VISBREAKING PROCESS AND

ALKYLATION
SUBMITTED BY: SYED ZEGHAM ABBAS SHAH

SUBMITTED TO: SIR MUHAMMAD ALI MEMON

DATE: 26-08-2019

zygamabbas11@gmail.com
[Email address]
 Visbreaking process

There are two types of visbreaking processes coil visbreaking and soaker visbreaking. For
visbreaking, the feedstock is introduced into the coil heated in the furnace where the thermal cracking
reactions take place. At the furnace outlet, the reaction products are immediately quenched using a
portion of the gas oil product from the fractionator to stop the thermal cracking reactions. The
quenched products are sent to the fractionator for separation into gas, gasoline, light gas oil, and
visbroken residue streams. A steam stripper can be used with the fractionator for better separation of
the visbreaking products. In the soaker visbreaking process, a soak drum is placed after the furnace.

Depending on the process objectives and feedstock characteristics, reaction temperatures range from
450°C to 485°C and pressures range from 3 to 10 bar. Higher temperatures and lower residence times
are used in the coil visbreaking process.

Coil visbreaking

The term coil (or furnace) visbreaking is applied to units where the cracking process occurs in the
furnace tubes (or "coils"). Material exiting the furnace is quenched to halt the cracking reactions
frequently this is achieved by heat exchange with the virgin material being fed to the furnace, which
in turn is a good energy efficiency step, but sometimes a stream of cold oil (usually gas oil) is used to
the same effect. The gas oil is recovered and re-used. The extent of the cracking reaction is controlled
by regulation of the speed of flow of the oil through the furnace tubes. The quenched oil then passes
to a fractionator where the products of the cracking (gas, LPG, gasoline, gas oil and tar) are separated
and recovered.

Fig(a): coil visbreaking process

Soaker visbreaking

In soaker visbreaking, the bulk of the cracking reaction occurs not in the furnace but in a drum located
after the furnace called the soaker. Here the oil is held at an elevated temperature for a pre-determined
period of time to allow cracking to occur before being quenched. The oil then passes to a  fractionator.
In soaker visbreaking, lower temperatures are used than in coil visbreaking. The comparatively long
duration of the cracking reaction is used instead.

Fig(b): Soaker visbreaking process

Process options
Visbreaker tar can be further refined by feeding it to a vacuum fractionator. Here additional heavy gas
oil may be recovered and routed either to catalytic cracking, hydrocracking or thermal cracking units
on the refinery. The vacuum-flashed tar (sometimes referred to as pitch) is then routed to fuel oil
blending. In a few refinery locations, Visbreaker tar is routed to a delayed coker to produce certain
specialist cokes such as anode coke or needle coke.

Coil visbreaking vs Soaker visbreaking

From the standpoint of yield, there is little or nothing to choose between the two approaches.
However, each offers significant advantages situations:

 De-coking: The cracking reaction forms petroleum coke as a by-product. In coil visbreaking,

this deposits in the tubes of the furnace and will eventually lead to fouling or blocking of the
tubes. The same will occur in the drum of a soaker visbreaker, though the lower temperatures
used in the soaker drum lead to fouling at a much slower rate. Coil visbreakers therefore require
frequent de-coking. This is quite labour-intensive but can be developed into a routine where tubes
are de-coked sequentially without the need to shut down the visbreaking operation. Soaker drums
require far less frequent attention but their being taken out of service normally requires a
complete halt to the operation. Which is the more disruptive activity will vary from refinery to
refinery.
Fuel Economy: The lower temperatures used in the soaker approach mean that these units
use less fuel. In cases where a refinery buys fuel to support process operations, any savings in
fuel consumption could be extremely valuable. In such cases, soaker visbreaking may be
advantageous. Alkylation is the introduction of an alkyl group into an organic compound by
substitution or addition.

Alkylation

There are six types of alkylation reaction: (1) substitution for hydrogen bound to carbon, such as

ethylbenzene (C6H5C2H5) from benzene (C6H6) and ethylene (CH2 CH2), (2) substitution for
hydrogen attached to nitrogen, (3) substitution for hydrogen in a hydroxyl group of an alcohol
or phenol, and (4) addition to a tertiary amine to form a quaternary ammonium
compound. Acylation reactions that fall outside of the context of this text—such as the addition to a
metal to form a carbon-metal bond as well as additions to sulphur or silicon—are not included in this
list. The greatest use of the alkylation process is in refineries for the production of alkylates that are
used as a blending stock to produce gasoline (Speight, 2014a,b). Other major alkylation products
include ethylbenzene (C6H5CH2CH3), cumene [C6H5CH(CH3)2], and linear alkylbenzene derivatives
[C6H5(CH2)nCH3, where n is typically 3 or greater].
Alkylation is commonly carried out in liquid phase at temperatures higher than 200°C (390°F) at
above atmospheric pressures. Sometimes vapor phase alkylation is more effective. Alkylation agents
are usually olefins, alcohols, alkyl sulfates, or alkyl halides and the typical catalysts are hydrofluoric
acid (HF), sulfuric acid (H2SO4), or phosphoric acid (H3PO4, which is also known as orthophosphoric
acid or phosphoric(V) acid). Higher process temperatures cause the expected lowering of product
specificity and increased by-product formation. Some more recent alkylation processes (such as used
to produce ethylbenzene and cumene) use zeolite catalysts as they can be more efficient and may have
lower emissions. Lewis acids, such as aluminum chloride (AlCl3) or boron trifluoride (BF3), may also
be used as catalysts.
There are environmental issues, related to the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which
arise during alkylation processes and which include although based on data to produce ethylbenzene,
cumene, and linear alkylbenzene, the emission of VOCs from alkylation reactions tend to be low
compared to the emission of VOCs from other refinery processes. However, the by-
products and waste disposal of alkyl halides and sulphate derivatives can be problematic.