As throughput is increased and cycle times are reduced for delayed cokers, many owners are experiencing an increased occurrence of repairs and drum failures. Typically, other equipment in the facilities are upgraded while the coker unit is left unchanged and is expected to perform under more severe cyclic conditions. The operators are required to keep increasing the throughput and decrease the cycle time to meet targeted production. Most Coke drum failures are due to the high cyclic thermal stresses. Cyclic thermal stresses along with their increased occurrence lead to premature failures and cracking. It can be shown that by adding a 3rd drum to a 2 drum unit, the drum life can be extended by several fold, possibly eliminate the need to replace the coke drums and at the same time increase throughput.

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