Foam Over’ Temperatures Using Glass Coker Experimentation: A Case Study

Abstract

In petroleum refineries, excessive foaming in process equipments leads to inefficiency and higher maintenance cost. A very relevant aspect of current petroleum refinery operations is the heating up of vacuum resid in a coke drum and the subsequent generation of unwanted foam. This research paper describes the foam produced by heating vacuum resid in a glass coker experimental set up in terms of foam over temperature. The vacuum resids for analysis were obtained from major US oil companies like Chevron, Shell, Petrobras, etc. Run data are provided that illustrate the variation of foam over temperature for different vacuum resids and at what time the foam over phenomenon started during the glass coker run. Also the production of white vapors (an intermediate stage for foam generation), in terms of the first incidence of white vapor temperature have been reported. The experimental results clearly lead to the fact that foaming during a glass coker run is dependent on the resid (feedstock) properties and run operating conditions.