INSPECTIONEERING JOURNAL

Reliability of Coke Drums

Part 1
By Eivind Johnsen at DNV Inc., Lynne Kaley, Vice President of R&D at Pinnacle, and Andy Tallin at DNV
Inc. This article appears in the November/December 1996 issue of Inspectioneering Journal.

This article is part one of a 2-part series on Coke Drum

Reliability.
Part 1| Part 2

Petroleum coke production is an important source of revenue for many

refineries. While coking units were initially constructed to deal with a waste
product, these units are now of significant economic value.

Worldwide, an estimated 3.8 million barrels of petroleum coke are produced

per day. Figure 1 shows the distribution of coke production; nearly 50% of
the production is concentrated in the US. Delayed coking is the most
common coking process, accounting for as much 3.3 MMbpd.

Figure 1. Coking capacity worldwide

Coke drums are an essential component in the delayed coking process. These
drums are used to separate petroleum coke from lighter hydrocarbons. Many
drums have reliability problems. Because the drums are central to the coking
process, poor drum reliability can lead to frequent shutdowns and low
productivity.

Coke drums are constructed of a vertical cylindrical shell with an elliptical

top and a conical bottom. They range from 60' to 80' in height and 15' to 30'
in diameter. Skirts, attached near the shell to cone weld area, are used to
support the drums. Most coke drums are made of C-1/2 Mo or Cr-Mo steel
and internally clad with stainless steel.

Operation
In delayed coking, coke drums are operated in pairs where only one drum is
filled at a time. Coking cycles, from fill start to fill start, last between 24 and
48 hours.

Figure 2 shows the process inlet temperature in a drum. Prior to filling, the
drum is pre-heated with overhead vapor gas from its twin drum. Filling is
the period of stable inlet temperatures. After filling, the coke is cooled by a
steam strip and a water quench and then it is removed from the drum.
During the cycle, the process temperature varies from 150ºF to 900ºF.
 Figure 2. A process cycle for a coke drum

Damage Mechanisms
Coke drums have been studied by a number of refining and engineering
companies. These studies have identified low cycle fatigue (LCF) caused by
cyclic thermal stresses as the main damage mechanism. LCF is the fatigue
mechanism that controls failure occurring before 10,000 cycles - the
equivalent of about 40 years of operation. LCF cracking can occur in both the
shell and the skirt of the drum.

Most skirt cracking is circumferential and occurs near the shell to skirt weld
or in the skirt expansion slots. Finite element analysis and strain
measurements show that this cracking is caused by high thermal stresses
due to large temperature differences between the shell and the skirt.

Figure 3 shows measured axial skirt strain and process inlet temperature as
a function of time. These strains were measured near the skirt to shell weld.
The high strains occur both during pre-heating and quenching. This strain
pattern is repeatable from cycle to cycle and from drum to drum.
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 Figure 3. Axial skirt strain and process inlet temperature
as a function of time

Uneven cooling, thought to be caused by channeling of quench water, results

in stresses that bulge and crack the coke drum shell. Inspection data shows
that once bulges have formed, the drum becomes susceptible to cracking in
the bulged areas. Most shell bulging and cracking is circumferential and it
usually occurs near the welds between shell courses. Other potential
cracking areas are at insulation support rings, at nozzles, or at other
discontinuities.

Figure 4 shows measured axial shell and process inlet temperature as a

function of time. The strain remains steady throughout most of the cycle but
jumps dramatically during quenching. The strains in the shell vary greatly
between cycles.
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 Figure 4. Axial shell strain and process inlet temperature
as a function of time

Figure 5 shows measured surface temperatures in a 9'(12' area after 20

minutes of quenching in a drum. In the lower right corner of the figure is a
distinct cold spot. This spot was more than 400ºF cooler than the
surrounding shell, and was formed in less than ten minutes. Large strains
will result from this temperature distribution due to differential thermal
contraction. The distribution of temperatures is both random in location and
magnitude. The pattern and magnitude of hot spots and the cold spots are
not repeatable from cycle to cycle. High strains are observed along with these
nonuniform temperature distributions.

Figure 5. Temperature distribution after 20 minutes of

quencing
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 Some of the causes of bulging and cracking in coke drums have been
discussed here. However, there are still some important issues related to the
reliability of coke drums to address. In a later issue of Inspectioneering, the
effect of operations on damage will be covered, along with possible solutions
for increasing drum life.

References
1. Hydrocarbon Processing, June, 1996.
2. Hydrocarbon Processing, November 1994.
3. Damage Mechanics and Life Assessments of High-Temperature
Components, ASM International, 1989.

Did you find this article helpful?

About the Authors

Eivind Johnsen at DNV Inc.

Lynne Kaley, Vice President of R&D at Pinnacle

Lynne Kaley is an internationally recognized industry expert and leader in the development and
use of Risk-Based Inspection technology for the refining and petrochemical industry. She
pioneered the development of RBI technology in the early 1990's and served as master editor for
API RP 580 Third Edition and API RP 581. She is currently the master editor for the API RP 581
task group. Ms. Kaley... Read more »

Andy Tallin at DNV Inc.

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