Is the future of residue coking or residue hydrogenation???

Hehe! The type of equipment to be used is determined by the chosen crude oil processing route! It mainly depends on whether the properties of the crude oil are suitable for a particular processing route to achieve the best economic benefits! And coal liquefaction technology is merely an attempt to find a new way of energy conversion! The two cannot be contradictory!

【Translation】Why is delayed coking technology so popular? In recent years, with an increase in high-sulfur crude oils and a deterioration in the properties of crude oil, China’s coking processing capacity has increased rapidly. Delayed coking technology has thus become increasingly popular, prompting companies to invest in building large-scale delayed coking facilities. Domestic refining technology experts predict that over the next 5 years, delayed coking technology in China will experience a period of rapid development. 　　Delayed coking is a process for the deep thermal cracking of residue to produce gas, light and medium-quality distillates, as well as coke; it is also one of the important methods used by numerous refining companies around the world to increase the yield of light oils and to produce petroleum coke. This process features a simple flow, strong adaptability to raw materials, mature and reliable technology, as well as low investment and operating costs. 　　Delayed coking has become an important method for the conversion of residue in the refining industry around the world. According to statistics, over the past 10 years, the new coking capacity added in China has accounted for more than 22% of the total new residue processing capacity. The maximum processing capacity of a single coking unit worldwide has reached 6.73 million tons per year, while in China this figure has also reached 1.6 million tons per year. Delayed coking technology has become one of the important methods used by refineries to process high-sulfur crude oil. 　　Looking at the development history of the global refining industry, as consumption of heavy fuel oils declines and the demand for light oils increases, deeper processing of crude oil remains the direction for its development. Delayed coking, as one of the main methods for deep processing of heavy oils, will undoubtedly experience rapid growth. Although the capacity for catalytic cracking and hydroprocessing of residue has grown rapidly since the late 1990s, the capacity growth of delayed coking units has followed closely behind. 　　As the deep processing of crude oil becomes increasingly popular, delayed coking units in China have also been constructed at a rapid pace. By the beginning of 2004, the total processing capacity of coking units in China that were in operation had reached 32.45 million tons per year; merely in the past 10 years, the processing capacity of delayed coking units in China increased by 160.81%. The capacity of the delayed coking unit currently under construction is estimated to be 6 million to 8 million tons. 　　Furthermore, both resins and polyesters require large amounts of naphtha as raw materials. However, the proportion of naphtha in China’s crude oil is low, far from sufficient to meet the demands of the ethylene industry and catalytic reforming for such raw materials. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain naphtha from vacuum wax oil and vacuum residue, and delayed coking is undoubtedly one of the suitable methods. 　　Due to the unique advantages of delayed coking technology in balancing residual oil in refineries and increasing the yield of light oils, research and production units in China’s petroleum and petrochemical industry have always attached great importance to this technology. Since the commissioning of China’s first continuously operating delayed coking industrial plant in 1964, through joint efforts by research and design institutions, over the past 40 years not only have processes such as delayed coking and solvent refining, along with their combined versions, been developed, but also mechanical equipment such as large-scale double-sided radiant heating furnaces, automatic top cover machines, and automatic bottom cover machines have been created. Moreover, a number of technologies with independent intellectual property rights have been developed in areas such as coke removal machinery, automatic control, and energy conservation. 　　However, compared with foreign countries, domestic technology still faces issues such as high overall processing capacity but small scale per unit, low processing load rates, and high comprehensive energy consumption. For example, the cycle ratio of foreign devices is 0.05, while the lowest value in China is 0.2 ； The coking cycle abroad has been reduced from 16 hours to 14 hours, while the average in China is 24 hours ； Foreign heating furnaces generally use dual-side radiation, while the first set of devices in China to adopt this technology was also introduced from abroad. 　　Faced with this gap, experts urge relevant research, design, and production entities to work together actively to accelerate the adoption of new technologies such as the one-way coking-solvent extraction process, delayed coking-solvent refining, and their combinations. This will help improve the technological level of China’s existing facilities as soon as possible, facilitate the expansion and upgrading of these facilities, enhance independent innovation capabilities, and avoid a potentially unfavorable situation that might arise once the domestic market is fully opened up. 　　In the face of the increasing number of environmental regulations being introduced around the world, as well as the stricter requirements regarding the quality of fuel oil and the emissions from refineries, many petroleum refining companies have adopted delayed coking technology as a method for processing high-sulfur residue oils, innovating and improving this technology in order to enhance its processing capacity. Given China’s national conditions, whether it is the deep conversion of residue oil or the processing of high-sulfur crude oil, delayed coking technology is a key focus for China’s refining industry when selecting process routes.

It should be coking; it’s a new unit that we’ve installed at Yanshan

Oil is one of the important energy sources widely used by humanity today. However, since the reserves of oil on Earth are fixed, making effective use of these limited oil resources is a challenging task for those working in the field of oil refining technology. Residue is the residue left after petroleum is processed through distillation; it accounts for about 50% of the petroleum before processing. Due to its poor quality, high content of impurities and undesirable components, and the difficulty involved in processing it, residue was once burned as fuel in industrial furnaces, which not only wasted limited resources but also caused environmental pollution. In simple terms, the processing of residue oil involves carrying out a chemical reaction between residue oil and hydrogen under high temperature, high pressure, and in the presence of a catalyst. This process removes harmful impurities such as sulfur, nitrogen, and heavy metals from the residue oil, converting part of it into gas oil and diesel. The remaining portion can be processed through catalysis or liquefaction to also be converted into gas oil and diesel. Specifically, the residue hydroprocessing technology involves a catalytic reaction between residue and hydrogen under high temperature, high pressure, and in the presence of a catalyst. Harmful impurities such as sulfur, nitrogen, and metals in the residue react with hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide, respectively, to produce hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and metal sulfides. At the same time, some of the larger molecules in the residue are cracked and hydrogenated to form smaller molecules with desirable properties. The metal sulfides formed as a result of this reaction deposit on the catalyst, while hydrogen sulfide and ammonia can be recovered and reused rather than being released into the atmosphere, thus avoiding environmental pollution. The quality of the residue oil after hydrogenation is significantly improved; it can be fully converted into gasoline and diesel, which are in high demand in the market, using catalytic and cracking processes. This ensures complete utilization of the material, thereby increasing resource efficiency and economic benefits. Hydrotreating technology for residue oil was first developed in the 1970s by several major foreign oil companies, and it became a technology monopolized by just a few oil companies. To address the need for such technology in China, the Fushun Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology, which is part of Sinopec Corporation, began exploring this area starting from the mid-1980s. After more than a decade of efforts, China was finally able to develop its own new type of hydrotreating technology for residue oil. The residue that has been processed using the residue hydrogenation technology sees a significant reduction in key parameters such as sulfur, nitrogen, metals, and residual nitrogen. It can thus be used as qualified feedstock for downstream processes such as catalysis and cracking. Residue, which has low utility value and can cause environmental pollution, is transformed into high-value, high-quality hydrogenated oil products, thereby maximizing the conversion rate of such oil. In a sense, this technology enables 100% conversion of crude oil, fulfilling the goal of completely utilizing crude oil in the petroleum refining process. This technology falls into four main categories, including 11 different grades of catalyst products, as well as the manufacturing techniques and corresponding processes associated with them. Utilizing this technology, China’s first industrial facility with an annual processing capacity of 2 million tons was built in Maolin. This is the largest, most technologically advanced, and strategically important oil refining facility that China has invested in by the end of this century. It is also China’s first modern oil refining plant that was developed and designed independently, with a high degree of domestic equipment usage. At the end of December 1999, this installation was successfully operated once, not only producing qualified products but also achieving process parameters that were significantly higher than the design specifications. The residue hydroprocessing technology is a key scientific and technological project under the 95 Program of Sinopec Group; it represents a set of technologies with independent intellectual property rights in China. The commissioning of this technology marks the establishment of processing facilities in China capable of handling tens of millions of tons of sulfur-containing crude oil. The catalysts, process technologies, and equipment related to residue hydroprocessing have reached international advanced levels. A facility with an annual processing capacity of 2 million tons can generate economic benefits of over 300 million yuan, while also offering significant environmental advantages.

Based on the two factories located along the coast, namely Factory A and Factory B, this study analyzed the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the investment requirements and benefits associated with the two processing methods for sulfur-containing heavy oils: coking and hydrogenation. It also discussed and evaluated the development prospects of each of these methods. It is believed that both the coking and hydrogenation processes have their own advantages and disadvantages at present, and are suitable for different applications. However, when choosing a process route, it is necessary to consider not only economic efficiency but also various factors such as product structure, quality requirements, and the allowable limits for pollutant emissions. In the short term, the coking route appears to be superior to the hydrogenation route ； But in the long run, the advantages of hydrogenation will become increasingly evident, especially when oil prices are high.

There is a saying that high-sulfur crude oils are suitable for coking + CFB, while medium- and low-sulfur crude oils are suitable for residue hydrogenation

From the perspective of resource utilization, the hydrogenation route should be adopted; otherwise, it would be meaningless for China Shenhua to invest hundreds of billions in coal liquefaction projects.

From the perspective of short-term benefits, coking investments are low and yield quick results, while residue hydrogenation requires huge investments; therefore, from a financial standpoint, most companies opt for the coking process. This applies only to refineries that produce products using fuel oil; for chemical plants that manufacture PX or other products that require naphtha, coking is the main method for converting heavy oil feedstocks into lighter ones.

Currently, the popularity of coking processes is mainly driven by companies’ financial constraints and short-term pursuit of profits. In my opinion, the overall benefits of residue hydrogenation far exceed those of coking units, and it also avoids the environmental problems associated with residue coking; **it should be supported through policy measures.

In terms of current technology, residue hydrogenation is not yet mature; the residues that can be processed require very strict conditions. On the other hand, coking technology is mature, with simple installations, low costs, and quick returns, which makes it an essential component in refineries. There is still a long way to go before hydrogenation can replace coking

As crude oil becomes heavier and of lower quality, the choice of processing routes for heavy oil has recently become a focus of attention for many refineries. However, there is little discussion on the economic viability of using certain types of crude oil or specific product configurations along particular routes, and there are also few evaluations regarding the reliability of petroleum data. I was wondering if anyone with relevant information or experience in this area could share it

Oil prices are rising steadily, and the investment required for residue hydroprocessing is also increasing. The investment in a residue hydroprocessing unit is approximately three times that of a coking unit of similar scale. Moreover, its operating costs are high, it consumes a lot of energy, has a short production cycle, and its catalysts cannot be regenerated. Coking, on the other hand, has lower operating costs; however, its disadvantages include environmental pollution. Additionally, residue hydroprocessing is only efficient when combined with FCC units, while coking can operate independently, which is why coking holds a clear advantage in recent years.

For a refinery, whether to opt for coking or residue hydrogenation depends on several factors: 1. The quality of the refinery’s residue. Hydrogenation of residue requires very strict requirements regarding the raw material, mainly in terms of heavy metal content and gel content; it is not suitable for all types of residue. 2. Can the hydrogen source available in our plant meet the requirements? Both residue hydroprocessing and the subsequent treatment processes require a large amount of hydrogen. Currently, many refineries are facing a significant shortage of hydrogen, which is also one of the key reasons why large-scale hydroprocessing of residue oil cannot be carried out. 3. Can the refinery provide a large amount of land for construction? Residue hydrogenation involves a set of high-pressure hydrogenation units, and its implementation requires a large number of devices as well as sufficient space. 4. In terms of efficiency, hydrotreating of residue must be carried out on a large scale, which greatly limits the amount of residue that can be hydrotreated.

I believe that the choice of processing method is primarily determined by the market, that is, driven by profits. In China, residue coking these days isn’t about converting residue into ordinary coke; rather, it’s about turning residue into needle coke with high added value. The market value of needle coke is well known, so I won’t go into further details!

Hydrogenation is more profitable than coking, but it requires higher initial investment. The new oil refinery we are building with a capacity of ten million tons does not have a coking unit.