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We are having excessive rate of rise in skin temperatures of our coker heaters. Can somebody tell us the reason for such rise? It is to be noted that the coke formation in the tubes is a very thin layer.
 
Answers
21/07/2011 A: Sudhakara Babu Marpudi, Dangote Oil Refinery Company, m_sudhakarababu@yahoo.com
You may check the sodium levels in the feed. Check if the upstream CDU is injecting any Caustic in their desalted Crude. Sodium promotes premature coking inside the furnace tubes.
25/02/2011 A: Marcello Ferrara, ITW SrL, mferrara@itw.it
Coke formation in the heater tubes is due to thermal degradation of the feed. Although in the form of a thin layer, heat transfer coefficient of coke is lower than the one of metal, so heat is not transferred properly to the feed inside the tubes and skin temperature rises.
We have developed different technologies to help prevent this phenomenon.