Salahaddin University – Erbil

College of Engineering

Chemical & Petrochemical department

Vis-breaking
Prepared by:
Ahmed Hassan Rashed
Esmail Yassin Abdulkadir
Muhammad Rafaat Muhammad

Supervised by: Dr. Sirwan Ibrahim

2021-2022
VISBREAKING or (Viscosity Breaking):

The vis-breaking process came into widespread usage in the 1930's to convert
heavy petroleum resids into usable fuel oil and lessen the need to add large
quantities of gas oil cutter stock. By using thermal cracking to reduce (or
break. hence the name vis-break)

The viscosity of the resid, the amount of cutter stock required was greatly
reduced. The by-products of the process include light gas, light liquids,
gasoline, and thermal gas oil.

These products are similar to those produced in thermal crackers.

VISBREAKING, General Information:

Vis-breaking is a mild thermal cracking carried out to reduce the

viscosities & pour points of atmospheric and vacuum tower bottoms.
Objective is to produce a fuel oil stock of improved viscosity characteristics.
 Vis-breaking product yields are dependent upon the reaction temperature &
the residence time .
VISBREAKING, General Information:

Vis-breaking is a form of thermal cracking, the oldest cracking process. in

vis-breaking, the goal is not to produce gasoline, but rather to alter the
properties of a residual stream such as vacuum residuum and produce a more
salable product.

There is also a reduction in the quantity of the residuum as some is converted

to lighter cracked products.
VISBREAKING, General Information:

In this method the feedstock is usually a mixture of high vacuum distillates

and residues, even asphalt, heated in a furnace at a cracking temperature
(slightly above 400°C) at a pressure above atmosphere for a short time and
quickly quenched and flashed in a plated column.

Sufficient steam is used to separate the cracked light hydrocarbons. Products

include gases, gasoline (VB gasoline or naphtha), gas oil (VB gas oil), and
low viscous fuel oil or furnace oil as the major product.
VISBREAKING, General Information:
The products of vis-breaking include light gases, naphtha (gasoline), gas
oil, and residue (main product).
"Akbar and Geelen" have published a relationship between cracking
time and temperature for the same conversion level as shown in table
below.
 Vis-breaking Types

Soaker Drum Coil Furnace

Quenching by Bottom Quenching by Bottom

Quenching by
Quenching by
Gas-oil Gas-oil
Vis-breaking soaker:

The heavy oil feed is heated in a furnace to the desired reaction

temperature and introduced into a "soaking drum" where the cracking
reactions continue to occur.
The outlet from the soaking drum is quenched with cold gas oil (or
fractionator bottom) to stop the cracking reactions prior to entering the
fractionating column.
The fractionator separates the lighter cracked products from the heavy
product (tar).
Vis-breaking soaker:

The cracking reactions are strictly affected by the parameters of time and
temperature.
The soaking drum process provides more residence time for cracking
than the furnace cracking process, and therefore may be operated at a
lower temperature to achieve the same degree of cracking (conversion).
Vis-breaking soaker (quench by Bottom)
Vis-breaking Coil Furnace:

Vacuum or atmospheric residue feedstock is heated and then mildly cracked in

the vis-breaker furnace.
coil furnace vis-breaking is used and the vis-broken products are immediately
quenched to stop the cracking reaction.
This may be accomplished with one furnace which contains two physical
coils, one for heating and one for soaking (reaction) Alternately, two separate
furnaces may be used for the heating and soaking coils.
Vis-breaking Coil Furnace:

The quenching step is essential to prevent coking in the fractionation tower.

The gas oil and the vis-breaker residue are most commonly used as
quenching streams.

After quenching, the effluent is directed to the lower section of then

fractionator where it is flashed. The fractionator separates the products into
gas, gasoline, gas oil and vis-breaker tar (residue).
The gas oil withdrawn from the fractionator is steam-stripped to remove
volatile components and then blended with the vis-breaker bottoms or routed
for further processing, such as hydrotreating, catalytic cracking or
hydrocracking. The un-stabilized naphtha and fuel gas, recovered as overhead
products, are treated and then used as feedstock for catalytic reforming,
blended into finished products or sent to the fuel system.
The vis-breaker bottoms are withdrawn from the fractionator, heat exchanged
with the vis-breaker feedstock, mixed with stripped gas oil (optional) and
routed to storage.
Vis-breaking furnace coil (quench by gas-oil)
Vis-breaking furnace coil (quench by Bottom)
Vis-breaking comparing:

Each form of the process has advantages. The soaking drum process uses
substantially less fuel than the cracking furnace process, Because the
furnace operates at a lower temperature, run times before de-coking are
longer than the cracking furnace process.
On the other hand, the cracking furnace process is much easier to de-coke
and presents fewer environmental concerns. Decoking a furnace is relatively
simple; decoking a soaking drum requires the use of large quantities of high
pressure water which was must then be processed to remove
contaminants.
Operating Conditions:

Operating conditions are dependent on the composition of the feed stock and
the design objective for the unit. A limiting condition is reached for any resid
at which the cracked tar can no longer hold the asphaltenes in solution and the
tar becomes unacceptable as a fuel oil.
Typical operating conditions are different for the soaking drum process and
furnace cracking process because of the time/temperature relationship of
thermal cracking.
Operating Conditions:

Temperature ranges are as follows:

Furnace cracking: 885 to 930 degrees F (475 to 500 degrees C)
Soaking drum: 800 to 830 degrees F (427 to 444 degrees C)

Pressures vary over a wide range, depending on the design.

Typical operations may vary from 150 psig to 500 psig (10 to 36 bars).
Reference:
 2011_chaudhuri_u_r_fundamentals_of_petroleum_and_petroch.

 Petroleum-Refinery-Engineering-II.

 Gary-J-amp-Handwerk-G-Petroleum-Refining-Technology-2001.

 [Gerald_L._Kaes]_Refinery_Process_Modeling(BookFi.org).

 Fundamentals of Petroleum Refining by M.A. Fahim, T.A. Al-Shahhaf,

A.S.Elkilani