Syncrude Canada Ltd.

Syncrude Canada Ltd. in Trust for the Owners of the Syncrude Project As Such Owners Exist Now and in the Future

Jason Wiens

Craig McKnight

Michael Wormsbecker

Brian Knapper

Jennifer McMillan

Chung Huu Ta

Gibran Alamgir

Craig A Mcknight

A fluid coking operation for converting bitumen to lighter hydrocarbons can be controlled or monitored using a stripper fouling indicator to mitigate foulant accumulation on the sheds of the stripper within the lower section of the coker and avoid flooding. The stripper fouling indicator can be linked to the liquid carry-under to the stripper which can be correlated to certain measurable variables such as which feed nozzles are used for bitumen injection, solids circulation rate of the coke particles, and reactor temperature. The coking can be kept below the stripper fouling indicator to avoid flooding while operating with high yield and performance.

Techniques to mitigate stripper fouling in fluid cokers

The present invention is directed towards modifying the internals of the reactor section of a fluidized coke reactor such that the majority of the hydrocarbon feed will react in the core region of the reactor section and that any hydrocarbon vapour that is produced in the annular region will be released into the core region. Therefore, the present invention reduces the residence time of vapour immediately flashed from the injected hydrocarbon feed, resulting in reduced secondary vapour phase cracking.

Liquid yield from fluid coking reactors

A method of upgrading bitumen in a plant comprising a diluent recovery unit that processes diluted bitumen and outputs atmospheric topped bitumen (ATB), a vacuum distillation unit which processes ATB and outputs vacuum topped bitumen (VTB), and at least one fluid coker unit which processes VTB and outputs a tar pot bottom stream comprising heavy heavy gas oil is provided comprising the step of processing the tar pot bottom stream in a catalytic hydrocracking unit comprising an ebullated bed reactor to produce naphtha, light gas oil, and heavy gas oil.

Upgrading of bitumen

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Edmonton, Canada

Jason Wiens