Richard Heniford
Bechtel Hydrocarbon Technology Solutions, Inc.
Maximizing Coker Value
when Processing Shale Oils
INFRASTRUCTURE
MINING & METALS
NUCLEAR, SECURITY & ENVIRONMENTAL
OIL, GAS & CHEMICALS
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Overview
� Recent Trends toward Shale-Derived Crudes
� A Case Study – LTO Impact on Refinery and
Coker Feedstocks
� Overview of Distillate Recycle®
� Impact on Coker Furnace Operation
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Light Tight Oil in North America
3 Million bpd New Crude Supply in 3 Years
Source: EIA AEO 2014
Light Ends
Light Naphtha
Heavy Naphtha
Distillate
AGO
VGO
VR
Vacuum Residue fraction is
significantly smaller for LTO
4.5%9.2%
20.2% 21.0%25.7%
32.9%24.4%
28.4%
27.1% 27.8%
28.1%
29.1%
14.3%
13.9%
14.0% 13.1%
12.8%
10.9%
15.1%
11.4%
11.7% 11.5%10.1%
8.4%29.4%
24.7%
17.8%21.2% 14.9%
13.1%
11.2% 9.3% 6.5% 1.8%5.6%
5.3%1.1% 3.0% 2.7% 3.5% 2.8% 0.3%
Assay sources: Oil & Gas Journal, Haverly, and ConocoPhillips lab testing
0
2
4
6
8
10
1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040
Primarily LTO
Figure MT-53. Domestic crude oil production by source in
the Reference case, 1990-2040 (million barrels per day)
Total
Lower 48 onshore
Lower 48 offshore
Alaska
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Reversal of a Trend
US Refinery Crude API Up +1 Point since 2009
-
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
30.00
30.50
31.00
31.50
32.00
32.50
33.00
1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
U.S. API Gravity (Weighted Average) of Crude Oil Input to Refineries (Degrees)
U.S. Sulfur Content (Weighted Average) of Crude Oil Input to Refineries (Percent)
Source: EIA, January 2015
Sulfur, wt%
API Gravity
oA
PI
wt%
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Basis for Refinery Configuration: 300 kbpd crude capacity, with Gas Oil Hydrocracker and 55 kbpd coker
� 40 kbpd of LTO (Eagle Ford) displaces imported light sweet crudes, resulting in a coker feed reduction of approximately 3.565 kbpd.
� Assumes that the Crude Distillation and naphtha processing facilities are not limiting light crude throughput.
� Typically filling coker capacity with heavy sour crudes makes economic sense.
However in cases where logistical, downstream process, or metallurgy
conditions limits processing of heavy sour crude, there is another option to
increase your liquid yields.
Case Study examined the use of Distillate Recycle ® to maximize utilization of the coker.
� Bottom line: Converting coke to barrels of products is always a good thing
Case StudyUS Gulf Coast Refinery
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Case StudyUS Gulf Coast Refinery – Crude Slates
� Base Case: Mix of Arab Heavy, Brent, Arab Medium, and Mars.� Case 1 – No DR: Eagle Ford crude displaces some Arab Medium and Brent, Coker
operates at reduced throughput.� Case 2 – With DR: Same crude mix as Case 1, and coker adopts LCGO Distillate
Recycle® to utilize available furnace and fractionation capacity.
The typical refinery will have many more crudes available to blend into the slate.
For simplicity, cases were selected to portray how LTO is displacing imported crudes at US refineries. 100 100
50 50
5035
100
75
0
40
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Arab Hvy Mars Arab Med Brent Eagle Ford
KBPDBase Crude Slate
No LTOCase 1 & 2 Crude Slate
with 40 kbpd LTO
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54.9 51.4
84.282.8
40.340.5
33.234.7
59.3 62.3
19.0 20.2
9.0 8.3
0
50
100
150
200
250
300 Lt Ends
(< 85)
Lt Naphtha
(85 - 180)
Hvy Naphtha
(180 - 380)
Distillate
(380 - 500)
Lt Gas Oil
(500 - 650)
Hvy GO
(650 - 1050)
Vac Resid
(> 1050)
Base Case
No LTOCases 1 & 2
40 kbpd LTOKBPD
Case StudyUS Gulf Coast Refinery – Straight Run Liquids
Effects of displacing Light or Medium Crudes with LTO (Case 1 or 2 vs. Base)� SR Naphtha yield goes up� HGO and VR yields go down
-3.565 kbpd
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Distillate Recycle®
� BHTS Patented Technology
– Can be any distillate: Naphtha, LCGO, HCGO, or dedicated draw of MCGO– Recycled through Furnace and Coke Drums– Reduces coke make and increases liquid yield, improves furnace operation
� Yield Effects
– Coke yield ▬▬▬> reduced.
– Yield of the distillate being recycled ▬▬▬> reduced.
– Yield of other distillates ▬▬▬> increased.
� Heater Effects
– Increases run length through higher tube velocities, lower residence time– Increases overall firing rates, but allows reaching optimum coke drum overhead
temperature at slightly lower heater outlet temperature.– Increases aromaticity of furnace charge, helps stabilize asphaltenes.
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Distillate Recycle®
� Conventional Delayed Cokers have four variables to influence coke and
liquid yields for any given feed:
� Distillate Recycle® provides an additional control parameter:
– Increases concentration of products in recycle boiling range, suppressing formation.
– Inhibits propagation of some of the condensation and polymerization reactions that follow initial thermal cracking.
– Increases relative volatility of higher boiling point components so they vaporize and leave drum, don’t stay in drum long enough to form coke.
– The heat carried by recycle medium is transferred to mesophase, stays at higher
temperature longer and helps drive endothermic coking reactions to completion.
Temperature
Natural Recycle or
CFR
Pressure
Velocity Steam
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Case StudyUS Gulf Coast Refinery – Coker Yields
Adding LCGO Distillate Recycle® regains lost liquid yields: � Reduces Sour Off Gas and Coke production.� Increases Light Ends recovery.� Increases C5+ Liquids by about 660 bpd versus Case 1.
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Fresh Feed Sour Off Gas(FOE)
Light Ends(<85F)
C5+ Liquids Coke (ston/day)
Base Case
Case 1, 40 kbpd LTO
Case 2, 40 kbpd LTO
w/ DR
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Case StudyUS Gulf Coast Refinery – Product Rates
Change in crude slate results in:
� Net Increase in naphtha production.
� Net loss of diesel production.
Adopting LCGO Distillate Recycle® recovers about 0.220 kbpd of lost diesel
product and reduces coke production by 70 ston/day over Case 1.
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Base Case
kbpd kbpd ∆ Base kbpd ∆ Base ∆ Case 1
Sour Off Gas (FOE) 5.019 4.586 -0.432 4.357 -0.662 -0.229
Lt Ends (< 85) 20.752 19.632 -1.120 19.717 -1.035 0.085
Lt Naphtha (85 - 180) 29.662 30.459 0.797 30.668 1.006 0.208
Hvy Naphtha (180 - 380) 78.400 80.437 2.037 80.854 2.454 0.418
Diesel (380 - 650) 176.541 175.317 -1.224 175.537 -1.004 0.221
UCO (> 1050) 1.463 1.429 -0.034 1.456 -0.007 0.027
Coke (stons/day) 2984 2811 -173 2742 -242 -69
Total Liquid Volume 306.818 307.274 0.456 308.232 1.415 0.959
Case 2
40 KBPD LTO
Less Coker Feed, w/ Dist Rec
Case 1
40 KBPD LTO
Less Coker Feed
Case StudyUS Gulf Coast Refinery – Product Values
Notes and Simplifying Assumptions:
- Provided as a general indication of the economic impact of the coker yield shift
on the refinery.
- Unfinished liquid product prices were estimated based on monthly data from
US EIA “Spot Prices for Crude Oil and Petroleum Products”.
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$/gal kbpd $ MM/year
Sour Off Gas (FOE) 0.42 -0.229 -1.4
Lt Ends (< 85) 0.50 0.085 0.6
Lt Naphtha (85 - 180) 1.60 0.208 4.9
Hvy Naphtha (180 - 380) 1.40 0.418 8.6
Diesel (380 - 650) 1.70 0.221 5.5
UCO (> 1050) 1.50 0.027 0.6
Coke (stons/day) 60.00 -69 -1.5
∆ Product Rates
Case 2 vs. Case 1
∆ Product Values
Case 2 vs. Case 1
Product
Prices
Impact on Coker FurnaceFurnace Charge Properties
Change in crude slate results in:� Significant reduction in furnace charge rate� Slightly lower furnace charge CCR� Potential destabilization of asphaltenes, no significant change in K Factor
Adopting LCGO Distillate Recycle® results in:� Return of furnace charge rate back up to design� Reduction of furnace charge CCR which impacts thermal coke fouling� Reduction of Watson K Factor which impacts asphaltene stability
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
Charge Rate APIGravity
CCR wt% Watson K
Base Case
Case 1, 40 kbpd LTO
Case 2, 40 kbpd LTO
w/ DR
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Impact on Coker FurnaceFurnace Operation
Change in crude slate results in:� Significant reduction in Furnace Charge absorbed duty, and average radiant
section flux, slightly lower % of feed converted at outlet.� No significant change in Residence Time >800F.
Adopting LCGO Distillate Recycle® improves critical factors that affect fouling:� Reduces % of feed converted at outlet.� Reduces Residence Time over 800F.
60%
80%
100%
120%
FurnacePressure Drop
AbsorbedDuty
Avg. RadiantFlux
Conversion Residence Time>800F
Base Case
Case 1, 40 kbpd LTO
Case 2, 40 kbpd LTO
w/ DR
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Summary
Changes in the crude slate as LTO displaces light imported crudes can result in:� Net loss of refinery’s diesel production rate� Reduction in coker utilization� Potential degradation in furnace operation due to increased
Residence Time >800F and destabilization of asphaltenes.
Adopting Distillate Recycle® is another option to address changes and improve furnace operation:� Improves coker yields, recovers some diesel production
while reducing coke make� Improves critical factors that affect furnace fouling:─ Increases furnace feed aromaticity, asphaltene stability─ Reduces feed conversion occurring in the furnace─ Reduces residence time in furnace significantly
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and front-end engineering studies serving the refining, gasification, and emerging energy markets.
Contact UsBechtel Hydrocarbon Technology Solutions, Inc.
3000 Post Oak Boulevard
Houston, Texas 77056
T: +1 713 235 4300
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Q & A
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