Across refineries, delayed coker units (DCUs) are moving from operational bottlenecks to strategic margin levers. They are under growing pressure to deliver higher-value liquids, manage energy intensity, and operate reliably. All of this is happening amid feedstock variability, tight constraints, and shifting market economics.
While traditional control strategies help maintain stability, they struggle to deliver sustained, refinery-wide optimization in a unit as complex as the DCU. This challenge has driven increased adoption of Petro-SIM® digital twins and Dynamic Real-Time Optimization (RTO), deployed as part of closed-loop guidance systems. These systems continuously align operating decisions with economic and energy objectives.
This article explores: