Sim Romero - KBC (Yokogawa)
Maria Aldescu - KBC (Yokogawa)
KBC’s delayed coker modeling expert will lead a 2-hour interactive session about how to maximize the value of your model. The discussion and live model exercises will be focused around common coker issues like heater fouling, foaming, and yield maximization. The session will include a review of some fundamental concepts of modeling and reactions with very specific considerations when using the DCU model. Regardless if your company uses PetroSIM, you can benefit from the predictions and insight gained from the workshop. The model is a tool that can be used for design as well as day-to-day troubleshooting and optimization.
Sim has 38 years’ experience in delayed coking and heavy oils. Expertise includes delayed coker unit optimization and reliability management, unit troubleshooting, unit start-up and shutdown, general delayed coker operations such as fired heater decoking (online spalling, pigging and steam air decoking), heater monitoring and control, coke drum thermal stress evaluation and analysis (drum life issues), blowdown process dynamics and operations, tower fouling and salting, tower heat and material balance optimization. Sim’s expertise include detailed process simulations of all aspect in delayed coker operations, detailed yields (both static and dynamic) and detailed furnace model development with detailed run length fouling estimates, overall delayed coker test run execution and analysis. Sim has developed detail thermal kinetic process models that can predict simultaneous cracking and polymerization of heavy oils, which have been applied to delayed coking, flexi coking and general troubleshooting of heavy oil thermal kinetic operations. Sim has also developed a non-steady state coke drum cooling model used for the coke drum cooling evaluation and analysis. Additionally, Sim has expertise in other heavy oil operations – crude oil desalter operations, general crude tower operations, vacuum units and vacuum heater operations, visbreakers, ROSE and solvent deasphalting units.
Maria is native from Romania and works in Houston for KBC Advanced Technologies as Senior Staff Consultant. Maria has 13+ years of experience in refining overseas: US, Latin America, Middle East, Asia, and Europe, specializing in the Delayed Coking technology.
Maria worked in a variety of projects including feasibility and due diligence studies, Profit Improvement Programs, optimization of refineries configurations and Delayed Coker simulation and troubleshooting.