Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

NOVA Chemicals is a leading manufacturer of chemicals and polymeric materials in Calgary, Alberta. Theyx000D
develop and manufacture materials for customers worldwide who produce consumer, industrial and packagingx000D
products. One of the techniques to produce industrial polymers in NOVA Chemicals is thermal cracking ofx000D
hydrocarbons.x000D
One of the challenges of NOVA Chemicals is the creation of coke material within the cracking reactors. Due tox000D
the very high operating temperature in the thermal cracking method (about 1000C), a coke layer is created onx000D
the internal surface of the cracking coils. This undesirably deposited material creates some difficulties such asx000D
decreasing the heat transfer from furnace surfaces to the processing gas and increasing the pressure drop acrossx000D
the coil. To remove the coke material, the production line should be stopped for decoking. Various methodsx000D
and techniques have been developed for reducing the coke generation; however, the formation of this unwantedx000D
material has remained inevitable. To optimize the processing condition for more efficient ethylene productionx000D
and less decoking, it is very crucial to investigate the thermal properties of the generated coke during thex000D
thermal cracking process in NOVA Chemicals reactors. With original Engage Grant, University of Calgaryx000D
(UCalgary) team has designed and fabricated a new thermal conductivity measurement system capable ofx000D
operating up to 1000C under inert gas environment. In addition, UCalgary team has demonstrated highx000D
temperature thermal conductivity measurements with coke samples provided by NOVA Chemicals. Now, thex000D
outcomes of original Engage Project allow us to further investigate various coke samples produced in NOVAx000D
Chemicals thermal cracking reactors and enable us to investigate thermal conductivity of coke samples as ax000D
function of porosity and compositions. Comprehensive understanding of thermal properties of various cokex000D
samples may give NOVA Chemicals good ideas how to optimize processing conditions of their thermalx000D
cracking reactors. Therefore this proposed study is very vital for the sponsoring company.