The processes and systems herein integrate hydroprocessing and coking in a manner to effectively upgrade/desulfurize crude oil feedstocks. An initial liquid hydrocarbon feedstock, such as crude oil, is upgraded by fractionating both the hydrocarbon feedstock and coker thermally cracked hydrocarbon products in a fractionating zone. A coker recycle stream is thermally cracked to produce coker thermally cracked hydrocarbon products that are passed to the fractionating zone. The hydrocarbon distillates are hydroprocessed under conditions effective for desulfurization and conversion into lighter hydrocarbon distillates to produce a hydroprocessed liquid hydrocarbon effluent, such as a bottomless synthetic crude oil.

A process for upgrading a heavy oil includes passing heavy oil and disulfide oil to a thermal cracking system that includes a thermal cracking unit and a cracker effluent separation system downstream of the thermal cracking unit and thermally cracking at least a portion of the heavy oil in the presence of the disulfide oil in the thermal cracking unit to produce solid coke and a cracking effluent comprising reaction products. The reaction products include one or more liquid reaction products, one or more gaseous reaction products, or both. The presence of the disulfide oil in the thermal cracking unit promotes conversion of hydrocarbons from the heavy oil to the liquid reaction products, the gaseous reaction products, or both relative to the production of the solid coke.

A delayed thermal cracking process, system, and apparatus for heavy (i.e., high boiling point) coker feed materials which eliminates the production of a solid coke product and replaces the coke product with a higher value, pumpable tar liquid material which can be used as an asphalt paving material, as a fuel oil, or for other purposes. A hydrocarbon cooling and diluting material is added to and mixed with the tar material in the coking drum after the fill cycle to produce the liquid tar product and eliminate the steam-out, quenching, draining, unheading, hydraulic cutting, reheading, pressure testing, and warm-up procedures previously required in delayed coking systems, and to also eliminate the environmental issues and costs associated therewith.

High-quality graphite/needle grade coke is produced with reduced impurity levels and improved coefficient of thermal expansion using an integrated hydrotreatment, catalytic cracking and coking reaction sections, employing a combination of highly paraffinic hydrotreated VGO stream and aromatic CLO stream, which is thereafter processed in a delayed coking section.

A process for upgrading a heavy oil includes passing heavy oil and disulfide oil to a thermal cracking system that includes a thermal cracking unit and a cracker effluent separation system downstream of the thermal cracking unit and thermally cracking at least a portion of the heavy oil in the presence of the disulfide oil in the thermal cracking unit to produce solid coke and a cracking effluent comprising reaction products. The reaction products include one or more liquid reaction products, one or more gaseous reaction products, or both. The presence of the disulfide oil in the thermal cracking unit promotes conversion of hydrocarbons from the heavy oil to the liquid reaction products, the gaseous reaction products, or both relative to the production of the solid coke.

The present invention provides a process for production of graphite coke from an admixture of coal and petroleum-based hydrocarbons. This particularly describes a process wherein a mixture of coal tar pitch and hydrocarbon feedstock such as CLO is purified in a solvent treatment step and the purified mixed feedstock is subjected to thermal cracking to produce high quality graphite/needle coke. This process also provides a synergy in improved coke quality coke formation while using an admixture of coal tar pitch and CLO while subjected to common purification and coking steps.

A delayed coking furnace (100) for heating coker feedstock (101) is disclosed. The furnace (100) includes a first heating zone (102) adapted to provide heat to the coker feedstock (101) through a convective heat transfer and then a second heating zone (104) positioned below the first heating zone (102) and adapted to heat the coker feedstock (101) through radiative heat transfer, wherein the second heating zone (104) include a lower portion and an upper portion. Further, said furnace (100) includes a plurality of burners (106) located at the lower portion of the second heating zone (104) and at least one baffle (111) disposed in the upper portion of the second heating zone (104). Further, the present disclosure provides that the at least one baffle (111) is adapted to increase a convective heat transfer coefficient associated with a flue gas flowing from the second heating zone (104) to the first heating zone (102).

A delayed coking process for producing high grade coke comprising: introducing a hydrocarbon feedstock comprising asphaltenes to at least one fractionator to produce at least a bottoms fraction, an intermediate fraction and a light naphtha fraction: passing the bottoms fraction to a delayed coker unit furnace for heating to a predetermined coking temperature; passing the heated bottoms fraction to a first delayed coker unit to produce a first coke product and a first effluent substantially free of asphaltenes and comprising resins; and passing the first effluent to a second delayed coker unit to produce a second coke product comprising the high grade coke.

Systems and methods are provided for controlling the morphology of coke produced during delayed coking. The morphology control is achieved in part by introducing elemental sulfur into the coker feedstock prior to coking. The elemental sulfur can be introduced into the feed under conditions so that the sulfur is well-dispersed within the feed for a sufficient period of time. This can allow for relatively even reaction of sulfur with components throughout the feed, resulting in a relatively small, uniform domain size distribution for the coke produced during delayed coking. This coke can correspond to shot coke. By producing coke with a small and relatively uniform domain size distribution, the risk of uneven heating within the coke can be reduced or minimized.

A furnace system includes at least one lower radiant section having a first firebox disposed therein and at least one upper radiant section disposed above the at least one lower radiant section. The at least one upper radiant section has a second firebox disposed therein. The furnace system further includes at least one convection section disposed above the at least one upper radiant section and an exhaust corridor defined by the first firebox, the second firebox, and the at least one convection section. Arrangement of the at least one upper radiant section above the at least one lower radiant section reduces an area required for construction of the furnace system.