Downtime costs refineries millions annually, often due to inefficient cleaning of reactors, heat exchangers, alkylation units and piping.
Traditional cleaning methods leave behind hydrocarbons, pyrophoric materials, acid residues and other hazardous deposits, leading to longer turnarounds, increased labor costs, safety risks and compliance challenges. Whether it’s premaintenance cleaning, passivation or system decontamination, inefficient methods result in hidden costs that erode profitability.
ZymeFlow, a leader in decontamination and chemical cleaning solutions, offers its Reactive Chemistry Solutions service to streamline decontamination, minimize delays, enhance efficiency and improve plant-wide safety.
Unplanned downtime is one of the most expensive challenges refineries face, costing 50% more than planned maintenance. Depending on equipment complexity, each hour offline can cost between $100,000 and $1 million — a figure that escalates rapidly in large-scale refining operations.
Without a chemistry-driven approach, plants face frequent shutdowns, rising maintenance expenses and premature reactor failure — all of which threaten long-term profitability. Outdated cleaning methods, such as mechanical or highpressure washing, often fail to fully remove contaminants like residual hydrocarbons, pyrophoric materials and acid compounds. This results in incomplete decontamination, forcing multiple cleaning cycles, prolonging shutdowns, increasing labor costs and delaying production restarts.
Beyond inefficiency, these methods create serious safety hazards. Workers are exposed to toxic chemicals, flammable gases and confined-space risks, especially when excessive manual intervention is required. Inadequate cleaning can leave hazardous residues, leading to EPA and OSHA violations, multi-million-dollar fines and legal liabilities.
Mechanical and high-pressure cleaning can also erode reactor walls, heat exchangers, gaskets and seals, accelerating equipment degradation and increasing long-term maintenance costs. Fouling alone costs the U.S. refining sector an estimated $2 billion annually.
ZymeFlow offers a proven alternative to outdated techniques, ensuring effective chemical cleaning across reactors, heat exchangers, alkylation units, pipelines and other refinery systems, with advanced chemistries engineered to:
Maximize efficiency. Reduce cleaning time and minimize downtime, allowing refineries to restart operations sooner
Improve cleaning performance. Completely dissolve hydrocarbons, acid residues, pyrophoric materials and other contaminants, ensuring a complete clean
Work plant-wide. Applicable across the plant, on reactors, alkylation units, hydrotreaters, reformers, piping networks and more
Enhance safety. Reduce manual labor and worker exposure to hazardous environments
Ensure compliance. Eco-friendly, biodegradable chemistries that meet Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals, EPA and OSHA standards while minimizing environmental impact
ZymeFlow’s advanced cleaning technologies streamline decontamination, eliminating the need for multiple cycles and manual intervention. Its Vapour-Phase® Process fills entire systems with reactive vapors for deep, uniform cleaning, even in areas mechanical methods can’t reach. Liquid circulation methods ensure continuous chemical flow, breaking down contaminants in pipes, vessel walls, heat exchangers and internal components.
Tailored Reactive Chemistries dissolve hydrocarbons, pyrophoric materials and acid residues for thorough, fast and safe cleaning. These solutions minimize waste, cut disposal costs and support environmentally responsible operations. With ZymeFlow, refineries achieve superior decontamination, safer work environments and reduced downtime — all while improving efficiency.
For more information, visit zymeflow.com.
