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The SYDECSM

Process

Foster Wheelers SYDECSM technology is a low-pressure, low-recycle design for achievingmaximum liquid yields, with the advantages of:

Maximum yield of clean liquid products using ultra-low recycle or absolute minimum cokeproduction using true zero recycle

Low pressure, ultra-low or zero recycle, high yield operation Non-polluting coke storage and handling designs Long turnaround periods (5 years+) using FW SYDECSM coker heaters provided with on-line

spalling and a proven equipment sparing and isolation philosophy

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The process involves:

1 Normal feedstock to the delayed coker is vacuum residue, although atmospheric residue andother streams (solvent deasphalting pitch) can be coked. The charge is fed directly to thefractionator where it is combined with the recycle oil. The combined feed is preheated andpumped to the coker furnace where it is heated to in a range of 915-950 F (490-510 C) andfed to the coke drums. At this temperature and pressures of 15-90 psig (1.06.2 barg), the hot

material cracks into gas, light products and solid coke. Inside, this would look like an eruptingvolcano with coke accumulating like solidified lava at the bottom of the drum.

2 After the coke reaches a predetermined level in one drum, the flow is diverted to another drumto maintain continuous operation. The full drum is steamed-out to strip away residualhydrocarbons. Once cooled by water quench, the drum is decoked by hydraulic methods.A typical pair of maximum size drums will have a capacity of 30-35,000 barrels per stream day(BPSD). The number and size of the coke drums will be optimized to fit the unit capacity; someunits have up to eight drums with diameters up to 32 feet (9.75 meters).

3 Cut coke falls through the coke drum bottom and is recovered in a pit or pad for dewateringand recovery. After the coke has been removed from the drum, the drum is closed, preheatedand put back on line.

4 The hydrocarbon products from the coke drum are quenched and flow to the main fractionatorwhere they are separated into: Gas that goes to the gas plant for recovery of its constituents Coker naphtha that is further processed in the gas plant and downstream unit and then

blended into gasoline Light coker gas oil that will be processed and blended into diesel Heavy coker gas oil that is further upgraded in the hydrocracker or FCC unit for production

of transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel.

5 Towers and absorbers in the gas plant separate coker product gases and naphtha intopropane, butane, and gasoline components and sweet fuel gas after amine treating.