The SYDECSM Process

Foster Wheelers SYDECSM technology is a low-pressure, low-recycle design for achieving maximum liquid yields, with the advantages of:

Maximum yield of clean liquid products using ultra-low recycle or absolute minimum coke production using true zero recycle Low pressure, ultra-low or zero recycle, high yield operation Non-polluting coke storage and handling designs Long turnaround periods (5 years+) using FW SYDECSM coker heaters provided with on-line spalling and a proven equipment sparing and isolation philosophy

The process involves: 1 Normal feedstock to the delayed coker is vacuum residue, although atmospheric residue and other streams (solvent deasphalting pitch) can be coked. The charge is fed directly to the fractionator where it is combined with the recycle oil. The combined feed is preheated and pumped to the coker furnace where it is heated to in a range of 915-950 F (490-510 C) and fed to the coke drums. At this temperature and pressures of 15-90 psig (1.06.2 barg), the hot material cracks into gas, light products and solid coke. Inside, this would look like an erupting volcano with coke accumulating like solidified lava at the bottom of the drum. After the coke reaches a predetermined level in one drum, the flow is diverted to another drum to maintain continuous operation. The full drum is steamed-out to strip away residual hydrocarbons. Once cooled by water quench, the drum is decoked by hydraulic methods. A typical pair of maximum size drums will have a capacity of 30-35,000 barrels per stream day (BPSD). The number and size of the coke drums will be optimized to fit the unit capacity; some units have up to eight drums with diameters up to 32 feet (9.75 meters). Cut coke falls through the coke drum bottom and is recovered in a pit or pad for dewatering and recovery. After the coke has been removed from the drum, the drum is closed, preheated and put back on line. The hydrocarbon products from the coke drum are quenched and flow to the main fractionator where they are separated into: Gas that goes to the gas plant for recovery of its constituents Coker naphtha that is further processed in the gas plant and downstream unit and then blended into gasoline Light coker gas oil that will be processed and blended into diesel Heavy coker gas oil that is further upgraded in the hydrocracker or FCC unit for production of transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Towers and absorbers in the gas plant separate coker product gases and naphtha into propane, butane, and gasoline components and sweet fuel gas after amine treating.