Coke particles

The carbon black (soot) produced in the partial combustion and electrical discharge processes is of rather small particle si2e and contains substantial amounts of higher (mostly aromatic) hydrocarbons which may render it hydrophobic, sticky, and difficult to remove by filtration. Electrostatic units, combined with water scmbbers, moving coke beds, and bag filters, are used for the removal of soot. The recovery is illustrated by the BASF separation and purification system (23). The bulk of the carbon in the reactor effluent is removed by a water scmbber (quencher). Residual carbon clean-up is by electrostatic filtering in the case of methane feedstock, and by coke particles if the feed is naphtha. Carbon in the quench water is concentrated by flotation, then burned. 

Fluid coking (Fig. 4) is a continuous process that uses the fluidized soflds technique to convert atmospheric and vacuum residua to more valuable products (12,13). The residuum is converted to coke and overhead products by being sprayed into a fluidized bed of hot, fine coke particles, which permits the coking reactions to be conducted at higher temperatures and shorter contact times than they can be in delayed coking. Moreover, these conditions result in decreased yields of coke greater quantities of more valuable Hquid product are recovered in the fluid coking process. 

Fluid coking uses two vessels a reactor and a burner coke particles are circulated between the two to transfer heat generated by burning a portion of the coke to the reactor. The reactor holds a bed of fluidized coke particles, and steam is introduced at the bottom of the reactor to fluidize the bed. 

Further down, ca 75 cm below the electrode tips, the mix is hot enough (2200—2500°C) to allow the lime to melt. The coke does not melt and the hquid lime percolates downward through the relatively fixed bed of coke forming calcium carbide, which is Hquid at this temperature. Both Hquids erode coke particles as they flow downward. The weak carbide first formed is converted to richer material by continued contact and reaction with coke particles. The carbon monoxide gas produced in this area must be released by flowing back up through the charge. The process continues down to the taphole level. Material in this area consists of soHd coke wetted in a pool of Hquid lime and Hquid calcium carbide at the furnace bottom. 

The primary constituent is calciaed petroleum coke particles. 

Theoretical modeling of single-droplet combustion has provided expressions for evaporation and burning times of the droplets and the subsequent coke particles. A more thorough treatment of this topic is available (88,91—93,98). 

The fluohmic process is a third process for manufacturing hydrogen cyanide, which is being appHed in Spain and AustraUa. This process involves the reaction of ammonia with a hydrocarbon, usually propane or butane, in a fluidized bed of coke particles. The endothermic heat of reaction is suppHed electrically through electrodes immersed in the fluid bed. Yields from propane and ammonia are reportedly above 85% and the waste gas is essentially hydrogen, but the costs for electricity are high. Thus this process is appHcable only when there is an inexpensive source of power. 

Fluid coking is very insensitive to poor gas-solids contacting, but has one problem not faced by cat cracking or hydroforming. If the heavy residual oil is fed too fast to the reactor, the coke particles will become wetted and stick together in large unfluidizable lumps. Correct control of feed rate is necessary to prevent this bogging. 

An important aspect of Clark s technology was that the oil being cracked, which flowed through the tubes and in a near vapor state, was maintained in a continually dynamic or turbulent condition. This meant that the coke particles which formed were prevented from... 

In the fluid coking process, part of the coke produced is used to provide the process heat. Cracking reactions occur inside the heater and the fluidized-bed reactor. The fluid coke is partially formed in the heater. Hot coke slurry from the heater is recycled to the fluid reactor to provide the heat required for the cracking reactions. Fluid coke is formed by spraying the hot feed on the already-formed coke particles. Reactor temperature is about 520°C, and the conversion into coke is immediate, with... 

Graphite is a denser crystalline form of carbon. Graphite anodes are prepared by heating calcined petroleum coke particles with a coal tar pitch binder. The mix is then shaped as required and heated to approximately 2 800°C to convert the amorphous carbon to graphite. Graphite has now superseded amorphous carbon as a less porous and more reliable anode material, particularly in saline conditions. 

PLATE 5 Stages in the retorting of an oil shale particle in a hot inert gas are shown. [1, 2, 3] The retorting zone moves inward as products diffuse out of the particle. A coke layer on the particle is formed as a final step of the retorting process. [4, 5, 6] Retorting goes to completion in the center of the particle, and a fully coked particle remains. Courtesy, Amoco Corporation. 

Several cases of spontaneous ignition after exposure to air of fine coke particles removed from filter strainers on a petroleum refinery furfural extraction unit have been noted. This has been associated with the use of sodium hydrogen carbonate (bicarbonate) injected into the plant for pH control, which produced a pH of 10.5 locally. This would tend to resinify the aldehyde, but there is also the possibility of a Cannizzaro reaction causing conversion of the aldehyde to furfuryl alcohol and furoic acid. The latter, together with other acidic products of autoxidation of the aldehyde, would tend to resinily the furfuryl alcohol. Pyrolysis GLC showed the presence of a significant proportion of furfuryl alcohol-derived resins in the coke. The latter is now discarded into drums of water, immediately after discharge from the strainers, to prevent further incidents. 

Fluid coking a continuous fluidized solids process that cracks feed thermally over heated coke particles in a reactor vessel to gas, liquid products, and coke. 

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