ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a description of the distillation processes that are applied to a feedstock in a refinery which remove the volatile constituents with the concurrent production of a residuum that can be used as a cracking (coking) feedstock or as a precursor to asphalt. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to provide information that will assist the practicing engineer/crude oil refiner to (1) determine if a particular thermal cracking process would be suitable for a specific application and could fit into the overall operation, (2) develop a basic design for a thermal cracking process, and (3) operate an existing or proposed process.
