Hosted By: American Petroleum Institute (API)
Dates: January 23, 2024 - January 25, 2024
Coker Units, or Cokers, are oil refinery processing units that convert residual oil and process residues leftover after the initial crude distillation into higher value products and petroleum coke, a coal-like material used as a fuel input or a manufacturing raw material in a variety of industries. During the coking process, residual oil from the vacuum distillation unit is transferred into large, vertical reactors known as coke drums. There, it is placed under high heat and pressure in a process called thermal cracking to separate the lighter vapors, including hydrocarbon gases, naphtha, and light and heavy gas oils (which exit at the top of the coke drum for further refining) from the solidified petroleum coke. This coke will build up in the drum, and once full, the drum must be taken offline and the coke removed using high pressure water cutters for either reclamation or storage.
There are two primary types of coker units used in petroleum refining: delayed coker units (DCU) and fluid coker units. Of the two, the delayed coker unit (DCU) is by far the most common and involves two or more drums working in tandem. When one drum is taken offline, production is simply shifted to the next drum. This allows a facility to have one coker online continuously, avoiding unnecessary downtime. In a fluid coker, the feed goes through the same thermal cracking process, but the formed coke is transferred to a separate heater as a fluidized solid where some of it is burned to provide the heat necessary for the coker to continue to convert residual oil into gases, distillate liquids, and coke. Fluid coking can provide a higher distillate yield and a lower coke yield than delayed coking.
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The large crude distillation unit and coker were shut on Monday at Motiva Enterprises 626,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas refinery.
Motiva moved the start of a planned overhaul on the large crude distillation unit and coker to January from March at its 626,000 bpd Port Arthur refinery.
ExxonMobil restarted the coker on Thursday night at its 522,500 bpd Baton Rouge, Louisiana refinery, people familiar with plant operations said on Friday.
TotalEnergies plans to restart the coker at its 238,000-barrel-per-day Port Arthur, Texas, refinery on Thursday.
Valero Energy Corp is starting up production on a new coker at its 335,000 bpd Port Arthur, Texas, refinery.
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PBF Energy plans to overhaul a crude distillation unit (CDU), coker and cat feed hydrotreater in October at its 190,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Chalmette, Louisiana, refinery, said sources familiar with the company’s plans.
Valero Energy Corp has boosted production on the restarted small crude distillation unit (CDU) and the coker at its 335,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery, said sources familiar with plant operations.
Motiva Enterprises restarted the crude distillation units (CDUs), coker, and hydrocracker on Saturday at its 607,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery.
A brief loss of power forced Royal Dutch Shell Plc to shut the coker at its 225,300 barrel-per-day (bpd) Norco, Louisiana, refinery early on Thursday, said sources familiar with plant operations.
Shell has shut a coker at the company's 225,300 bpd Norco, Louisiana, refinery for planned maintenance on the unit’s furnaces, according to sources familiar with plant operations.
PBF Energy began restarting the cat feed hydrotreater at its 190,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Chalmette, Louisiana, oil refinery on Monday, a day ahead of schedule, two sources familiar with the plant’s operations said.