Techniques to mitigate stripper fouling in fluid cokers
AssigneeSYNCRUDE CANADA LTD. in trust for the owners of the Syncrude Project as such owners exist now and in the future
InventorsJason Wiens, Gibran Alamgir, Chung Huu Ta, Michael Wormsbecker
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fluid coking operation for converting bitumen to lighter hydrocarbons can be controlled or monitored using a stripper fouling indicator to mitigate foulant accumulation on the sheds of the stripper within the lower section of the coker and avoid flooding. The stripper fouling indicator can be linked to the liquid carry-under to the stripper which can be correlated to certain measurable variables such as which feed nozzles are used for bitumen injection, solids circulation rate of the coke particles, and reactor temperature. The coking can be kept below the stripper fouling indicator to avoid flooding while operating with high yield and performance.
Claims17
A process for subjecting bitumen to a fluid coking operation, comprising:
- feeding the bitumen into a reactor;
- circulating coke particles through the reactor to contact the bitumen and cause cracking to produce hydrocarbon products;
- removing the hydrocarbon products via an upper outlet of the reactor;
- monitoring process parameters of the fluid coking operation;
- and
- controlling operation of the reactor based on a stripper fouling indicator of a stripper located in a lower region of the reactor and based on the monitored process parameters of the fluid coking operation
- wherein the stripper fouling indicator is developed based on a modelling of relations between the process parameters and liquid carry-under to the stripper.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.