Controlling lm temperature in red

heaters
D
irect-fred heaters have
been widely used in the
oil refning and chemical
process industries to heat the
crude oil contained in tubular
coils by the combustion of fuel
within an internally insulated
enclosure. A successful fred
heater design relies on many
factors. Film temperature
control is one of the key factors
that play a crucial role in fred
heater design, particularly for
units processing heavy feed-
stocks that are thermally
unstable, such as Canadian oil
sands-based feedstocks.
Film temperature determines
the susceptibility of a process
fuid towards coking. Bulk oil
temperature plus a temperature
rise across the oil flm sets the
flm temperature. In most
applications, it is the oil flm
temperature, not the bulk oil
temperature, that limits the
heater duty and the oil life.
1

Film temperature is an impor-
tant factor in fred heater
design for many reasons.
Firstly, oil degradation starts in
the fuid flm, since this is the
hottest place for the bulk oil.
Fluid life is shortened because
of degradation, which can lead
Film temperature control is critical to the sucessful design of red heaters,
especially for heaters employed in upgrading heavy feedstocks
JINYU JIAO, YURIY MORAYKO, MORTEN THEILGAARD and MICHAEL HO
WorleyParsons Canada
www.digitalrening.com/article/1000715 PTQ Q1 2013 1
to a costly result. Secondly, if
the flm temperature exceeds
the limitation, the stationary
fuid flm on the inside tube
surfaces is subject to thermal
decomposition, which results
in coke deposition at that loca-
tion. Coke deposits increase
resistance to heat transfer and
raise the tube metals tempera-
ture. Once the tube wall
temperature reaches the design
temperature, the heater must
be shut down for decoking
to avoid coil damage. Thirdly,
overheating of the fuid flm
accelerates the fouling rate.
Fouling requires more heat
input and a hotter tube metal
temperature to maintain the
same heater outlet temperature.
These factors cause heaters to
shut down much more
frequently and eventually
reduce the whole plants
proftability.
Due to the importance of the
flm temperature, its control has
become a hot topic for fred
heater designs, especially for
crude heaters, vacuum heaters
and coker heaters. In this article,
some feasible methods of
controlling the flm temperature
360
380
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260
F
i
l
m

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
From inlet to outlet
240

Without steam injection
With steam injection
Figure 1 Effect of steam injection on lm temperatures
2 PTQ Q1 2013 www.digitalrening.com/article/1000715
occurs after steam injection into
the process fuid.
Reducing tube size
Depending on the allowable
pressure drop, fred heater coils
are usually divided into multi-
ple passes to accommodate the
total fow and to meet pressure
drop requirements. For a given
fow rate and the number of
fow passes, oil mass velocity
increases with reducing tube
size. A higher oil mass velocity
reduces the oil residence time
and increases the flm heat
transfer coeffcient, therefore
lowering the flm temperature.
Figure 2 shows the effect of
tube size on flm temperatures.
The horizontal axis represents
the heater coil growth from
radiant inlet to radiant outlet.
The results come from the
simulation of a small heater
with a design duty of 15 MW.
The heater is a vertical cylindri-
cal type with four-pass fow.
To demonstrate the effect of
tube size on the flm tempera-
ture, the radiant tube size is
changed from 6.625in to 4.5in,
with no change in the size of
the convection tubes. More
radiant tubes have been added
to the radiant section to
compensate for surface loss
caused by the reduction in tube
size, to keep the same heat fux.
Case 1 is for the heater with all
tubes sized at 6.625in, while
case 2 is for the same heater
with tube sizes changed from
6.625in 4.5in, for the radiant
coils only. It can be seen that
the flm temperature in the
radiant section has been
decreased because of the reduc-
tion in tube size.
Reducing the tube size
increases the heater pressure
drop, which requires a much
for fred heater design are
presented. Methods including
steam injection, reducing tube
size, using double fring and
lowering the average heat fux
are discussed, and some meth-
ods are presented with
accompanying examples.
Steam injection
Steam injection is one of the
best options for lowering the
flm temperature, as long as
there are no unintended conse-
quences downstream of the
units. Steam reduces the oil
residence time by increasing
the fuid velocity. High fuid
velocity improves heat transfer
in the flm layer, which lowers
the differential temperature
between the tube wall and the
bulk fuid. Figure 1 shows the
effect of steam injection on
flm temperature for one crude
heater. The horizontal axis
represents the radiant coil
growth from inlet to outlet. It
can be seen that the flm
temperature drops around
20C after injecting 1 wt% of
steam into the fuid. The
results shown in Figure 1 arise
from the simulation of a crude
heater at a design duty of 63
MW with diluted bitumen as
the process feed. The simula-
tion was performed with a
commercial fred heater rating
program, FRNC-5PC, which
has been widely used and has
been proven to be reliable in
predicting heater performance.
Selecting the correct location
and amount of steam injection
is critical. It must be injected
upstream of the heater tubes
with the highest flm tempera-
ture, yet far enough
downstream in the radiant
section to minimise incremental
pressure drop to ensure charge
pump capacity is not
exceeded.
2

Steam injection can also
change the fow regime for
two-phase fow. The problem
associated with slug fow can
be mitigated by steam injection.
However, it is not the intention
of this article to discuss the
effect of steam injection on the
fow regime because it is not
related to the topic. Caution is
advised in selecting a suitable
steam condition to match the
process fuid condition, to
make sure that no condensation
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370
360
F
i
l
m

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
350

4.5 in tubes
6.625 in tubes
From inlet to outlet
Figure 2 Effect of tube size on lm temperatures
2 PTQ Q1 2013 www.digitalrening.com/article/1000715
higher pump head upstream of
the heater. Since flm tempera-
ture control is basically
intended to control the peak
flm temperature, it is advisable
to reduce tube sizes for tubes
with peak flm temperature
only, to minimise the increase
in pressure drop caused by
reducing tube sizes.
Double red vs single red
A fred heater can be single or
double fred. The heat fux on
the tubes circumferential
surface is not uniform because
of the shading of radiant heat.
The single-fred heater receives
radiant heat on one side of the
process tubes (directly from the
burner fame), while the other
side of the tubes, facing the
heater wall, gains radiant heat
from the refractory. The portion
of the tube facing the burners
has a higher local heat fux,
while the side facing the refrac-
tory is much lower. For a given
fred heater with nominal two
diameter tube spacing and a
very uniform longitudinal heat
fux distribution, the local peak
heat fux (q
m
) is approximately
1.8 times the average heat fux
(q
a
) for single-fred heating. In
contrast, the double-fred heater
has radiant heat on both sides
of the tubes, which greatly
reduces the peak fux to about
1.2 times the average heat fux.
3

The correlations mentioned
above for single and double
fred can be simply represented
in the following equation:
q
m
= Xq
a
(1)
where X represents the time
factor, which is approximately
equal to 1.8 and 1.2 for single
and double fred, respectively.
The local flm temperature
www.digitalrening.com/article/1000715 PTQ Q1 2013 3
can be calculated by the follow-
ing equations:
4



T
f
= T
b
+ T
f
(2)


T
f
=
q
m

(
D
o

)
(3)
K
f
D
i
where T
f
and T
b
are flm
temperature and oil bulk
temperature, respectively. T
f

is the flm temperature rise and
K
f
is a flm heat transfer
coeffcient.
From the equations, it can be
seen that it is the localised heat
fux, not the average heat fux,
that directly governs the flm
temperature. For a heater with a
given average heat fux, a
double-fred heater has a lower
localised heat fux distribution
than a single-fred heater. A
lower localised heat fux reduces
the flm temperature at that
location. Figure 3 shows a
comparison of the flm tempera-
ture between single and double
fring for the same heater with
the same average heat fux. The
results are from the simulation
of a vacuum heater with a
design duty of 50 MW. It can be
seen that using double fred can
greatly reduce the flm tempera-
ture of the radiant coil for the
heater.
Lowering the average heat ux
The frst step in designing a
fred heater is to set up the
allowable average radiant heat
fux. For a given heater, either
single or double fred, it is
helpful to control the flm
temperature by lowering the
average heat fux. From
Equation 1, the localised heat
fux reduces with lower aver-
age heat fux, no matter
whether it is single or double
fred. Oil flm temperature
depends on the heat fux and
oil mass velocity. Decreasing
the heat fux reduces the oil
flm temperature at a fxed
mass velocity.
5

The average radiant section
heat fux is defned as the total
radiant section absorbed duty
divided by the total radiant
section tube surface area. For a
given radiant duty of a fred
heater, the only way to lower
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260
240
220
F
i
l
m

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
From inlet to outlet
200

Single fired
Double fired
Figure 3 Comparison of the lm temperature between single and double ring
the average heat fux is to
increase the radiant sections
surface area. It may be reasona-
ble to assume a relatively low
average heat fux to design a
fred heater with very tight flm
temperature control. However,
it is also noted that oil resi-
dence time increases as the
surface area increases, which
may partially counteract the
beneft of decreasing the flm
temperature by lowering the
average heat fux. A lower
average heat fux means more
capital cost in the heater coils,
which is another drawback in
controlling the flm tempera-
ture by reducing the average
heat fux. Thus, the effect on
heater design of lowering the
average heat fux should be
carefully evaluated before a
decision is made.
Other design considerations
There are other design consid-
erations that should not be
neglected when designing a
fred heater with better flm
temperature control. The radi-
ant section heat fux at any
point in the heater is controlled
by the temperature difference
between the hot fue gas and
oil in the tube. The heat trans-
fer rate increases with the
temperature difference between
the hot fue gas and the cold
oil.
6
In a vertical up-fred heater,
it is not rare to see that heat
fux is low at the foor and
gradually increases along the
length of the fame. It
is highest at the point where
maximum combustion takes
place in the fame, then reduces
at the top of the fre box. Thus,
real fred heaters may encoun-
ter more or less signifcant heat
fux imbalances. This heat fux
imbalance can cause high flm
temperatures and high rates of
fouling formation. Efforts
should be made to optimise the
design parameters to minimise
the heat fux imbalance. These
design parameters include radi-
ant section height to width
ratio, burner to tube distance,
number of burners, fame shape
and dimensions, and radiant
section tube layout.
7
Flame impingement can
cause extremely high localised
heat fux, which results in a
higher flm temperature and
rapid coke formation. Flame
impingement occurs when a
fame actually touches or
engulfs the tubes. Vinayagam
has discussed the causes of
fame impingement for a fred
heater.
8
Some precautions need
to be considered in the design
of fred heaters to prevent
fame impingement occurring;
for instance, an adequate fre
box to contain the fame, more
and equally spaced burners,
the correct type of burners, and
improved distribution of
combustion air fow.
Summary
Film temperature control is
critical to the successful design
of fred heaters, especially for
those heaters employed in
upgrading heavy feedstocks.
This article has discussed
several ways to control the flm
temperature in the design of
fred heaters. These methods
have been discussed in detail
and have proved to be effective
means of controlling flm
temperature.
References
1 Pelini R G, Heat ux and lm
temperature in red thermal-uid
heaters, Chemical Engineering, Dec 2008.
2 Hanson D, Martin M, Low capital
revamp increases vacuum gas oil yield,
March, Oil & Gas Journal, 2002.
3 Romero S, Delayed coker red heater
design and operations, Rio Oil & Gas
Expo and Conference, 2010.
4 API 530, Calculation of heater-tube
thickness in petroleum reneries, 6th ed,
Sept 2008.
5 Golden S W, Barletta T, Designing
vacuum units, Separations, Apr 2006.
6 Martin G R, Heat-ux imbalance in
red heaters cause operating problems,
Hydrocarbon Processing, May 1998.
7 Nogay R, Prasad A, Better design
method for red heaters, Hydrocarbon
Processing, Nov 1985.
8 Vinayagam K, Minimizing ame
impingements in red heaters, Chemical
Engineering, May 2007.
Jinyu Jiao is a Mechanical Engineer
with WorleyParsons in Calgary, Canada.
He holds an MS degree in mechanical
engineering as well as a PhD in chemical
engineering.
Yuriy Morayko is a Mechanical Engineer
with WorleyParsons in Calgary, Canada.
He holds a BSc degree in mechanical
engineering.
Morten Theilgaard is a Mechanical
Department Manager for WorleyParsons
in Calgary, Canada. He holds a BSc in
mechanical engineering.
Michael Ho has eight years experience
in the oil and gas industry in an EPCM
environment. He holds masters and
bachelors degrees in mechanical
engineering.
4 PTQ Q1 2013 www.digitalrening.com/article/1000715

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