FLEXI COKING

What Is Coking?

Coking is well known process in the refining industry, the objective of

which is to upgrade heavy fraction & more especially, the distillation
residues by subjecting them to heat decomposition.
 Feedstock For Flexi Coking
❖ Feedstocks can be any pump able hydrocarbons
including those containing high concentrations of
sulfur and metals.

Vacuum Atmospheri
residue c residue

Tar sands Heavy

bitumen whole crude
 Flexi Coking
⮚ Flexi coking is continuous process involves thermal cracking in a bed
fluidized coke that heavy oils to light more valuable products &
gasification of coke produced at 870 c.
⮚ This process converts feed to a 99% yield of fuel gas, naphtha, middle
distillate, heavy gas oil & low sulfur coke gas. The remaining 1% is
petroleum coke containing metals.
⮚ Flexi coking is an integrated process that provides greater flexibility when
upgrading residuum, producing both clean liquid product as well as a fuel
gas.
“ The coke produced in the Flexi coking process is quite different
from cokes produced by conventional Fluid Coking or Delayed
Coking.

”
⮚ Gasification of the coke in FLEXICOKING produces a substantial
concentration of metals in the coke product.
 Process Description
⮚ The process consists of three main vessels: coking reactor, coke gasifier
& reaction heater.
⮚ The vacuum residue feed enters a scrubber section located at the top of
coking reactor for direct contact heat exchange with the reactor overhead
product vapours.
⮚ The feed is thermally cracked in the reactor fluidized coke bed to a full
range of gas and liquid products and coke.
⮚ Lighter overhead product vapors from the reactor/scrubber go to
conventional fractionation and light-ends recovery where the liquid
products and LPG are produced.
⮚ Coke inventory in the reactor and heater is maintained by circulating coke
from the reactor to the heater via the cold coke transfer line.
⮚ In the heater, the coke is heated by contact with the gasifier products and
circulated back to the reactor via the hot coke transfer line to supply the
process heat that sustains the thermal cracking reaction.
⮚ The excess coke in the heater is transferred to the gasifier where it reacts
with air and steam to produce CO / H2 rich syngas called flexigas.
⮚ The gasifier products, consisting of a mixture of flexigas and unconsumed
metals rich coke, return to the heater to heat up the circulating coke.
⮚ Flexigas exits the heater vessel and is fed to steam generators before
going to dry and wet particulate removal and then to H2S removal.
⮚ Part of coke may be withdrawn if necessary, at any point between heater
& gasifier.
1. Flexi coking technology is highly differentiated unique resid upgrading
process resulting in significantly lower environmental emission than
other conventional coking technologies & production of clean burning
fuel gas available for refinery energy optimization.
2. These environmental & energy utilization advantages in result in
improved economic residue conversion solution for processing difficult
heavy feedstocks.
The capital cost of flexicoker are 30 to 40% greater than the fluid coker
because of the need for an additional gasifier vessel ,gas clean up &
requirement for a larger air blower.