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Foam-Overs

By Norm Lieberman
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There are two types of coke drum foam- overs - bad and very bad:
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Drums that carry-over during filling - Bad
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Drums that carry-over after being filled -Very Bad
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Reliability
Results of a drum carry-over are quite variable, depending on how
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much coke has been carried into the fractionator, and now the
fractionator is designed to deal with carry-overs. On most newer
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Person of the Year filter permit modest amounts of coke (a few tons) to be extracted
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Us from the fractionator in a day or two. A typical 12' diameter
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Cokers fractionator can tolerate a single carry-over of 20 or 30 tons of coke.
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Carry-over amounts greater than these amounts will:
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1. Cause cavitation of the heater charge pump

2. Increase heater tube skin temperatures.
3. Knock the fractionator off-line.
Carry-Over After Switching

I've had a wonderful opportunity to study this problem in great detail

last month. My client has four coke drum density level indicators,
drum top pressure indicators and the combined drum outlet
Follow us on Twitter temperature located on the switch deck. This allowed me to observe
the response of the coke drums, as the operators manipulated the
drain, steam, switch and vapor valves. This coker has a tendency to
carry-over on almost every switch. My observations: Made after
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watching half a dozen switches indicated.

Foam-overs occur from the full drum, due to a loss in drum

pressure.

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Pressures must be measured at the top of the coke drum, not

100 feet away at the pressure gauge located upstream of the
vapor valves. For a few minutes after the switch, these
pressures may be moving in opposite directions.

A drum pressure drop of one psi in two minutes, is sufficient

to initiate a foam-over.

Once started, foam-overs are harder to suppress, then if never

allowed to start in the first place.

Rapid coke drum switching, does not necessarily promote an

increase in foam front height, if the operators closely controls
the full coke drum pressure.

A 10% - 15% reduction in coke drum density, at the lower

drum level indicators proceeds, by a few minutes, a drum
carry-over. However, this cannot be used as a warning for
action. It's already too late.

The drain valve from the warming drum must be closed

before switching drums. However, closing the drain valve 3
or 5 minutes before switching is looking for trouble. The
warm-up condensate can fill the feed line to the empty coke
drum with lighter hydrocarbons. Then, when the 920F resid
hits the 300F to 500F condensate in the feed line, the
resulting surge in vapor pressures-up both coke drum. If the
pressure in the full coke drum then is permitted to drop back
to it's pre-switch pressure, a foam-over from the full drum is
likely. Naturally, an incompletely drained drum may cause a
massive pressure swing. At the now defunct Western Slope
Refinery, I observed a 15 psi pressure swing due to a poorly
drained drum. The resulting coke drum carry-over knocked
the heater charge pumps off-line.

Maintaining an ascending pressure at the top of the full coke

seemed to be the best way to suppress foam-overs. For a
period of 15 minutes, starting with the time the drain valve is
closed, the full coke drum pressure ought to be increased by
"x" psig. But what does "x" depend on? A typical valve for
"x" is one psi per five minutes. However "x', the rate of the
increase in the pressure drop profile needed to suppress

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foam-overs, is a function of:

1. Coke drum outage. A small outage being 18' to 22'
2. Low coke drum top temperature (i.e. less than 815F)
promotes unstable foam fronts, which requires a more
positive ascending pressure profile to suppress.
3. Lighter coker feeds, slop in feed, low coke drum
pressure, high recycle rates, excess steam in the
heater passes, and other factors that increase drum
vapor velocities, require a larger "x" valve.
4. Many of my clients use a tremendous amount of
steam in the coke drum structure, most of which goes
into the coke drums, which increases velocity.
Many operators will double the amount of anti-foam injection a few
minutes before switch time, then reduce it back to normal, when the
drum pressures have stabilized (10 or 15 minutes later). I believe this
to be a good practice. Total silicon contamination of coker naphtha
will only increase by about 3%. On the other hand, this will not
compensate for a sudden drop in coke drum pressure of 2 or 3 psi.
Also, once the coke bed in the full drum starts to really fluff-up, a
coke drum carry-over can't be positively stopped with anti-foam
injection.
To achieve an ascending pressure profile, the operators have a
number of choices. My favorite one is to just pinch-back on the
vapor valve from the full drum. This requires a local pressure
indication from the top of the coke drum, transmitted down to the
vapor valve. A more conventional method is to hold back pressure
with the combined vapor line warm-up valve, which is often an HIC
control valve. This method however, has the disadvantage of
increasing the pressure of both the full and empty drums. That is,
five times as much coke drum volume has to be pressured-up, as
compared to my favorite method.
Increasing the fractionator pressure, by slowing down the wet gas
compressor, and/or reducing the HCGO pump around rate also
works. But this involves increasing the pressure of the fractionator
and both coke drums. This is even less responsive than the previous
suggestions.
Regardless of the method chosen to obtain an ascending drum
pressure after the switch, the hotter the coke drum vapor outlet

(upstream of the overhead vapor line quench), the more stable the
coke bed will be. Also, as liquid yields increase (about one volume
percent for every increase of 8F in drum top temperature), the
higher temperature off-sets the loss in liquid yield due to the 40
minutes period, when the coke drum pressure is higher than
optimum. (Drum pressure should not be decreased until the steamed
drum is lined-up to the blow down system).
Steaming out the coke drum
When the "little" steam (3,000 - 4,000 lbs./hr) is introduced into the
coke drum, the foam front, at first, is actually suppressed. That's
because the steam will, for 10 or 15 minutes, cause an increase in the
pressure in the drum being steamed. However this effect only lasts a
short time. Then, the pressure in the drums will start to fall, unless
the operator intervenes, to maintain an ascending pressure profile.
If the empty coke drum being switched into is cold (300F
condensate outlet), then the tendency to lose pressure, in the full
drum being switched out of, is greatly enhanced. That's because the
combined vapor flow from both drums will be low, until the empty
drum heats to full coking temperatures (790F).
The combined effect of steaming a full drum, when the pressure in
the drum is falling, can get pretty ugly. But, simply shutting off the
"little" steam, once the coke bod begins to expand will - well, start
polishing up your resume, because that will accelerate the rate of
pressure decline, and pull the drum over.
Coke Drum Carry-Over While Filling
This occurs less frequently, then a foam-over after the switch. Often,
the anti-foam is not added properly; diluent is added, but no silicon;
a wrong anti-foam flow is displayed; the anti-foam injection point is
plugged.
Or "your cup runneth over." The gravity of the coker feed (API)
drops, and the operators neglects to cut coker feed. The bearings on
the drill steam hoist motor of "A" drum are gone, and the "B" drum
cycle needs to be extended just a little bit too long.
Properly calibrated K-ray level detectors give adequate warning to
the alert operator. Some refiners have vibration probes (like those
used to detect pump shaft vibration) on the overhead vapor line. At
least for shot coke, this will identify when a coke carry-over begins.

Reducing the heater outlet temperature, by 5F to 10F will

temporarily stop the carry-over, by reducing the vapor generation in
the coke drum.
Summary
Maintaining a gradually increasing pressure in the drum to be
quenched, of several psi, for about 15 minutes after the switch, will
off-set to some extent, marginally low drum temperatures; shortened
coke drum cycles; low drum outages; higher feeds; low coke drum
pressure and rapid coke drum switches.

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Copyright: November 08, 2009 08:42 PM