Refining India September 2025 Issue

Comparison of product yields

15 10 25 30 35 20 40

Product

DCU, Ind-Coker AT , Improvement, wt% wt% Δwt%

Base c ase DCU Ind - Coker

FG including H 2 S

4.93 3.54 4.93 1.75

6.73 4.14 5.63 1.38

+1.80 +0.60 +0.70 -0.37 +2.03 +0.52 -0.10 -5.18

LPG

LN (C5-120°C) HN (120-140°C)

LCGO (140-370°C) 33.75 HCGO (370-540°C) 19.73

35.78 20.25

0 5

CFO (540°C+)

0.78

0.68

Coke

30.59

25.41

Table 3

Product

‘add-on’ section without requiring costly grassroots units. This also provides additional flexibility to the refiner to operate in either Ind-Coker AT mode or conventional coker mode. Thus, the technology can play a pivotal role in reducing emissions and could be a key component for future refinery configurations. Results and discussion The results of pilot-scale experiments indicate a decrease in coke yield for the Ind-Coker AT technology compared to the conventional DCU. Corresponding to the reduced coke yield, there is a benefit in the yield of light distillates in the Ind-Coker AT technology case. This lower coke yield is due to the removal of a fraction of hydrocarbon molecules by mild cracking in the first step and intermediate separation. These molecules are prevented from entering the second step of high-severity coking,

Figure 3 Commercial yield comparison

Implementation in future refinery configuration

The fuel-grade petcoke is subjected to burning inside boilers, resulting in the generation of CO₂ and SOx. The deployment of Ind-Coker AT technology in a modern refinery will aid in reducing the coke make from the refinery. Reduced coke make from this technology in turn results in lower availability of high-sulphur petcoke for combustion in boilers, resulting in lower emissions (Scope 3) compared to a conventional DCU. A comparison of estimated reduction in CO₂ and SO₂ production is provided in Figures 4 and 5 . Furthermore, most modern refineries have a DCU to convert residues into light distillates and coke. Ind-Coker AT technology can be implemented with the existing DCU as an

60.0

0.6 0.2 0.4 0.8 1.0 1.4 1.2 1.6

Conventional coker Ind - Coker

Conventional coker Ind -C oker

50.0

40.0

30.0

20.0

10.0

0.0

0.0

CO from petcoke, IOCL

CO from petcoke, India

SO from petcoke, IOCL

SO from petcoke, India

CO production scenario on account of p etcoke

SO 2

Figure 4 Reduction in CO₂ production due to reduced coke yield

Figure 5 Reduction in SO₂ production due to reduced coke yield

Refining India

44

Powered by