IBP2710_10

DELAYED COKER FIRED HEATER

DESIGN AND OPERATIONS
Sim Romero1

Copyright 2010, Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute - IBP

This Technical Paper was prepared for presentation at the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2010, held between September, 1316, 2010, in Rio de Janeiro. This Technical Paper was selected for presentation by the Technical Committee of the event according to
the information contained in the abstract submitted by the author(s). The contents of the Technical Paper, as presented, were not
reviewed by IBP. The organizers are not supposed to translate or correct the submitted papers. The material as it is presented, does
not necessarily represent Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute opinion, nor that of its Members or Representatives.
Authors consent to the publication of this Technical Paper in the Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2010 Proceedings.

Abstract
This paper briefly gives an overview of heavy oil thermal kinetics in a delayed coker and how these reactions effect the
fouling in the delayed coker fired heater. Feed quality, asphaltene content and contaminates play a major role in the
formation of coke on heater tubes. Heater operating conditions, such as the process fluid flowing temperature and
velocity, also affect fouling rates in the heater.
The presentation then discusses design and operating methods to reduce the delayed coker heater fouling and extend
heater run lengths. Current heat flux design practices are discussed and how these practices often do not take full
advantage of available technology.
The use of process injection steam to increase the fluid velocities is discussed. Velocity steam has an obvious effect on
the heater hydraulics and some control practices are discussed. The negative effects that velocity steam has on coke
drums, fractionator, heat removal, and yields are also briefly reviewed.
The presentation then covers a variety of burner and fire box issues such as flame impingement, low NOx and ultra low
NOx burners, tube metallurgy, and O2-levels. Additionally, fuel gas delivery systems, piping metallurgy, and fuel gas
coalescer are reviewed. The presentation concludes that burner management is critical to the reliability of the coke
heater.
The presentation discusses the process best practices for the design, control, and general operation of the fired heater.
Three major heater decoking procedures; steam air decoking, mechanical pigging, and online spalling are reviewed.
Finally, recent innovations in delayed coking heaters and heater process feed measurements are reviewed.

1. Introduction
The delayed coking process is common in todays large, modern, and complex refineries. This is especially
true with refineries processing heavy sour crudes, which have a disproportionate amount of residual material. The
delayed coking process has proven to be an excellent choice in upgrading heavy oils that are highly contaminated with
metals, sulfur, and nitrogen. The delayed coker is a very flexible process, able to operate with a wide variety of feeds
and operating conditions.
Generally, the more difficult the feed, the better the delayed coker economics look compared to competing
processes. Like all process refinery operations, reliability or actual operating days are critical to the overall refinery
economics. Poor operations and reliability of the delayed coker can have significant negative consequences to the
refineries bottom line and even possible future viability of the refinery. The fired heater is one of the most critical pieces
of equipment affecting the reliability of the delayed coker. The fired heater will foul with time and very little can be
done to avoid this eventual outcome. However, a well designed heater and implementation of best practices can
significantly help slow the fouling process.

______________________________
1

Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering, Principal Consultant - KBC Advanced Technologies, Inc.

Rio Oil & Gas Expo and Conference 2010

This paper will review the thermal kinetic and the operating conditions that cause fouling. A review of the
design and operations of the fire heater will be discussed with the goal of reducing fouling in the heater and improving
reliability. Finally, recent innovations, trouble shooting, and heater monitoring will be discussed.

2. Overview of the Thermal Kinetic Process

Delayed coker technology is more than 70 years old and has evolved from the primitive Dubbs process with
two cracking coils and 13-feet diameter drums to the modern multi-module complex (six to eight drums or three to four
modules) with 32-feet diameter drums, double fired heaters, automated deheading, fractionator coke fines removal
systems, and remote hydraulic decoking.

Figure 1: Vacuum Bottoms: Asphaltene vs. API

Figure 2: Vacuum Bottoms: Concarbon vs. API

The delayed coking process has evolved to meet the needs and process requirements of the changing feeds and
capacity requirements. It is not uncommon to see the fill cycle of a well run coker to be 14 hours or less, compared to
the typical 24-hour cycle practiced less than 20 years ago. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the changing feed quality and the
exponential increase in the amount of asphaltene content. Some refineries are processing significant amounts of pitch,
originating from a solvent deasphalting process with a 35-weight percentage conradson carbon and asphaltenes
approaching 35-weight percentage. This steady migration to heavier and more difficult feeds has challenged the design
and operations of the fired heater.
Delayed coking is a thermal cracking process where heavy oils thermal crack to lighter boiling-range products.
In addition to thermal cracking, the delayed coking thermal process includes polymerization of heavy oils to heavier
oils and ultimately coke. Figure 3 illustrates both the cracking and polymerization reactions that take place in the fired
heater, the transfer line, and the coke drums.

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Figure 3: Thermal Kinetics: Cracking vs. Poymerization

The degree of cracking verses polymerization is dependent on the feed quality (asphaltene, conradson carbon,
and other contaminates), the heater design, and the operations of the heater. Predicting the rate of fouling in a delayed
coker heat is extremely difficult because of the numerous variables and how these interact with each other.
Fundamentally, the fouling rate is a function of time at temperature or heat soak history and asphaltene content.
Cracking reactions are endothermic where as polymerization reactions tend to be slightly exothermic. High
paraffinic coker feeds (i.e. Asian, Malaysian, and Indonesian crudes), which have low asphaltene and conradson,
require high operating temperatures (i.e. 930F to 935F). Whereas high asphaltene coker feeds (i.e. South American
crudes) require less heat input but result in significantly higher fouling rates. Asphaltene polymerization, agglomeration,
and precipitation significantly affect the rate of heater fouling.
In addition to the normal culprits in the fouling of the heater, inorganic solids and caustic can significantly
affect the heat fouling rate. One location reported a run length of less than ten days because of high solids in the feed,
which are normally related to the desalter operations. Desalters are generally designed to remove salts but not solids.
Poor desalter operations can result in very rapid fouling in the coker heater.
To control chlorides in the crude unit, it is common to inject caustic. However, excessive caustic in the coker
feed will accelerate heater fouling. Normal practice is to keep the caustic levels below 15 ppm and preferably below 10
ppm. Table 1 shows an analysis of the coke taken from a fired heater with high metals and inorganic solids during a
major desalter upset. The analysis shows very high levels of iron, silicon, calcium, magnesium, and sodium which
appears to be silt or mud from the desalter and possibly caustic.
Table 1: Coke Sample from Heater Tubes
Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

Sample 4

Sample 5

Moisture (as received, %)

10.4

7.05

7.3

1.66

1.8

Ash (%)

38.49

37.57

35.55

17.39

27.34

Silicon (dry, ppm)

10,270

15,240

14,190

5,623

4,551

Iron (dry, ppm)

241,100

169,400

272,700

301,900

312,000

Vanadium (dry, ppm)

1,699

2,140

1,760

19,910

8,577

Nickel (dry, ppm)

1,023

1,607

1,393

15,880

3,037

251

111

2,385

2,645

2,506

Calcium (dry, ppm)

7,799

12,230

9,225

10,130

15,910

Sodium (dry, ppm)

5,439

7,227

3,954

7,004

19,800

Magnesium (dry, ppm)

2,764

3,196

2,107

842

3,519

Analysis of Ash

Aluminum (dry, ppm)

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3. Tube Boundary Layer Fouling

The boundary layer of the process tube has the highest temperatures and the lowest velocities. As asphaltenes
start to form and fall out of solution, they will agglomerate and stick at the surface wall. Either the asphaltene at the
wall will remain on the wall or the high velocities of the fluid will shear the asphaltene off and move the agglomerated
asphaltene further down the pipe. The sheared asphaltene then has more time to further polymerize and grow in size
(both the molecular weight and agglomerate). Fortunately, as the fluid flows down the pipe the velocities continue to
increase due to continued cracking. These increasing velocities increase the asphaltene shearing rate which helps offset
the increase in agglomerated asphaltene concentration, which is due to increased time at temperature.
Two major operating parameters result from this fouling mechanism: velocity in the tube and the boundary
layer temperature. The fluid velocity can be controlled with velocity steam. The boundary layer temperature can be
controlled by the heat flux rate or firing rate. These operating parameters are interrelated. High fluid velocities improve
the heat transfer in the boundary layer, which lowers the differential temperature between the tube wall and the bulk
fluid. Additionally, a low-heat flux may have a decreased boundary layer temperature but without high velocities the
tube may still experience rapid fouling. Figure 4 illustrates the boundary layer fouling mechanism.

Figure 4: Boundary Layer Fouling

Any amount of velocity steam will reduce the fouling rate and, in almost all cases, incrementally adding more
velocity steam will further reduce fouling but could have unintended consequences downstream in the coker i.e. high
velocities in the coke drums, jet flood problems in the fractionator, additional heat removal in the fractionator overhead
coolers, and increased sour water.

4. Heater Design
The heat flux on the tubes is not uniformly even because of shading of the radiant heat. The circumferential
surface of the tube does not see the same radiant heat. The heater is designed with a peak heat flux and an average heat
flux. The peak heat flux, however, is what drives the boundary layer fouling. A best practice is to lower the peak heat
flux and have a more even heat transfer. Figure 5 illustrates the differences between a single fired heater and a double
fired heater. The single fired heater has radiant heat on only one side of the process tubes, leaving the other side of the
tubes in the shadow and getting radiant heat from reflection only. The double fired heater has radiant heat (flames) on
both sides of the tubes. The doubled fire heater significantly reduces any shadowing.

Figure 5: Single Fired vs. Double Fired Heater Design

In a typical heater design with an average heat flux of 10,000 BTU/Hour, a single fired heater will see a peak
flux of about 18,000 BTU/Hr while a double fired heater will see about 12,000 BTU/Hour. This allows the heater to be
designed with a higher average heat flux and with fewer tubes or less surface area. This double fired heater design
practice (raising the allowable average heat flux) is generally done to keep the cost of the heater competitive with a
single fired heater. A best practice is to not raise the average heat flux and keep the peak heat flux low. This would
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lower the boundary layer temperature but extend the residence time in the heater. An optimum or balance between time
and temperature can be determined but required detailed heater modeling. Table 2 summarizes these different options.
Table 2: Summary of Different Heater Modeling Options
Surface Area,
Ft2

1.8

Peak Heat
Flux,
BTU/(Hour
Ft2)
18,000

15,000

1.2

18,000

10,000

12,000

1.2

14,400

12,500

Average Heat Flux,

BTU/(Hour Ft2)

Peak to Average
Flux Ratio

Single Fire Heater

10,000

Double Fired Heater

Low Peak Flux
Double Fired Heater

15,000

Note: Assumed Radiant Absorbed Duty 150 MM BTU/Hr

Figures 6 and 7 illustrate how the changes in operating condition from a clean tube at start of run to a fouled
condition at end of run. At the start of run, the tube metal temperature is just slightly higher than the boundary layer
temperature due to the thermal resistance of the metal tube wall. The bulk fluid temperature is much lower than the
boundary layer temperature at the inlet but narrows as the fluid approaches the outlet, which is due to increased thermal
cracking and higher velocities.

Figure 6: Clean Heater Operations

Figure 7: Fouled Heater Operations

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At the end of the run, the tube metal temperatures have significantly deviated from the start of run conditions.
The buildup of coke inside the tubes has significantly increased resistance to the heat transfer to the process, causing the
very high tube metal temperatures. Notice that just before exiting the heater, the tube wall temperatures plateaus and
dips back down slightly. This is due to very high velocities near the outlet with high shear rates, which both increase
heater transfer and keep coke from building on the tubes.

5. Tube Metallurgy
Heater tube metallurgy is generally selected by corrosion requirements, which are driven by sulfur
concentration in the coker feed. Most heaters require 9 Cr-1Mo (T9 tubing) because of corrosion, but several other
alternatives are available and have improved properties. Table 3 shows the different metallurgy tubes/piping available
and their recommended thermal limits. The tube or pipe wall thickness is determined by the carrions allowance and the
rupture stress, which is a function of the operating temperature and pressure. Stainless steel (SS) tubes have been used
instead of 9Cr-1Mo because of the increased rupture stress. In one case this was done to reduce the wall thickness and
increased inside diameter. The increased diameter allowed an incremental feed rate, which was used to justify the added
cost of the SS tubes.
Table 3: Tube/Piping Metallurgy

Material
Carbon Steel
C-1/2 Mo
1-1/4 Cr-1/2 Mo
2-1/4 Cr-1 Mo
5 Cr-1/2 Mo
7 Cr-1/2 Mo
9 Cr-1 Mo
18 Cr-8 Ni
16 Cr-12 Ni-2 Mo
18 Cr-10 Ni-Ti
18 Cr-10 Ni-Cb
Alloy 800H
25Cr-20 Ni

Pipe Specifications

Tube Specifications

A53, A106, GrA or B

A335, Gr P1
A335, Gr P11
A335, Gr P22
A335, Gr P5
A335, Gr P7
A335, Gr P9
A312, A376, TP304H
A312, A376, TP316H
A312, A376, TP321H
A312, A376, TP347H
B407

A161
A161, A209 Gr T1
A200, A213, Gr T11
A200, A213, Gr T22
A200, A213, Gr T5
A200, A213, Gr T7
A200, A213, Gr T9
A213, A271, TP304H
A213, A271, TP316H
A213, A271, TP321H
A213, A271, TP347H
B407
A608, Gr HK40

Temperature Limit,
(API 530 4th Ed, Oct
1996)
540C or 1,003F
595C or 1,102F
595C or 1,102F
650C or 1,201F
650C or 1,201F
705C or 1,300F
705C or 1,300F
815C or 1,498F
815C or 1,498F
815C or 1,498F
815C or 1,498F
1,010C or 1,849F

SS tubes or piping also have less scale buildup on the outside. Contaminates in the fuel and high temperature
excursions can damage the heater tubes. Scale on the outside of the heater tubes is a good indication of the type of
damage and can reduce the heat transfer coefficient of the tubes. Generally, significant scale on the tubes should be
removed. Some facility operators have applied ceramic coating to the outside of the tubing or piping to help prevent
scale buildup; however, a large amount of scale on 9Cr-1Mo tubes implies very high tube metal temperatures and
should be investigated.
Ceramic coating is an effective method of shielding excessive heat flux zones, but here again, this implies poor
fire box design or poor burner operations and should be investigated. Applying ceramic coating will slightly insulate the
tubing and will force more heat into the convection section. This shift in heat load can be beneficial but must be
carefully evaluated.
Additionally, SS tubes are much easier to decoke or spall because of the elevated temperature limits and
because of the higher coefficient of thermal expansion. Spalling, which will be discussed later, is a process of pulling or
shocking coke off the walls of the tube by thermal cycling. Care must be taken because of the higher coefficient of
thermal expansion. Several facility operators have observed SS tubes come off their tube supports because of the high
coefficient of thermal expansion. Finally, SS tubes must be treated (soda ash/sodium nitrite wash as per National
Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) recommendations) if they are exposed to chlorides.
One faulty assumption is, because of the higher temperature limits of SS, the coker can run longer with higher
tube metal temperatures. Where it is true that SS tubes will allow higher tube metal temperatures, the coke build up in
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the tubes will be thicker, making it very difficult to spall. If the coke on the tubes is too thick, the spalling process has
the potential of plugging the tubes which would force a heater shutdown and possibly a unit shutdown. If other methods
are used to decoke, then the SS tubes could allow longer runs but not if online spalling is practiced.

6. Fire Box Operations

The flame pattern in the fire box has a significant impact on the heat flux applied to the process tubes. Poor
burner controls can cause flame impingement on tubes, causing extremely high localized tube metal temperatures, rapid
tube fouling, and possible tube ruptures.
Many locations have installed low NOx or ultra-low NOx burners, which significantly reduce NOx emissions.
Figure 8 shows the possible benefits associated with various low NOx burners. Low NOx and ultra-low NOX burners, by
design, lengthen the flame pattern which can lead to flame impingement on tubes. This is especially true for short fire
box designs. Careful evaluation of the flame pattern must be performed before retrofitting older heaters with low NOx
burners are installed. Frequently computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models are developed for this type of evaluation.

Figure 8: Low & Ultra-Low Burner Performance

The tips of many burners, especially low NOx burners, are small and can plug which leads to poor burner
performance. To prevent this, the fuel gas must be filtered in a fuel gas coalescer to remove scale and condensed
corrosive liquids. Best practice is to have SS tubing from the coalescer to the burners. In cold climates, it is also
recommended the tubing be steam traced.
A major control variable in the fire box operations is the excess oxygen in the burned fuel gas. Many refineries
target two to three percent excess O2 in fired heaters. Lowering the oxygen content improves the efficiency of the heater
but forces more heat transfer in the radiant section of the heater. If the heater is operating above design capacity,
maximizing the heat transfer in the radiant section can lead to faster fouling and more frequent decoking. In some cases,
it can be more economic to raise the O2 levels in the radiant section and move more heat transfer into the convection
section. One case showed that moving the O2 from three to eight percent lowered the tube wall temperature by almost
75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Finally, minimizing the O2 must be done with well placed analyzers and an assurance that there are no air leaks
in the box. Air leaks can lead to afterburning in the convection section or upper radiant section of the heater.
Afterburning has the same effect of flame impingement and will lead to rapid fouling and possible tube ruptures.

7. Heater Control
The objective of the heater is to provide sufficient heat to drive the process. This can be measured by the
reliability of the process and the quality of the coke. Lowering the heater outlet temperature will increase the foaming
tendency of the coke drums and raise the weight percent volatile combustible matter (VCM) of the coke. The higher
VCM coke will make coke cutting more difficult. Generally, the heater should provide enough heat to produce a coke
with a VCM of 10 to 12 weight percent. This operating target is very dependent on the feed quality, equipment
arrangement, and equipment maintenance. Coke drums with damaged insulation will require more heat input (higher
heater outlet temperatures) to ensure reliable drum operations.
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Long transfer lines from the heater to the drums require more heat input because of increased pressure drop in
the line, which results in increased vaporization through the line. Best design practice is to keep the transfer line
pressure drop at a minimum by keeping the line short. High pressure drops in the transfer line also raise the heater
process operating pressure, which lowers the heater tube fluid velocities resulting in increased fouling.
In a similar manner, light feeds or feeds with high recycle cause increased vaporization in the heater, transfer
line, and coke drums. This increased vaporization of light heater feed material requires additional heat, which can cause
an increase in fouling. The lighter feeds, however, can also dilute the concentration of asphaltenes, which in turn
reduces fouling. Again, this is highly dependent on the circumstances and a full evaluation is recommended.
The process heater control, flow rate, and outlet temperature are critical to the reliability of the heater. Well
maintained flow meters can be difficult to use in order to assess this, but some common sense best practices should be
followed. In a typical orifice-plate flow meter, the orientation, type of orifice plate and length of the pressure taps
(distance from the pipe pressure taps to the pressure transmitter) should be reviewed for this hot heavy oil service.
The thermal well location and orientation should be arranged to measure the process fluid as close to the heater
outlet as possible; see Figure 9. The first 90 degree bend out of the heater gives the longest thermal well orientation and
is generally within 10 feet of the outlet. Some heaters have been designed to measure the process temperature one or
two tubes back before the outlet of the heater. Again the thermal well is in a pipe bend to provide maximum accuracy of
the temperature measurement.

Figure 9: Thermal Well Location

8. Heater Decoking
There are three methods of decoking a heater: steam air, mechanical (pigging), and online spalling. Steam air
decoking is the oldest of these three methods and is quickly being replaced by the other two methods. Steam air
decoking can be rough on the heater tubes, labor intensive and requires a heater and unit shutdown. Some facilities have
moved away from this method because the environmental problems caused when burning the coke out of the tubes.
Online spalling has become the best method of decoking, but is not always possible depending on the heater
mechanical arrangement and the size of the coker. A small delayed coker with few tubes passes will find this method
more difficult than a large coker with multiple drums and heaters. The procedures for online spalling are summarized
as:
Transition from oil feed to steam or boiler feed water (BFW) feed
Adjust firing rate in the box to control heating of the tube metal temperatures; steam or BFW will not
require as much heat - burner will need to be taken offline
Spall the coke off the tubes with velocities using the steam or BFW
Thermal cycle the tubes to accelerate spalling of the coke
Monitor tube metal temperatures to verify spalling is complete
Transition back to oil feed
This process is very attractive as the unit does not require a shutdown and loss of throughput and reliability
problems are kept at a minimum. This procedure is a complex process and must be thoroughly reviewed at each
location. The tube or piping flow path can plug if the coke on the tubes is much more than thick or if the coke is
spall too aggressively. The return bends in the heater and elbows in a 90 degree bend can have erosion problems if not
properly designed and operated.
Finally, mechanical decoking or pigging has become a popular practice for delayed coking. Mechanical
decoking does require a heater shut down, but some facilities have developed isolation procedures where individual
heater boxes can be isolated and the heater passes decoked without a complete shutdown. The time required to
mechanically decoke a heater is approximately the same as online spalling a heater. Since pigging is relatively easy,
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many facilities have elected to only mechanically clean their coker heaters. This method of decoking can remove
difficult inorganic solid foulant from solids in the coker feed. Inorganic solids generally foul in the upper radiant section
or even the convection section of the heater. Spalling coke in the upper section of the heater is very difficult if not
impossible, which is why a method of pigging the delayed coker heater was developed.
The process involves scouring the inside of the heater tubes with abrasive metal studs that are held in place
with a cylindrical or spherical plug that moves down the pipe. The plug is flexible and can negotiate the return bends in
the heater. Figure 10 shows a typical pig with studs. To prevent damage to the heater tubing, the abrasive metal studs
must not be harder than the tube wall metal. Tungsten carbide, which has been used in the past, has a Brinell hardness
of 600 to 800 whereas most heater tubes will have a Brinell hardness of 150 to 225.

Image Courtesy of: Eveready Industrial

Service Inc.

Figure 10: Typical Mechanical Decoking Device Pig with Studs

9. Recent Innovations
The last major innovation in delayed coker heater design was the development of double fire heaters in the
early 1980s but this technical development is more of a standard. One recent innovation is acoustic pyrometry, which
is capable of measuring temperatures in the fire box. This technology measures the flue gas temperature by measuring
the speed of sound waves as they pass through the gas. These short, rapid bursts of sound are arranged in a matrix
around the heater, which are then used to generate a two dimensional topographical thermal map in the heater. This
process can be used to monitor the heater flux across the entire heater, showing how well distributed the heat transfer is
and any possible burner problems.
Another recent innovation has been the individual pass flow measurements. Traditionally, an orifice plate and
orifice pressure taps have been used. These have had problems with plugging the pressure taps. Flushing methods for
the orifice pressure taps have evolved to help this problem, but sacrifice the accuracy of the meter. In the last 10 years,
wedge meters with sealed diaphragm pressure sensors have replaced the orifice plate and flushed pressure taps. Figure
11 illustrates these flow meter types. A well established technology is the Coriolis meter, which uses the vibration of the
flowing fluid. This method has no direct contact with the process, but is sensitive to surrounding vibrations. The
Coriolis meter is extremely accurate and can also measure the density of the fluid. This technology is not new, but few
hot heavy oil processors have implemented this technology because of the higher cost.

Image Courtesy of: Primary Flow Signal, Inc.

Image Courtesy of: Micro Motion

Source: GE Flow Measurement-Hydrocarbon

Processing, May 2008

Figure 11: Types of Flow Meters

The newest flow measuring innovation has been the development of the sonic meter for delayed coker heaters.
The device has the advantage of no obstruction with the fluid flow; pressure drop is equivalent to the length of the pipe
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and the measurement is unaffected by changes in temperature, density, or viscosity. The sonic meter is low maintenance
and is reported to have very good reliability. One major oil company is installing these on all of the new coker heater
flow passes.
KBC has developed tools to quantify or measure the delayed coker key performance indicators (KPIs). In the
heater, the major KPI is the fouling rate measured by the tube metal temperature rate of change. Typical fouling rates
are between one to three degrees Fahrenheit per day, with less than one degree Fahrenheit per day being excellent and
greater than three degrees Fahrenheit per day being poor or problematic. Figure 12 shows a typical monitoring tool used
to measure the fouling rates in the delayed coker. A linear regression analysis is used to filter out extraneous operating
data and derive an actual rate of fouling.

Figure 12: Delayed Coker Heater Monitoring Tool

10. Summary
The fired heater is one of the most critical components affecting the reliability of the delayed coker. A welldesigned heater and implementation of best operating practices can significantly improve the reliability and overall
operation of the delayed coker. Minimizing the fouling rate in the heater flow-passes can be achieved with a welldesigned and operated heater. Controlling the time at temperature or heat soak history, which is needed for the process,
is also critical to maximizing the heater run-length. Delayed coker thermal kinetics is a complex interaction of the fluid
characteristics and the physical equipment employed and must be handled as such to optimize operations.

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