A novel approach to cleaning

furnace coils
A modified pigging operation aims to greatly reduce the time required for
coke removal from furnace coils
RUPALI SAHU, SHYAM KISHORE CHOUDHARY, UGRASEN YADAV and M K E PRASAD
Technip KT India

s the refining industry

moves towards heavier
and dirtier crudes, attention to maintaining longer run
lengths for furnaces is increasingly important in reducing

downtime. Large numbers of

furnaces with different services
and types require frequent
cleaning due to fouling and
coke deposition in the furnace
tubes. A typical block flow

diagram of refinery units and

associated furnaces that require
frequent cleaning is shown in
Figure 1.
Fouling/coke formation is a
function of fluid composition,

LPG treating
unit
Gasoline
treating unit
Naphtha
hydrotreating
unit

Crude
oil

Crude
furnace

Catalytic
reforming unit
Diesel
hydrotreating
unit

Crude
distillation
unit
VGO
furnace

VGO
hydrotreating
unit

Fluidised
catalytic
cracking unit

Products

Hydrocracking

Vacuum
distillation
unit
Vacuum
furnace

Coker unit
Coker
furnace

Visbreaker
furnace

Resid
processing
(Visbreaker)
unit

Figure 1 Furnaces in a refinery that require frequent cleaning

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PTQ Q3 2013 1

residence time and temperature. Crude oils API value and

viscosity play a major role in
fouling and coke formation in
furnace coils. The sodium,
asphaltene, Conradson carbon
residue (CCR) and calcium
content of the operating fluid
enhances fouling/coke formation. Operating parameters
including a high furnace outlet
temperature, low fluid mass
velocity (high film temperatures), loss of velocity steam,
uneven
heat
distribution
(formation of hot spots inside
the furnace), and fluid residence time above the cracking
threshold result in fouling/
coke deposition on the coils
inside a furnace. Furnaces dealing with heavier process fluids
crude distillation unit
furnaces, vacuum distillation
unit furnaces, coker furnaces
and visbreaker furnaces are
more susceptible to fouling and
coke formation.
The thickness of the coke
deposits on the inner wall of a
furnace coil can be calculated
from the difference between
the maximum tube metal
temperature (TMT) and bulk
fluid temperature based on the
following equation from API
530:
Tm = Tb + Tf + Tf + Tc + Tw

Where Tm = TMT
Tb = bulk fluid temperature
Tf = temperature difference
across the fluid film
Tc = temperature difference
across the deposited coke
Tw = temperature difference
across the tube wall
With this method for estimating
TMT,
and
available
empirical correlations, refiners

2 PTQ Q3 2013

can plan decoking operations

for a given fluid.

Methods of furnace coil cleaning

Increased pressure drop inside
the coils and high TMTs are
indications of fouling inside
the furnace coils. Hence, cleaning of the furnace coils is
required in case any one of
or a combination of the
following
conditions
is
encountered:
Increased
pressure
drop
across the coils
Increased TMTs
Increased fuel consumption.
There are three generally
accepted industrial practices to
remove coke from the coils:
Steam-air decoking
On-line spalling
Mechanical pigging.

Steam-air decoking

In steam-air decoking, a steam

and air mixture is passed
through the coke deposits
inside the coil walls. Shrinkage
and cracking of the coke occurs
by heating the coils from the
outside while steam and air
flow through the coils. This
results in chemical reactions of
hot coke, steam and air to
produce CO, CO2 and H2.
Although this process is more
effective than the on-line
spalling process, because these
gases are vented to the atmosphere, it is not friendly to the
environment. Also, the coils
are vulnerable to rupture
during this procedure.

On-line spalling

The on-line spalling method

was developed to increase the
on-stream factors of units that
process heavy and dirty feedstocks. On-line spalling is
generally
performed
at

pre-planned intervals or when

high TMTs are observed in the
furnace coils. Coke is removed
by delivering thermal shocks to
the coils while the heater is
on-line. Spalling is carried out
in one pass of a multipass
heater while the other passes
remain in operation. By varying the steam and boiler feed
water flow rate on the fouled
coil, coke breaks off the coil.
This coke is then disposed of to
a downstream coke drum.
Thus, on-line spalling offers
the advantage of allowing the
furnace to continue in operation while the furnace tubes
are being cleaned and has
fewer environmental issues
than
steam-air
decoking.
However, on-line spalling may
not remove all of the coke from
the coils, and other methods
such as steam-air decoking and
mechanical pigging are still
required to bring the furnace
back to start-of-run conditions.
The other disadvantage of this
method is that the coils are
susceptible to damage due to
contraction
and
expansion
during the spalling process.

Mechanical pigging

Mechanical pigging eliminates

the problems associated with
steam-air decoking and on-line
spalling, such as venting of
waste gases to the atmosphere
and the vulnerability of coils to
rupturing due to high-temperature operation. Mechanical
pigging is the process of
propelling a pig through a
coil with the help of a pig
launcher, for the purpose of
cleaning or inspection of the
coil. A pig is a device inserted
into a pipe that travels freely
through the pipe, driven by the
motive fluid. The pigging

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Comparison of different methods of coil cleaning

Main features
Steam-air decoking
Function
Remove coke from the coils

On-line spalling
Mechanical pigging
Remove coke while the furnace is on-line Remove coke from the coils. Measure coil
to prolong the furnace run length prior thickness using intelligent pigs
to pigging or decoking

Technique employed

Coke is burnt off the furnace coils

in a controlled decoking process by
circulating an air-steam mixture at
elevated temperatures

Coke is removed by using a high-velocity Coke is removed by pumping a metal-studded

steam flow while thermally contracting foam or plastic pig with water in the coils,
and expanding the coils
mainly by scrubbing coke from inside the coils

Off-line/on-line
operation

Performed while furnace is off-line

Performed while the furnace is on-line

Performed while the furnace is off-line

Safety concern
Potential for coil rupture

Effluent generation/ Environmental concern as
disposal
air-steam mixture is vented to

atmosphere

Potential coil damage due to

expansion/contraction
Coke is collected in coke drums

No damage to coils foreseen

Operating personnel Performed by operating crew

Performed by operating crew using

a regular decoking sequence

Requires an external agency/vendor to

perform pigging operations

Efficiency


Furnace run length

Removes almost all the coke

from the inside coils

May not remove all coke; decoking/

pigging still needed

Removes all coke from the inside coils

Fair run length (shorter than that

achieved by pigging) is achieved
since efficiency is less than pigging

An intermittent operation that helps in Largest furnace run length is achieved

extending the furnace run length prior
to pigging

Dirty water needs to be disposed off

Table 1

assembly consists of the pig

launcher/receiver, pigs, pumps
and motive fluid storage tank.
Pig launchers are temporary
bores used to push the pig into
the coil with the aid of water at
a higher pressure. The pig
launcher/receiver is placed at
grade and the pig is launched
into the coil somewhere near
the pass control valve at grade
or at a suitable location at
grade. The number of pigging
cycles is equal to the number
of passes in the furnace.
Pigging removes almost all the
coke from the coils. It is a
faster cleaning process and
comparatively
longer
run
lengths are achieved with
respect to the other cleaning
processes.

Comparison of different
methods of furnace coil cleaning
The main features of each
cleaning method and a qualitative comparison with respect to
function, safety concerns, effi-

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ciency and so on are shown in

Table 1.

Mechanical pigging:
a recent trend

In the past, the key method

used was steam-air decoking,
where coke was burnt off the
furnace coils in a controlled
decoking process by circulating an air-steam mixture at
elevated temperatures. On-line
spalling was developed to
increase on-stream days in
visbreaker and coker units.
Nowadays,
mechanical
pigging is used to remove
deposits from the coil surface
by pumping a pig with water
in the same manner as in
offshore and onshore pipeline
transportation
systems.
Pigging has become the
preferred method in the refining
and
petrochemical
industries to remove coke and
scale deposits from the walls
of furnace coils because it is
more effective and faster than

steam-air decoking and on-line

spalling.
The type of pig to be selected
for a specific pigging operation
depends on the following
factors:
The purpose of pigging

Cleaning/decoking of coils
(cleaning pigs)

Data recording (intelligent
pigs)
Characteristics
of process
fluid, properties such as CCR,
heavy metal content
Driving pressure of motive
fluid
Pig velocity
Coil configuration

Coil diameter

Length to be covered

Bend radius.

Pigs for cleaning

A cleaning pig is a plastic foam

cylinder with pins uniformly
studded around its surface.
When these pins come into
contact with the inside wall of a
coil they scrape coke and other

PTQ Q3 2013 3

Foam/plastic/metal pig Studs/grits/

protrusions
on the pigs
surface

Battery module
Sensors and recorders

analogue and digital tapes,

solid-state memory devices, and
so on. These data can be
archived for comparison with
past and future inspection data.
Figure 3 shows the movement
of an intelligent pig inside the
bend of a coil during pigging.

Pigging techniques
n-pass vertical cylindrical
furnace arrangement

Figure 2 Cleaning pig through the

bend

Figure 3 Intelligent pig through the

bend

contaminants off the coil

surface. As the pig travels
through the coil, dirty water is
routed to a collection reservoir.
After the cleaning pig has been
received from the coil, the
remaining coke is flushed out of
the coil with a high flow of
water over several hours until
clear water is received from the
coil. The appearance of clear
water continuously from the
coils indicates to the operator
that the coils are satisfactorily
cleaned. As a result, effective
cleaning can be done without
causing
harmful
thermal
fatigue, which happens with the
spalling and steam-air decoking
cleaning methods. Figure 2
shows the movement of a cleaning pig inside the bend of a coil
during pigging.

Intelligent pigs for coil thickness

surveying

Modern, intelligent pigs are

sophisticated instruments that
vary in their technology and
complexity
according
to
intended use. These are also
called smart pigs and are used
for health monitoring of the coil
by measuring thickness and
corrosion along the coil. Cracks
and corrosion are often detected
using magnetic flux leakage
pigs. Some intelligent pigs use
ultrasonic devices or electromagnetic acoustic transducers
to detect coil deformation.
These pigs consist of various
built-in sensors and electronics
that collect and store data while
the pig is travelling in the coil.
The electronics are sealed to
prevent ingress of coil fluid in
the pig. Data are stored on

To convection section

From process unit

Figure 4 n-pass furnace: arrangement of passes at grade

4 PTQ Q3 2013

The inlet header for an n-pass

furnace branches into n separate passes upstream of the
furnace. Of these, n/2 passes
enter the furnace through one
side of the convection section
and the other n/2 passes enter
the furnace through the other
side. From the convection
section, the coils enter the radiant section through internal or
external cross-overs. The outlet
of the radiant coils is at either
side of the furnace. Figure 4
shows the arrangement of n
passes at grade. Figures 5 and 6
show the arrangement of n
passes at the convection inlet
and radiant outlet, respectively.

Conventional pigging

The
conventional
pigging
process consists of the following steps:
Using a pig launcher, the pig
is inserted into one pass of the
furnace
The pig travels inside the
pass driven by the hydraulic
force of motive fluid
Reverse pigging is carried
out using a pump; the pig travels backwards and is received
by the pig receiver
The above steps are repeated
for other passes until all n
passes are cleaned.
Thus, n passes in the furnace
will require n times to connect,
launch and receive the pig.

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Figure 7 shows the conventional pigging process for an

n-pass furnace.
Although mechanical pigging
is faster than other cleaning
methods, there is scope to
make
it
even
faster.
Considerable time is taken to
clean each pass individually.
This time taken by conventional pigging can be reduced
by modifying the pigging operation as follows.

From process unit

n/ +1
2

n/ +2
2

n/ +3
2

n/ +4
2

To convection section

n/
2

From process unit

Figure 5 n-pass furnace: arrangement of passes at the convection section inlet

Modified pigging scheme

A reduction in the number of

cycles in conventional pigging
can be achieved by interconnecting the various passes of
the furnace. The convection
inlets of various passes at
grade are interconnected by
temporary spools; similarly,
the radiant outlets of various
passes are interconnected by
temporary spools. This modified arrangement reduces the
number of pigging cycles,
making this process faster than
the
conventional
pigging
process. This arrangement can:
Minimise
the number of
pigging cycles, in turn reducing the duration of a pigging
operation
Reduce the quantity of modification work, especially at
height (radiant outlet at top)
Launch and receive pigs at
grade for ease of operation
Reduce the number of pig
launchers/receivers.
In this modified pigging
procedure, pigs are launched
from the inlet of the convection
section of the first pass of a
furnace. The outlet of the radiant section of this first pass
will be temporarily connected
by a piping spool piece to the
second pass. This second pass
inlet at grade is connected to a

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Heater outlet to process unit

n/ +1
2

n/ +2
2

n/ +3
2

n/ +4
2

From radiant section

n/
2

Heater outlet to process unit

Figure 6 n-pass furnace: arrangement of passes at the radiant section outlet

Pass 1

Pass 2

Pass 4

Pass n

Loop-1 Loop-2 Loop-3 Loop-4

Loop-n

Launch pig

Pass 3

Receive pig

Figure 7 n-pass furnace: conventional pigging process

third pass through the pipe

spool at grade and so on up to
pass n/2 (see Figure 8). With
this arrangement, the pig that
was launched at the inlet of the
first pass of the convection

section is received at n/2 pass

in this loop at grade. A similar
arrangement
and
pigging
procedure is performed in the
second loop from the n/2 +1 to
nth pass. In this way, a pig will

PTQ Q3 2013 5

Interconnections
at radiant top

Interconnections
at radiant top

Radiant outlet
at top

Pass
1

Pass
2

Pass
3

Pass
4

Pass
n/
2

Pass
n/ +1
2

Pass
n/ +2
2

Pass
n/ +3
2

Pass
n/ +4
2

Pass
n

Furnace inlet valve

at grade
Launch
pig

Interconnections
at grade

Receive
pig

Launch
pig

Loop-1

Interconnections
at grade

Receive
pig

Loop-2

Figure 8 n pass furnace: arrangement for modified pigging scheme

go through n/2 passes in a

single cycle. Hence, n passes
are pigged in two cycles.
Figure 8 shows the pigging
loops for n passes.

Steps of a modified pigging

scheme

Pigging can be carried out in

two loops, either sequentially
or simultaneously. In the
sequential approach, a single
pig and setup is used in
sequence for both Loop 1 and
Loop 2. In simultaneous
pigging, two pigs and their
corresponding setups are used.
The pigging steps for Loop 1
(pass 1 to pass n/2) are shown
in Figure 9. The steps for Loop
2 are similar to those for Loop
1 except for the pass numbers
(pass n/2+1 to pass n).
A sequential description of
this procedure is:
Step 1 Pig 1 is launched
through the inlet of pass 1 at
grade. The pass 1 inlet at grade
should be modified temporarily for pig launching

6 PTQ Q3 2013

Step 2 The pig travels the

complete length of pass 1 from
the inlet at grade to the radiant
outlet. At the radiant outlet of
pass 1, the pig enters pass 2
through an interconnection
between the radiant outlets of
passes 1 and 2 at the radiant
top
Step 3 The pig travels the
complete length of pass 2 from
the radiant outlet at the top to
the inlet at grade. At the inlet
of pass 2, the pig enters pass 3
through an interconnection
between the inlets of passes 2
and 3 at grade
Step 4 The pig travels the
complete length of pass 3 from
the inlet at grade to the radiant
outlet at the top. At the radiant
outlet of pass 3, the pig enters
pass 4 through an interconnection between the radiant
outlets of passes 3 and 4 at the
radiant top
Step 5 The pig travels through
a series of passes via various
interconnections at grade and
at the radiant top and enters

the last pass (pass n/2) in the

loop
Step 6 The pig travels the
complete length of pass n/2
from the radiant outlet at the
top to the inlet at grade. This is
the end point for the pig. Here,
the pig is sent back to the loop
by means of hydraulic force.
The pig now travels backwards
and is received from pass 1.

Precautions to be taken during

pigging operations

The furnace coil design pressure is a function of the coil

operating pressure. Different
furnaces have different coil
design pressures. Mechanical
pigging incorporates water as
the driving medium. Generally,
water is pumped using a
manually regulated pump. In
case the pump shut-off pressure exceeds the furnace coil
design pressure, a pressure
safety valve should be installed
in the line to protect the coil
from over-pressure during a
pigging operation.

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Step 1
Step 2, Pass 1
Step 3, Pass 2
Step 4, Pass 3
Step 5
Step 6, Pass n/2

Temporary
interconnections
at radiant top

Pig
launcher

Pig
receiver
Water
tank

Interconnections at grade
Dirty water

Loop-1

Figure 9 Steps of a modified pigging scheme

Thermocouples at the furnace

outlet are susceptible to
damage during pigging and
may cause hindrance to the
pig. Hence, thermocouples
should be removed before
pigging and placed in their
respective
positions
after
pigging is completed.

Incorporation of new pigging

techniques during
furnace design

The following points should be

taken into consideration during
the design phase of a furnace
to incorporate new pigging
techniques as well as to ease
operations while pigging:
The furnace should have an
even number of passes
Spare interconnection spools
should be provided so that
there is no need to prepare or
procure these while pigging
The thermowell flanges at
the outlet of passes should be

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equal to the coil size so that

they can be used for pass interconnections during pigging
Temperature
transmitters
should not be head-mounted to
thermocouples and should be
remote-mounted so that they
can be removed during pigging
Sufficient space should be
provided on radiant/convection platforms to accommodate
personnel and material for safe
pigging.

Conclusions

Mechanical pigging is the

preferred method for furnace
cleaning in view of the operating run length that it provides
compared to other cleaning
methods. Furnace downtime
for cleaning is less during
mechanical pigging compared
to
steam-air
decoking.
Compared to on-line spalling,
the effectiveness of mechanical
pigging is higher. Mechanical

pigging is the safest method of

cleaning. Intelligent pigging is
the only method by which a
furnace coils thickness can be
measured.
Conventional pigging used in
furnaces involves individual
cleaning of each pass. Since the
pigging auxiliaries are individually connected to the inlet and
exit of each pass, downtime is
greater during conventional
pigging. The modified pigging
scheme eliminates this problem
as half the total number of
passes is pigged in one go by
interconnecting various passes.
Thus, substantial time and
labour are saved as there is no
need to connect and receive
pigs at each pass. By using a
modified
pigging
scheme,
furnace net downtime is
reduced by approximately a
half to one-quarter of the time
taken for conventional pigging.
Reducing the cleaning time for

PTQ Q3 2013 7

furnace coils with a modified

pigging scheme increases the
availability of corresponding
process plant.
References
1 Jegla Z, Design and operating aspects
influencing fouling inside radiant coils
of fired heaters operated in crude oil
distillation plants, Heat Exchanger
Fouling, Jun 2011.
2 Conticello R, Bernhagen P, Fired heater
design & decoking techniques, NPRA
Technology Forum, 2005.
3 Katala K A, Karrs M S, Advances in
delayed coking heat transfer equipment,
Hydrocarbon Processing, Feb 2009.
4 Roberts R D, Increased reliability/
reduced risk by applying intelligent
pigging technology to inspect coils in

8 PTQ Q3 2013

process heaters, 4th Middle East NDT

Conf, 2007.
5 Adams J, Coker furnace - online spalling,
paper presented at AFM, 2012.
6 API 560, Fired heaters for general
refinery services.
7 API 530, Calculation of heater tube
thickness in petroleum refineries.

Rupali Sahu is Senior Engineer, Process &

Technology Department with Technip KT
India Ltd. She holds a bachelors degree in
chemical engineering from MIET, Meerut,
India. Email: rsahu@technip.com
Shyam Kishore Choudhary is Principal
Engineer, Process
& Technology
Department with Technip KT India Ltd.
He holds a bachelors degree in chemical
engineering from BIT, Sindri, India. Email:
skchoudhary@technip.com

Ugrasen Yadav is Deputy General

Manager, Refinery & Petrochemicals, in
the Process & Technology Department of
Technip KT India Ltd. He holds a masters
degree in chemical engineering from
HBTI, Kanpur, India.
Email: uyadav@technip.com
M K E Prasad is Head of the Process and
Technology Department with Technip KT
India Ltd. He holds a bachelors degree
in chemical engineering from Osmania
University, Hyderabad, India.
Email: mkeprasad@technip.com

LINKS
More articles from the following
categories:
Corrosion/Fouling Control
Fired Heaters
Heat Transfer

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