Flexible Coking VS Delayed Coking
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Hello everyone. I’ve been reading some information on flexible coking recently, and it seems that this approach has advantages over delayed coking in terms of operation, investment, and environmental protection. What is the reason why it isn’t widely adopted in China? Thank you.
As described in petroleum refining engineering, fluidized coking is similar to catalytic cracking; coke particles circulate between the reactor and the regenerator, acting as a heat carrier. It requires high investment, and the yield improvement is modest. It is widely used in the United States, but there is little application elsewhere.
This post was last edited by zhangh on 2017-7-20 at 16:56. One issue is related to investment; the cost of investing in flexible coking is relatively high. Additionally, the low-calorific value gas produced by flexible coking cannot be used directly in heating furnaces, so it is necessary to study ways to mix it with other fuels; specific calculations are required for both the proportions and the burners to be used. In the future, as production costs and environmental protection costs in refineries rise, flexible coking is likely to become a trend. An additional new refinery could be considered as a one-time investment, while the costs and land requirements for upgrading existing refineries are limited.
I work in flexible coking; I have attended training provided by foreign parties and been inside the equipment itself. I believe that flexible coking is a technology with great potential for development, and it will see significant progress in the near future. As for the reasons why it isn’t used in China, there are various factors involved, and it’s not possible to go into detail here.
The low-calorific value gas produced by flexible coking can be burned independently in other process furnaces/boilers, except in ethylene cracking furnaces.
Flexible coking technology is not a problem; Sinopec is capable of implementing it, and Brunei already has one in operation.
The prospects for flexible coking are very good. As environmental regulations become more stringent in the future, many such facilities are likely to be built in China, so the outlook remains positive. Although the initial investment for flexible coking is about one-third higher than that for conventional delayed coking, it is still a cost-effective option considering the future environmental requirements
I have a question: Flexible coking is essentially thermal pyrolysis, and the pyrolysis process is an endothermic one. So, without a heating furnace, how can the heat required be supplied using external heaters?