Delayed Coking – Operations and Safety

[4 drums cokerParticipant]

Facilitators: Curtiss Winter, Consultant & Bobby Wright, Stress Engineering

TOPICS OF DISCUSSION

Gaskets
Ownership of Unit
Training
Overpressure Scenario
H2O Hammering
Foaming-Coke Drum
Oil Sludge Injection
Operator Shift Turnover
Operator Rounds-Schedule

GASKETS
– cyclic surface styles of gaskets. What is being used?
– 304 flexatalic with inner ring
– grafoil steel gasket
– specialized tonguing, bolts used?
– leaking during cycles
–causes?
– ORJ’s styles

OWNERSHIP OF UNIT
– unit culture
–active and effective communication
–accountability is in decline
– does technology have any effect
– better training, understanding
– operator participation
– try to have some stable supervisor positions
– frequent job rotation seems to take away from ownership
– recognition of staff

KPIs can help provide feedback

TRAINING
– shift turnover
— need to give important info other than the normal operations.
– operator rounds
— hand held computers not an effective way to check equipment
— 2Xs per shift
– training
— basics only in classroom not enough
— more outside time is needed

NEED TO SET UP NEW EMPLOYEES FOR SUCCESS AT UNIT LEVEL

OVER PRESSURE SCENARIO
– cooling H2O rate failure or hot spots…
– leaving the quench H2O in at the top of the drum by accident
– fract overhead accumulator off gas pressure controller closes off

H2O HAMMER
– cooling a drum by introducting during coling cycle to minimize water hammer
– valve seating leak

FOAMING OVER
– anti foam
– watching outages
– switch early
– causes
— feed temp- balance
— pressure
— velocity of vapors
– challenges with consistent level indication

OIL SLUDGE INJECTION
Pushing to Increase Amount Injected
-100 micron particulate
– 1 hour/ 300GPM (500F skin ti 4 feet above cone)
– exposure to people
– others are doing this

OPERATOR SHIFT TURNOVER
– have a way to document important situations with the unit
– have 45 minute window for shift exchange

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