Desulfurization and Its Effect on Calcined Coke Properties

Abstract

As the petroleum industry processes crudes of increasing sulfur content, the sulfur content of anode grade cokes will continue to increase. As this occurs, it becomes necessary for petroleum coke calciners to better understand the effect of sulfur on production quality. This paper quantifies the desulfurization during calcination as a function of the green coke sulfur content and the degree of calcination. The effect on other coke physical properties is presented based on data from actual calciner runs. As desulfurization increases, physical properties can be more dramatically affected by changes in calcination. Therefore, calciner optimization of process variables has become more influential in selecting calcination level. This has resulted in calcined coke production with improved physical properties.