In an industry where shutdowns continue to be dictated by cleaning operations, Tube Tech International has received an overwhelming response to its fouling-eliminating robotic cleaning solutions, not least for the significant savings they deliver with minimal disruption to operations.
Globally renowned as a research-led innovator in downstream fouling removal, Tube Tech uniquely provides simultaneous cleaning and inspection services for static heat transfer equipment that have delivered savings from $100,000 a year per exchanger to project savings of many millions of dollars. With the cost advantages, reduction in downtime and CO2 emissions as well as improved safety standards, it comes as no surprise the company's unrivaled robotic, remote and in-situ services have been noticed across the U.S. Gulf Coast market, with even greater prospects for the region as Tube Tech sets up its new base of operations in Houston.
Tube Tech Vice President Christian Chanel, who will be leading Tube Tech's U.S. operations, said, "It's exciting to see the industry really embrace new fouling removal technologies and the wide-ranging benefits these have. As a company, we have continually invested in research and development for 30 years, so it is always rewarding to see this dedication really come to fruition for our clients.
"Until recently, the industry has relied on age-old cleaning services that have been practiced for decades, simply because it was the way things have routinely been done. But the reality is it is ineffective, resulting in poorer plant performance before calling for expensive emergency cleaning, not to mention the risks of going into critical path.
"What our evolved technologies allow for is successful, regular turnaround that negates the need for critical services. Not only are our services greater in productivity, operator safety and reducing downtime, but the cost and efficiency savings achieved by improved long-term plant performance and unit lifetime are too significant to be overlooked. Conventional methods just cannot compete."
Tube Tech's clients include global majors in oil and gas and petrochemicals, such as BP, ExxonMobil, Shell and Texaco, earning its reputation through a process of relentless innovation to respond to new challenges facing companies with fouled equipment.
The company is already making headway in efforts to pass on operational savings to customers from its new U.S. base, having recently announced an exclusive supply contract with Jetstream of Houston LLP, a leading supplier of water-blasting equipment in North America.
Chanel continued, "Having a dedicated U.S. operation allows us to be responsive to the needs of the industry and deliver on-theground solutions to our customers. Our alliance with Jetstream enhances our service portfolio with assured access to North America's leading pump equipment range. The supply partnership also enables us to pass logistical savings on to our customers for further competitive advantage.
"We are looking forward to extending our services across the Gulf Coast market and really appreciate the welcome response we have had from clients. I think the key factor here is that the results speak for themselves. The response to work we have carried out on Texas Towers across the world, with our ability to clean both the shell and tube side of the most fouled VCFEs (Vertical Combined Feed Exchangers) in record time, has been particularly overwhelming. We have no doubt that our robotic technology is the future for the industry."
Top five cleaning and inspection challenges
Chanel set out the top five cleaning and inspection challenges commonly faced around the world by the refining industry:
- No. 1: Fired heater convection cleaning.
Challenge: Fired heaters, furnaces or charge heaters cannot operate effectively when fouled, resulting in poor convection bank performance, increased stack temperatures and greater energy consumption.
Current cleaning techniques generally rely on a long hollow lance being fed through side access doors to deliver the cleaning medium, e.g., air, water jets, dry ice or chemicals; however, these can only clean what the operator can see or reach. This means only the top surface or underside of a single finned tube row is cleaned, representing barely 2 percent of the entire 2,500-square-meter surface area.
Solution: Tube Tech's unique robotic convection cleaning system ensures close to 100-percent surface contact on every finned or studded row in every bank, delivering proven energy and multimillion-dollar financial savings. The robot acts as a delivery vehicle using one or two lances, capable of delivering a wide range of cleaning media. It can either use one lance for cleaning and one for inspection, allowing inspection to follow immediately after to verify cleanliness without delay, or two lances for cleaning, resulting in twice the productivity per robot.
- No. 2: Texas Tower VCFE cleaning.
Challenge: The VCFE is one of a few heat transfer assets that often falls into the "out of sight, out of mind" category, but due to their criticality require cleaning every four years, especially when refineries expand or when there has been process carry-over such as catalyst or oil. Challenges faced by those cleaning VCFE/Texas Towers include fouling location, unknown fouling characteristics, accessibility, safety, associated costs and risks with pulling. It is important to use a contractor that guarantees they are cleaned on both sides (not just the tube side) and has the know-how to clean them in-situ or, if needed, to pull these mammoth heat exchangers quickly and safely.
Solution: Tube Tech International is the only company with an extensive suite of technologies and methods to clean and inspect all shell and tube Texas Towers as well as other floating head and welded exchangers in a fraction of the time achieved by traditional high-pressure waterblasting or chemical methods.
With the ability to clean both the shell and the tube side of the most fouled VCFEs across the world, Tube Tech is proud to be recognized by global oil majors as a leading VCFE cleaning authority.
- No. 3: Cleaning for internal rotary inspection system (IRIS) inspection.
Challenge: Many refinery operators and maintenance personnel will be familiar with the following:
-Cleaning contractor "cleans" heat exchanger ready for IRIS inspection.
-IRIS inspector is unable to inspect due to tubes not being clean enough.
-Cleaning contractor is called back to "re-clean" tubes to a higher standard.
-IRIS inspector is recalled to re-inspect tubes.
This scenario is happening time and time again in refineries across the world, and the financial impact is not only the cost of the cleaning contractor and the inspection company but also the additional downtime incurred.
Solution: Cleaning to a standard ready for IRIS inspection is categorized as "enhanced" cleaning at Tube Tech International, as the company appreciates how crucial it is to get tubes cleaned to IRIS standard the first time.
Tube Tech has a tube polishing method that now ensures cleaning standards for inspection are achieved the first time, every time, regardless of fouling levels -- especially useful for those refineries that wish to inspect 10 percent + IRIS. This avoids costly re-work and the removal of air-cooled condensers to ground for cleaning with ultra-high-pressure lances. Most importantly, it avoids going into critical path.
- No. 4: Twisted Tube™ Heat Exchanger cleaning.
Challenge: Increasing in popularity, Twisted Tube Heat Exchangers by Koch Heat Transfer Co. provide a higher heat transfer than many other types of tubular heat exchangers; however, they can be a challenge for traditional cleaning contractors. Both shell and tube side fouling on Twisted Tube Heat Exchangers is often seen as difficult to remove using either traditional high-pressure water jetting or chemicals.
Solution: Tube Tech has introduced a remote tube and shell side cleaning technology that provides 360-degree surface contact, removing all scale and blockages from deep within the tube bundle.
Micro Bore ShellJeTT™ removes deposits from the entire shell side spaces by penetrating deep into the center of the exchangers. The internally twisted tube bore is cleaned using a technology that expands during cleaning to the given diameter and tube twist configuration. Remote-control technology avoids hydraulic recoil, using bespoke cleaning heads for tube and shell sides.
- No. 5: External shell side heat exchanger cleaning.
Challenge: Removing process deposits where access is limited is a huge challenge for all refinery and petrochemical sectors, especially where fouling reduces heat transfer and production throughput.
Maintenance professionals and jetting contractors alike focus on removing deposits from inside the straight heat exchanger tube bores. Why? Simply because the external shell side tube surface of heat shell and tube exchangers is invariably inaccessible and therefore cannot be cleaned using traditional bundle blasting methods. Tube Tech recommends clients weigh their heat exchangers before and after cleaning. Anything over design weight "after cleaning" means fouling has not been removed and therefore energy and production losses will continue as the asset life continues to depreciate.
Solution: Tube Tech International has developed a unique heat exchanger cleaning process, ShellJeTT, that completely removes external tube surface fouling from any shell and tube heat exchanger with cleaning lanes as little as 4 mm. Clients can, for the first time ever, achieve near 100-percent heat exchanger cleanliness, greatly improving the transfer of heat, extending asset life, and achieving a quick and substantial return on investment (ROI). ShellJeTT works effectively alongside Tube Tech's CCTV (closed-circuit television) inspection system, BladeSpec™, for a combined cleaning and inspection solution that is unique to the market.
For more information, visit www.tubetech.com, or call (832) 286-1322 or (832) 286-1395.