CAMOL Catalyst-Coated Furnace Coils for Olefins Manufacture: Year-(4) Operational Update On Commercial Furnace Installations

         The development of a novel furnace coil coating technology* has been completed that is capable of providing coke-free performance in furnace coils used for olefins manufacture.  Major breakthroughs have been realized to overcome the limitations of coatings from the 20^th century primarily through novel, nano-enabled coating processes. The new coating technology, Catalyzed-assisted Manufacture of Olefins (CAMOL), has been in commercial furnace trials since September 2006 to field-demonstrate primary performance benefits, and to map-out operational latitude and limitations across a broad range of furnace designs and feedstocks.  The new coatings were engineered with 21 chemical, physical and thermo-mechanical properties deemed critical in securing commercial viability.  Field results now into Year-4 have confirmed achievement of the most critical properties to ensure survivability, with optimization now completed for an optimal balance of properties for a 5-10 year coil lifetime.

         The realization of non-coking coil surfaces for extreme operating conditions and a broad range of feedstocks, enable additional engineerable catalytic impacts to be incorporated within the steam hydrocarbon pyrolysis process.  With coating survivability and other key properties secured, CAMOL has now been incorporated into furnace coils of five commercial furnaces (4 coil designs) with major olefins producers, covering feedstocks ranging from ethane through to naphtha at various levels and types of surface catalytic activity.  Planned installations and trials for 2010 and 2011 include Linde, Lummus and Technip furnaces with naphtha feedstocks ranging from low to high quality.  Lighter feedstock trials are also being pursued primarily at the operating limits of furnace cracking technologies.  This paper will update on field and laboratory results crystallized to-date against technology targets and expectations that include:

·       1-2 year furnace run-lengths in lighter feedstocks (100-400 days in heavier feedstocks), overall, depending on feedstock quality and operating conditions;

·       high operating-temperature stability (>1130^oC (>2066^oF));

·       significant reductions in average TMT operating temperature;

·       significant reductions in energy requirements and GHG emissions;

·       compatibility with elevated sulfur levels and feedstock contaminants;

·       potential for reductions in steam dilution levels;

·       potential for higher conversion levels; and/or

·       neutral or positive impacts on product slate.

It is recognized that furnace and plant-specific drivers will dictate which combination of the above new materials benefits deliver the greatest economic impact to a petrochemical facility.

         An update will also be presented on efforts aimed at expanding the use of the CAMOL technology, for example, to produce a high heat-transfer tube with internal tube surface area approaching external tube surface area, with the full coke-free catalyst-coating benefits of CAMOL; a Generation-II product in 2012 targeting to provide additional benefits including a further TMT temperature reduction and, an enhanced compatibility with lower-quality heavier feedstocks.

* The Catalyzed-assisted Manufacture of Olefins (CAMOL) technology development was partially funded by Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), and an investment by Industry Canada - Technology Partnerships Canada (TPC).