Visbreaking and delayed coking processes

This chapter presents the industrial applications and validations of certain detailed models which refer to the kinetics analysed earlier. The steam cracking process will be analysed first followed by visbreaking and delayed coking processes. Last of all, the method will be applied to the thermal degradation of plastic waste. 

In crude oil refining, the visbreaker process, the delayed coking process (see Chapter 13.1.2) and thermal cracking are used in the middle-temperature range to convert heavy petroleum residues into lighter gasoline fractions and middle distillates. The aromaticity of the fractions recovered, however, is relatively low. 

Visbreaking is a relatively mild thermal (noncatalytic) cracking process that is used to reduce the viscosity of residua. A visbreaker reactor may be similar to a delayed coker with a furnace tube followed by a soaker drum. However, the drum is much smaller in volume to limit the residence time with the entire liquid product flowing overhead. Alternatively, the entire visbreaker may be a long tube coiled within a furnace. Coke formation can occur and the coke accumulates on visbreaker walls periodic decoking (cleaning) is necessary. 

Thermal cracking processes are commonly used to convert petroleum residua into distillable liquid products examples of thermal cracking processes currently in use are visbreaking and coking delayed coking. 

This situation can be clearly seen when observing the time evolution of the tube metal temperature of the pyrolysis coils there is a fast initial increase and then a reduced asymptotic slope. Note that although the initial slope is initially related to the catalytic rate, it is also due to the relatively low thermal conductivity of the initial fibrous material as a result of the large void fraction. The thickness of this layer is in the order of 20-40 pm. The evolution of the fluid temperature over time either at the TLE outlet or in visbreaking processes and in delayed coking furnaces shows a very similar behaviour. 

Not all reactions are exothermic. Thermal cracking is an endothermic reaction. Heat is absorbed. Good thing, too. If thermal cracking of crude oil was exothermic, all the earth s crude would by now have turned to coal and natural gas. Delayed cokers, visbreakers, and fluid catalytic cracking units are processes that are primarily endothermic in nature. A delayed coker operates with a zero order reaction. This means the rate of reaction depends on time in the coke drum and the temperature in the coke drum. The composition of the products of reaction have no effect. 

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