Coke Drum - Temperature Monitoring

Wireless temperature measurement solution makes modernizing operations and maintenance of delayed coker unit affordable.

Refinery Delayed Coker UnitDelayed cokers are a type of coker unit whose process consists of multiple coke drums that receive heavy oil feed which has been heated to its thermal cracking temperature. Lighter hydrocarbons are produced and sent to a fractionator while solid coke is deposited in the drum. Once the drum is full, production is switched to another drum and the original drum must be cleaned/decoked.

Challenges

Coking is one of the most temperature intensive processes in a refinery and many temperature measures are required to provide the best control. Depending on the capacity, the number of coke drums in operation can vary from 2-8 drums. Each coke drum can require up to 24 temperature points to be monitored. A coker tube furnace is used to heat heavy oil that feeds the coke drums. The heater provides all the heat in the process. The output temperature of the furnace is typically around 500 degrees. 

Without having the right amount of temperature measurements, refinery coker units may experience the following situations:

  • Increased energy costs due to unoptimized fuel consumption.
  • Furnace fouling leading to added maintenance and downtime.
  • Increased variability in drum cycle times.
  • Reduced throughput and production quality.

However, many refineries find it difficult to add temperature measurements due to costs and lack of available control system IO.

Solutions

Yokogawa YTMX580 installed in unitTo move forward with their coker optimization project, a North American refinery turned to Yokogawa’s ISA100 industrial wireless solution for their temperature measurement needs.  
Yokogawa YTMX580 multi-input temperature transmitters were installed on each coker drum as well as the furnace. Each of these accepts eight temperature inputs, greatly reducing the quantity of transmitters required for the project.

The field wireless access point was installed on the control room located 600m from the coker unit with dense obstructions. Two repeaters were used to establish redundant communication paths between the measurement devices and the field wireless access point. The wireless temperature data was easily and cost effectively integrated with refinery control system using Modbus communication.

ISA 100 WirelessKey Benefits

  • Avoided costs of traditional instrumentation and control system IO expansion.
  • Improved temperature control in the coker furnace simultaneously reduced fuel consumption and furnace maintenance.
  • Increased coker unit throughput due to less downtime and better coke drum cycle time.

Industries

  • Oil & Gas Downstream

    The oil & gas downstream industry has been facing an increasing number of challenges in recent years. These include the changing characteristics of the feedstock to be processed, aging of process facilities and equipment, rising cost of energy, lack of skilled plant operators who can run a refinery safely and efficiently, and the ever-changing requirements from both the market and the customer.

    Over the years, Yokogawa has partnered with many downstream companies to provide industrial solutions focused on solving these challenges and problems. Yokogawa's VigilantPlant solutions have helped plant owners to achieve maximum profitability and sustainable safety within their plants.

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Related Products & Solutions

  • YFGW410 Field Wireless Management Station

    YFGW410 Field Wireless Management Station has system manager/security manager/gateway function based on ISA100.11a, and combining this with Field Wireless Access Point(YFGW510) and/or Field Wireless Media Converter(YFGW610) composes the field wireless system.

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  • YFGW510 Field Wireless Access Point

    YFGW510 Field Wireless Access Poin has backbone router function based on ISA, and combining this with Field Wireless Management Station (YFGW410) and/or Field Wireless Media Converter (YFGW610) composes the field wireless system.

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  • YFGW520 Field Wireless Access Point

    YFGW520 Field Wireless Access Poin has backbone router function based on ISA, and combining this with Field Wireless Management Station (YFGW410) and/or Field Wireless Media Converter (YFGW610) composes the field wireless system.

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  • YTA510 Wireless Temperature Transmitter

    The high performance temperature transmitter YTA510 accepts Thermocouple, RTD, ohms or DC mill volt inputs. The transmitters transmit not only process variables but also the setting parameters using wireless signal. The transmitters run on internal batteries, and the installation cost can be decreased since hard-wiring is not required. The communication is based on ISA100.11a protocol specifications. 

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  • YTMX580 Multi-Input Temperature Transmitter

    YTMX580 can accept inputs from up to 8 points of measurement such as thermocouples (8 types: K, E, J, etc.) or RTD signals (3 types: Pt100, etc.), converting the corresponding measurement input values to a wireless signal. It can also accept DC voltage, resistance, and 4 to 20 mA DC signal input.

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