During oil processing, heavier products are broken down by high temperatures into lighter products in cokers. This “cracking” process strips off lighter liquid hydrocarbon products such as naphtha and gas oils, leaving heavier coke behind. The challenge that CSIRO Minerals has been helping Syncrude resolve is how to best reduce coke deposits that build-up in their fluid coker stripper while maintaining or improving hydrocarbon stripping.

CSIRO is Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, one of the world's largest and most diverse scientific global research organizations. Syncrude Canada Ltd. is the world's largest producer of crude oil from oil sands and the largest single source producer in Canada.

CSIRO Minerals is a long time user of CFX and in collaboration with the Clean Power from Lignite CRC developed the fluidized bed model in CFX-4. CFX, because of its robust multiphase capability and its ability to be extended into new application areas, is used extensively by CSIRO Minerals in undertaking complex CFD modeling of multiphase, combustion and reacting processes in the mineral processing, chemical and petrochemical industries.