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Performance Of Centrifugally Cast Austenitic Alumina-Forming Alloys In Coking And Decoking Environments, Lizeth Ortiz

Theses and Dissertations

Ethylene, the most-produced building block in the petrochemical industry, is produced using thermal cracking operations where reactor materials are exposed to high temperature aggressive environments that limit their life expectancy. These atmospheres degrade the reactor's material due to exposure to high temperatures, to carbon, to sulfur, and to other compounds, affecting negatively its process operations and therefore, its economics.

One of the most undesirable phenomena in ethylene thermal cracking operations is coking, where a carbon layer is deposited on the walls of the furnace tubes causing a reduction in the process efficiency as well as degradation of the alloy. This …