FLEXICOKING

The Flexible Resid

Upgrading Technology
Flexicoking Technology at Hellenic
Petroleum S.A. refinery in Elefsis, Greece.
Commissioned in 2012.
FLEXICOKING
The Cost-Effective Coking Technology, without the Coke
FLEXICOKING technology is a commercially proven, cost-effective, fluidized bed process that thermally converts
heavy oils to lighter products and flexigas Coking without the Coke. Low-cost feeds such as deep-cut vacuum resid;
atmospheric resid; oil sands bitumen; heavy whole crudes; and DAU, FCC, and ebullated-bed bottoms are converted
to high-value products. FLEXICOKING technology with integrated steam/air gasification offers greater flexibility than
conventional Delayed Coking, and does it economically. The FLEXICOKING technology not only produces clean liquids of
equivalent quantities and similar quality to Delayed Coking, but also gasifies the low-value coke to produce a clean, high-
value flexigas that can be used in place of natural gas and conventional fuel gas in refinery processes. Flexigas can also be
used to generate electric power and to produce H2, N2, and CO2.

Key Advantages
Proven: Commercially proven for more than
38 years in ExxonMobil and in licensed third-party TOUGH FEED 2 TOUGH FEED 3
units. All FLEXICOKING units are operating today
TOUGH FEED 1 COMBINATION
at capacities greater than original design. Current
combined operating capacity is 227 kbd/12 MTA.
FLEXible: A robust process, capable of handling a
variety of feeds with a wide range of high Conradson
Carbon Residue (CCR), sulfur, and heavy metals, without
the need for a feed furnace. FEED SELECTOR

Multi-Purpose: The high-sulfur, low-value coke is POWER GENERATION H2/N2/CO2 RECOVERY

converted to a clean, economical multi-purpose FUEL GAS COMBINATION
flexigas, which can be used in refinery furnaces,
boilers, and gas turbines, or processed to recover H2,
N2, and CO2. ExxonMobils FLEXSORB process is
incorporated to reduce H2S in flexigas to 10 wppm,
or as needed.
FLEXIGAS USE
Optimizable: Coke gasification can be optimized
on the run, to debottleneck the unit, or to satisfy SIFICATION
GA
operational requirements such as changes in feed
Max.
formulations and variations in flexigas consumption.
Economic: Integrated simple steam/air gasification,
carbon steel construction throughout, and the Min.

absence of feed furnaces are key factors resulting in

significantly lower capital investment when compared CO
KE MAKE
to Delayed Coking with complex oxygen gasification.
CONTROL PANEL
Expect greater comparative savings in electric power-
generation applications (steam or combined cycle).
Environmental: Continuous, non-batch operation and
closed coke handling system results in low-particulate Power 2.9
(Combined Cycle)
APPLICATIONS

and fugitive hydrocarbon emissions. Much lower SOx 4.0

and NOx emissions are realized by burning the clean Power 2.5
flexigas, when compared to burning high sulfur coke. (Steam Cycle) 3.1
Flexigas for
Reliable: Continuous, steady state operation in Refinery Fuel 1.3
combination with cold-wall carbon steel construction Coke for Sale 1.0
contributes to high reliability and service factors that
routinely exceed 92 percent. 0 1 2 3 4
These benefits come to you in a compact package. The CAPITAL INVESTMENT FACTOR
layout of modern FLEXICOKING units offers reduced DELAYED COKING FLEXICOKING
plot space about 20 percent less than that of a basic
Delayed Coking unit of similar capacity.
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How FLEXICOKING Technology Works
The vacuum resid feed enters the scrubber for direct-
contact heat exchange with the reactor overhead
product vapors. The higher-boiling point hydrocarbons
(~975F+/525C+) present in the reactor product vapors
condense in the scrubber and return to the reactor, in
mixture with the fresh feed. Lighter overhead product
vapors in the scrubber go to conventional fractionation
and light-ends recovery. The feed is thermally cracked in
the reactor fluidized bed to a full range of gas and liquid
products, and coke. Coke inventory is maintained by
circulating the bed coke from the reactor to the heater via
the cold coke transfer line.
In the heater, the coke is heated by the gasifier products
and circulated back to the reactor via the hot coke
transfer line to supply the heat that sustains the thermal
cracking reaction. The excess coke in the heater is
transferred to the gasifier, where it reacts with air and
steam to produce a gas. The gasifier products, consisting
of a gas and coke mixture, return to the heater to heat up
the coke. The gas exits the heater overhead and goes to
steam generation, to dry/wet particulate removal, and to
desulfurization in the integrated FLEXSORB process.
The clean flexigas is then ready for use as fuel in
refinery boilers and furnaces and/or for steam and
power generation.
Approximately 95 percent of the coke generated in the
reactor is converted in the process. Only a small amount
of product coke is collected as fines from the flexigas and
purged from the heater to extract feed metals.

Flexicoking Process
PRODUCT TO
FRACTIONATOR

FEED

SCRUBBER

FEED MIX TO
INJECTORS HP STEAM
HOT GENERATION
COKE
CLEAN
REACTOR FLEXIGAS
TO USERS

DRY COKE
FINES

COLD WET COKE

COKE FINES

SOUR
WATER
COKE PURGE AIR + STEAM
RICH FLEXSORB
TO REGENERATION

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Full-Range Products Slate COKER GAS
C2 Fuel Gas, C3/C4S for Alkylation,
FLEXICOKING technology produces a full range of Chemicals, LPG Sales
products, from a C4- reactor gas to C5/975F (525C)
LPG
liquid products, the multi-purpose flexigas, and lastly a
small stream of low-sulfur coke that is purged to extract
feed metals. To Hydrotreating

Guaranteed Performance
To FCC, Hydrocracker & Chemicals
The first FLEXICOKING unit began operation in 1976, and
since then five others have come online, the most recent
one in 2012. Since 2010, we have also licensed three new To Refinery Fuel, Power Generation
H2, N2, CO2 Production
units with a combined capacity of 114kbd/6.3 MTA. These
COKE
are currently in different stages of construction. Coke Sales & Metals Reclamation

ExxonMobil has licensed fluidized bed coking technology since the 1950s, including the largest fluid coker, which is
located in Syncrude, Fort McMurray, Canada. Our experience ranges from 5 to 105 kbd (60 to 750 mtons/hr) unit
capacities and a variety of difficult feeds with CCR values ranging between 17 and 37.

ExxonMobil has equally extensive experience supporting its licensees, and this is particularly true of the FLEXICOKING
technology, because ExxonMobil owns and operates FLEXICOKING units in two of its largest refineries: Rotterdam in the
Netherlands and Baytown, Texas, in the United States.

We see an increasing market interest in FLEXICOKING technology worldwide. We expect the trend to continue well into the
future, particularly in parts of the world where natural gas is limited and/or expensive, and in environmentally sensitive areas.

H In Operation H In Construction
Athens, Greece Moscow, Russia
Houston, Texas Tuapse, Russia
Amuay, Venezuela Talara, Peru
Kawasaki, Japan China
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Martinez, California

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FLEXICOKING Technology Highlights

Produces a clean and valuable flexigas fuel

Achieves superior environmental performance
Offers maximum flexibility in terms of processed
feeds, product utilization, and operating modes
Requires lower capital investment

4
 FLEXICOKING Technology
at ESSO Nederland refinery in Rotterdam,
The Netherlands. Commissioned in 1986.

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