(26e) Understanding Today's Limiting Factors On Reaction Furnace Linings

SRUs are experiencing increasing demands for improved reliability.  This is due to significant changes in emission regulations and penalties, more severe operating conditions, high cost of repairs and the consequential impact a reaction furnace failure can have on other operating units in refineries.  Management is finally paying more attention to these issues, however, before the problems can properly be addressed, they first must be fully understood. 

Our paper outlines the common problems with these linings today, including a lack of understanding of refractories in general and the unique requirements for SRU applications, as well as the consequences of the technical and commercial decisions made by licensing companies, project teams and owner/operating companies.  We will show examples of common failures throughout the industry and then illustrate some of the complex technical aspects that need to be understood and tradeoffs that must be considered in the design process.  The ultimate goal of the design/implementation process is to “balance” many competing factors in order to maximize the performance, reliability and life of the lining system; not for theoretical steady-state operating conditions, but for the real world conditions that are imposed on the refractory linings.