Chemical and Mechanical Cleaning Case Study

Abstract This paper outlines a study to assess existing mechanical and chemical cleaning techniques in oil processing plants, natural gas liquid (NGL), and utility facilities. The cleaning assessment covered the major equipment at crude stabilization unit such as stabilizer columns, fin-fan coolers, reboilers, storage tanks, spheroids, NGL stripper/deethanizer columns, NGL reboilers, NGL coolers & Combinaires’ tubes, oily water sump pits (OWS), and steam boilers. The core objective of this study is to summarize the methodologies and results of the conventional cleaning methods and the alternative cleaning techniques; i.e. by developing a cleaning matrix to provide suitable cleaning guidelines for each piece of equipment. The benefit of the study is to improve personnel and plant safety, efficiency, reliability and minimize water and time used for cleaning. The new cleaning techniques have been proven to overcome the limitations of conventional cleaning methods, such as the inability to clean plugged off heat remove’s, tubes unnecessary, and the elimination of risk associated with the presence of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas and pyrophoric materials. Therefore, the alternative cleaning techniques proved to be viable to reduce equipment-cleaning time and to improve the safety during the turnaround and inspections. Also, those techniques proved to improve the overall equipment overall efficiency.