ANK-400

Unprecedented Run Lengths

Ethylene producers have long been concerned with coke formation in cracking furnaces. More than 10 years in development, ANK 400 can address these concerns. NOVA Chemicals, Canada’s largest ethylene producer, developed this proprietary technology using metallurgy from Kubota, who is now marketing ANK 400 to the ethylene industry.

ANK 400 achieves unprecedented furnace run lengths by lowering coke formation. The key to coke reduction is an inert, nanocrystalline spinel surface, which has proven to reduce both catalytic and pyrolytic coking. This novel surface chemistry had increased run lengths by more than 10 times in multiple ethane crackers at NOVA’s E1 and E2 plants in Joffre, Alberta.

The benefits of reduced cokemake are many. First and foremost, reduced downtime is directly proportional to additional tonnes of ethylene per year. This higher furnace availability can replace a more expensive debottleneck, or simply reduce overall maintenance costs.

Higher heat transfer, lower tube metal temperatures, and reduced pressure drop in the coil have also been observed. The unique inner wall surface chemistry of ANK 400, not only reduces coke formation in the cracking tubes, but also down stream, in the transfer line or primary quench exchangers. The coke which forms in ANK 400 furnaces is dense and uniform, and does not cause fouling in these critical areas, greatly improving furnace reliability while reducing maintenance costs. Sulphur additions have also been lowered due to reduced overall coke formation.

Combination with the Flow Mixing Feature: