Main tower coke build up

[Anonymous]

Hi
 
We are having some coke building up in the bottom of the main tower. The system (pump + vessels) are not working well and the coke is stopping on the bottom tower. It will reduce the campaign of our DCU.
We do not know if the problem is because of the system that can not remove the coke or it is because the coke deposition on the main tower botton. We will do a scanning on the tower botton.
Any suggestion ?
 
Thanks

[antonio saura Cebrian]

If I understood  you  said  that the system do not work very well . what that means it?  is  not removing coke? the line from the bottom of the tower  to the filters is kept hot? what kind of emergency valve is installed at the line ( butterfly?), what is the diameter of that line (8 “?), If you are going to perform   a scanning on the bottom  keep in mind what Kind of radioactive source are going to use because some source can not differentiate between  liquid and coke unless it considers that this stuck on the wall

In one of our units we had  a problem of loss of coke removal and low temperature in the line, after conducting several tests (including scanning) determined that the butterfly valve (emergency) had an internal obstruction with stones coke

[Lucibar Davalillo]

Could you please provide a brief description of the system and symptoms to help understanding the problem? I’d like to know if Fractionator bottom nozzle for fines removal system is of a typical vortex braker or stand-pipe? is the coke fines stream pumped back to fractionator bottom or to heaters charge pump suction? how big are your filters? are you catching any coke? has frequency being reduced? what evidences do you have for coke buildup inside the tower?   

[Author]

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