(103b) Residue Upgrading of Heavy Crudes with SydecSm Delayed Coking: Benefits and Economics

The paper will briefly review the role that delayed coking plays in residue upgrading required for economic processing of heavy, high sulfur crude oils with comments on the general benefits of delayed coking as a route for residue upgrading. Salient features of the SYDEC^sm Delayed Coking process will be reviewed with emphasis on safety, environmental issues and reliability of operations. Concerns about fuel coke disposal will also be addressed. A case study will be presented to define the economic impact and benefit a coker project can provide to a cracking refinery with no residue upgrading capability. The case study will look at converting a generic cracking refinery processing a light crude (Lt. Arabian) to a coking refinery processing a heavy crude (Maya). The overall refinery economics for the residue upgrading project will be presented.