Repar's new delayed coke unit (President Getúlio Vargas Refinery) in Araucária-PR will have decoking valves supplied by Deltavalve, a new representative of Fluxo. The contract was signed in March 2009 with the CCPR consortium, formed by the companies Camargo Corrêa and Promon Engenharia.
Delayed coking is a thermal conversion process that transforms heavy fractions of oil into higher value-added derivatives, such as LPG, naphtha, diesel and coke (a derivative used in the steel, cellulose and ceramics industries). The Repar unit, with four drums, will have a capacity of 5,000 m³/day and is scheduled to start in 2011.
The system consists of special 60" diameter slide gate valves for installation at the bottom of the drums and 36" diameter for the top, in addition to all automated hydraulic controls for alternating operation of the reactors. Deltaguard valves were chosen by Petrobras for their reliability and safety in extremely severe and highly dangerous services. Responsible for supporting the entire solid load of coke in the drums at high temperatures during the process, the system allows the flow of the product for decoking without any human exposure and with the safe operation of the unit.
The application of these valves represents a worldwide trend in refineries around the world, for which Deltavalve, a company of the Curtiss-Wright group, pioneer in coke products, has already supplied more than 400 units. At Petrobras, in addition to Repar, valves have already been supplied to Reduc, Revap, Replan and Rpbc. Now with Fluxo as a representative in Brazil, Deltavalve customers will have qualified local assistance for technical and commercial support.