plate coke drum may be 11
* 0.25 = three events over the 20-year Future outlook This article is based on a paper (AM-06-48)
presented at the NPRA Annual Meeting, Salt
period, of which 30%, or one, of the Since 2000, CB&I has completed four Lake City, Utah, 20 March 2006.
events will be planned and the vertical plate projects, bringing its total
remaining two events will be number of vertical plate coke drums in
unplanned. Using the same analysis as service to 11. These projects have References
with the conventionally designed coke included the full circumferential can 1 Weil N A, Rapasky F S, Experience with
vessels of delayed — coking units, API 23rd
drums over the same 20-year period: section replacement of shells ranging Midyear Meeting, 1958.
— Costs of crack repairs over a 20-year from 35–73ft, as well as new lower 2 Boswell R S, Ferraro T, Remaining life
period One planned event * ($225 000) + knuckle and skirt assemblies. As far as evaluation of coke drums, Plant Engineering,
Design and Responsibility Symposium,
two unplanned events * ($225 000 * 1.3) improving the reliability and lifespan of Energy Engineering Conference, 1997.
= $810 000 in repair costs for each drum, coke drums go, as previously mentioned 3 Antalffy L P, Malek D W, Pfeifer J A, Stewart
or $3.2 million for all four drums. none of the vessels have been in service C W, Grimsley B, Shockley R, Innovations
in delayed coking coke drum design, ASME,
Direct financial losses In terms of lost long enough to allow quantification of 1999.
revenues caused by cracking, the same the actual improvement. However, the 4 Livingston B, Saunders K L, Coke drums
assumptions apply from above, but for vertical plate coke drums installed at failure prediction evaluation using
only two unplanned events. Thus: the West Coast refinery in 2000 have probabilistic techniques, ASME, 1998.
5 Penso J A, Lattarulo Y M, Seijas A J, Torres J,
— Direct financial losses over a 20-year seen about six years of service and are Howden D, Tsai C L, Understanding failure
period Two unplanned events/drum pair approaching 2000-plus cycles with no mechanisms to improve reliability of coke
* six days for each event * 25 000bbl/day evidence of any unusual distortion. drums, ASME, 1999.
6 ASME Section II parts A & C, plus Plate and
* (0.85 * $50) = $12.7 million in lost Currently, four more drums are under Electrode Manufacturers brochures and
revenues for each drum pair, or $25.5 contract. The first project is for a CB&I data.
million for all four drums. Canadian refiner and includes two new
Based on the LCVA, it can be seen that drums of slightly larger dimensions to be
the lifecycle Opex and lost revenue costs installed during a turnaround later this Coby W Stewart is business development
over a 20-year period for four year. This project is unique in that the manager, Chicago Bridge & Iron, The
conventionally designed coke drums drums are being fabricated in three Woodlands, Texas, USA.
total about $114 million, compared with segments. The segments are then to be Email: cstewart@cbi.com
about $29 million for coke drums using transported to the site and installed Aaron M Stryk is global marketing
vertical plate technology. Thus, vertical through the side of the structure during manager, Chicago Bridge & Iron, The
plate coke drums can save refinery the outage while seams are being welded Woodlands, Texas, USA.
owners approximately $85 million over in place. The second project is for two Email: astryk@cbi.com
the 20-year period, not to mention the drums being erected on site and installed Lee Presley is product and engineering
added advantages of greater plant safety. on the “table top” for final assembly. manager, pressure vessels and special
Note that these calculations are As feedstocks become heavier and the structures, Chicago Bridge & Iron, The
conservative, as downtime in a delayed need for coking capacity continues to Woodlands, Texas, USA.
coker unit, as in any key processing unit, rise, refiners will need more than ever to Email: lpresley@cbi.com
acs
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