Engineering Commons^™

Impact Of Local Fluidized Bed Hydrodynamics On The Distribution Of Liquid Sprayed Into The Bed, Yuan Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In Fluid Coking, heavy oil is sprayed into a fluidized bed of hot coke particles that provide heat for the reaction and vaporization of the products, using nozzles located at different radial and axial locations of the reactor. In industrial units, imperfect initial liquid-solid contact results in the formation of wet agglomerates, which have been shown to cause fouling of the stripper sheds.

This thesis aims to reduce agglomerate formation by modifying the bed hydrodynamics in the spray region by adjusting the initial fluidization gas distribution or using a baffle.

Experimental methods were developed to study local gas flow, solids …

Mitigation Of Fouling And Liquid Losses In A Fluid Coker™: Influence Of Operating Conditions And Internals On Wet-Agglomerates Contribution To Liquid Carry-Under, Yohann Alain François Cochet

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In Fluid Cokers, heavy oil is sprayed into a fluidized bed of hot particles through feed ring nozzles located at different heights. Unreacted or partially reacted feedstock, trapped in wet‑agglomerates, reaches the reactor bottom where it causes fouling or is lost to the system burner. The thesis objective is to determine whether modifying the feed distribution between rings or adding baffles can reduce the amount of liquid reaching the reactor bottom.

A model was developed to predict the amount of liquid reaching the reactor bottom. It integrates models for agglomerate formation and rewetting in spray jets, agglomerate drying through heat …

Thermodynamic Vapor-Liquid Equilibrium In Naphtha-Water Mixtures, Sandra Milena Lopez-Zamora

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Naphtha is used to dilute the froth from bitumen treatment. Naphtha is recovered using a Naphtha Recovery Unit (NRU) and sent back to the froth dilution step. To minimize the environmental and economic impact of the NRU, it is imperative to maximize the naphtha recovery. It is, in this respect, that enhanced NRU Vapour-Liquid-Liquid equilibrium data is a significant value. The prediction of phase equilibria for hydrocarbon/water blends in separators, is a subject of considerable importance for chemical processes. Despite its relevance, there are still pending questions. Among them, is the prediction of the correct number of phases. While a …

Mitigation Of Fluid Coker Cyclone Fouling With Consideration To Reactor Performance, Andrew J. Heaslip

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Fluid Coking is a continuous process to thermally upgrade heavy hydrocarbons into lighter, higher-value products. Fouling of the cyclones in commercial Fluid Coker reactors significantly reduces unit runtimes. The main objective of this thesis is to improve unit reliability by identifying process levers that can mitigate against this phenomenon while minimizing reductions in product quality. This thesis expanded a previous freeboard region model to consider vapour phase cracking and adsorption and developed a novel reactor region model to consider the impact of liquid and vapour phase cracking, vapour-liquid equilibrium, and residence time distribution on product composition. By changing the temperature …