Gustavo Garcia - BP Refining Technology & Engineering
A coke drum overpressure event led to reach 120% of MAWP during quench cycle, in spite of properly sized relief valves opening correctly. This is an opportunity to identify the uncertainties that hot spots, during quenching coupled with coke drum relief routed through blowdown system, introduce from a process safety perspective. Assumptions of relief loads from hot spots and corresponding blowdown condensing capacity are still a challenge for process designers. Design, Operations and Maintenance contributing factors are discussed and key learnings to mitigate the likelihood of recurring events are shared.
Gustavo Garcia has been around bottom of the barrel processing technologies over the last 23 years and is currently Coking and Visbreaking Technical Advisor at BP since the beginning of 2017, providing technical and operational support and oversight on heavy oil technology to 8 operating sites across the world. Prior to that he held different positions at BP’s Castellon Refinery including Coker Operations Superintendent and Senior Project Engineer. Prior to joining BP in 2005, Gustavo held positions in Venezuela with Petrolera Ameriven as a Commissioning and Startup Coordinator for a grass roots joint venture project, and with PDVSA as a Process Engineer. Gustavo received a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from the Central University of Venezuela, followed by a Master’s degree in Process Engineering from Francisco de Miranda University.