Ethylene Unit Pyrolysis Furnace Opportunity & Strategic Improvementsklmtechgroup.com/PDF/Articles/articles/Furnace... · · 2016-03-06Ethylene Unit Pyrolysis Furnace Opportunity

Ethylene Unit Pyrolysis FurnaceOpportunity& Strategic Improvements

Sharipah Jalil - Presenter

Karl Kolmetz

Charles D. Nolidin

Cyron Anthony Soyza

Pyrolysis Furnace Opportunity &Strategic Improvements

• Furnace layout

• Radiant Coil Elongation

• Convection tube bowing

• Shadow box hot-spots

• U-bend erosion

• Radiant Coil Thermal shock

• Conclusion

Unit 2 Furnace Layout

• 6 furnaces (12 Zones)

• 10 Naphtha Zones & 2 Recycle Zones

• Common Convection Heat Recovery Bankfor two zones with Induced draft fan

• Radiant products cooled by quench coolersproducing SHP (105 bar) steam

• Effluent sent to Quench Section

Furnace Layout

NAPHTHA

STEAM

QUENCH COOLER

BURNERS

FUEL GAS

NAPHTHA

STEAM

QUENCHCOOLER

BURNERS

EFFLUENTEFFLUENT

1st Opportunity :Coil Elongation - scenario

• Creep rate is between 60 - 78 mm per yearin one zone example

• Coil needs shortening approx. every 5 years

• Recycle zones are fired harder to achieveoptimum yield causing higher Tube MetalTemperature (TMT)

• Flame impingement- burner tip blockage

• Heat maldistribution- uneven firing- mixture of old & newburner tips

• ASWT- average sound wallthickness- thicker walls more prone tocreep

Coil Elongation- theory

Coil Elongation-a glance

Creep amount

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32

Tube no.

Cre

ep

, m

m

Creep amt

Maximum limit when shortening

• Burner tip cleaning andmaintenance

• Coil elongation monitoring

• Future:-

Kubota MERT tubes -lowers TMT’s byincreasing heat transfer

Auto Excess O2 control -lowers firing needs

Coil Elongation-current & future mitigation

2nd Opportunity :Convection Coil Bowing - scenario

• Bottom section of convectionbank bowed approx. 30cm

• Cracks at weldment from mixingheader to inlet manifold

Mixing header

Inlet manifold

Radiant Section

Convection Section

XOTConvection coil

• Zone mainly recycle feed

• Recycle cracking requires higher CoilOutlet Temperature for conversion

• Excess heat recovered in convection

Convection Coil Bowing- theory

• Too much excess heat raises XOTtemperature which initiates prematurecracking

• Metallurgy limits promotes creep andexpansion

Convection Coil Bowing- theory

Convection Coil Bowing- a glance

Convection Coil Bowing-current & future mitigation

Current

• Stress analysis required on piping andfull understanding of metallurgy limits

• Spring hanger adjusted to relief pipingstress

• Bowed convection coils replaced

• Secondary steam injection optimized

Convection Coil Bowing-current & future mitigation

Future

• Upgrading of crossover and convectionmaterial

• protect convection coils by insulativematerial

3rd Opportunity- Shadow Box Hotspots- scenario

• Insulation around radiant outlet replacedand shadow box plates upgraded to SS304after turnaround

• Hotspots detected on shadow box duringthermograph survey

- Shadow Box Hotspots- scenario

• Plates deteriorated and warped

• Some insulation cladding melted

• Insulation material noticed on firebox floor

Shadow Box Hotspots- theory

• Heat escaping shadow box due toimproperly installed insulation

• Gaps existed which allowed heat to escapethe radiant box

Shadow Box Hotspots- a glance

The Past

Shadow Box Hotspots- a glanceThe Present

Shadow Box Hotspots- current & future mitigation

• Insulation stuffed from outside andinside

• Reengineer installation procedureand shadow box plate

Shadow Box Hotspots- current & future mitigation

• Final assessment ofinsulation integrity mustbe carried out each timefurnace insulationreplaced

New Old

SLE U-Bend Erosion - scenario

• Thinning 1mm per year at the inlet sweepbend

• Change U-bend if thickness drops below

3.5 mm from initial of 8.8mm

• Replacement every 3 years

SLE U-Bend Erosion - theory

• Erosion main contributing factors includesolid presence, material specification andflow path geometry

• Initially, gradual transition in flow sectionand shallow-angle intersections was enoughto mitigate erosion


Area badly eroded


SLE U-Bend Erosion - a glance

SLE U-Bend Erosion - current &future mitigation

• Inlet and outlet sweeps alternated to evenout erosion effect

• Ultrasonic Thickness Scanning (UTS) todetect thinning and make replacements

• Modify U-bend to increase integrity of pipeinline with increasing flow turbulence

5th OpportunityRadiant Coil Thermal Shock -theory

• Coke formation is an undesirable feature ofthe cracking process

• The carbon coats the inside surface of thetubes, increasing in thickness

Radiant Coil Thermal Shock-theory

• The coke layer canreach > 10 mmthicknessdepending on thetype of feedstockand severity

12 mm8 mm


• The thickness ofthe coke is afunction of theTMT


• Coke layer is hard, relatively brittle, and has a lowercoefficient of thermal expansion than the tube metal

• With coke presence during sudden shutdown twothings can happen:-

~ coke falls off - spalling that leads to tube blockage

~ coke remains - coil splitting due to it’s faster rateof contraction

Radiant Coil Thermal Shock-scenario

• 1st Dec 01 power supply interruption due tonational power grid

• Steam from utilities lost during poweroutage

• Furnace damper goes to minimum openingto avoid heat loss

• Bottom air register dampers manuallyclosed


• Coil temperaturedrops 100 ~200oC in 1st hourafter trip

• Allowable temp.drop is <80 oC

COT trend

0.0

100.0

200.0

300.0

400.0

500.0

600.0

700.0

800.0

900.0

12-1-

01 9:

36 AM

12-1-

01 2:

24 PM

12-1-

01 7:

12 PM

12-2-

01 12

:00 AM

12-2-

01 4:

48 AM

12-2-

01 9:

36 AM

12-2-

01 2:

24 PM

12-2-

01 7:

12 PM

12-3-

01 12

:00 AM

12-3-

01 4:

48 AM

Tem

p. (o

C)


• Difference in cooling rate depends onamount of coke and insulation condition

• Coils inspected after temperature almostambient : ~ 70 coils needed replacement



Radiant Coil Thermal Shock-mitigation

• Decoke End Of Run tubes as soon aspossible before shutting down furnaces

• Avoid unnecessarily furnace emergencyshutdowns

• Ensure reliability of Uninterrupted PowerSupply (UPS)


• Reviewed Furnace layout

• Reviewed Furnace opportunities

• Reviewed current and future improvement strategies

Conclusion


• Implemented improvements to reduce EquipmentOpportunity Losses

• Prolonged life and operability of equipment, thusreducing downtime and maintenance cost

• Further opportunities to improve are being evaluated

Conclusion

Thank You

Documents

Ethylene Unit Pyrolysis Furnace Opportunity & Strategic Improvementsklmtechgroup.com/PDF/Articles/articles/Furnace... · · 2016-03-06Ethylene Unit Pyrolysis Furnace Opportunity