Pumps, valves, filters and heat exchangers. What do they have in common? They are critical to the throughput of all process plants around the globe. So what happens when they become fouled with heavy contaminants? Hydroblast them? Chemical clean them? Dispose of them and replace them as they can’t be cleaned effectively?
This critical process equipment causes a multitude of headaches at refineries, petrochemical plants and chemical production facilities when it becomes fouled with hydrocarbon byproducts or scale buildup. So what is the best solution to remove this fouling and have the equipment back into operation cleaner, faster and safer? Tech Sonic International’s engineered ultrasonic solutions reduce costly downtime and improve plant performance by way of their submersion vessels, where equipment can be cleaned at a pace that is unrivaled. How? The powerful sound waves created within these vessels act as micro “scrub brushes,” removing surface fouling from any and all metals and components.
Whether cleaning a hairpin bundle or a valve that no longer needs to be disassembled to be returned in “like-new” fashion, Tech Sonic’s submersion technologies safely remove fouling and capture all of the waste, eliminating costly cleanup. Water and wastewater creation is reduced by over 90 percent, and safety is improved as technology cleans as opposed to manpower. Equipment efficiency is greatly improved as empirical data proves cleaning effectiveness is +90 percent versus +70 percent using conventional applications. And all of this comes at a greatly reduced overall cost when addressing major project work or ongoing maintenance.
Tech Sonic has developed, according to industry experts, “game changing” solutions in the decontamination and cleaning field. The power of the Tech Sonic applications is their abilities to reach areas conventional cleaning applications can’t reach due to the limitations of water streams and chemical flow. These powerful applications decontaminate the internal and external surfaces of the component being addressed, enhancing cleaning times and efficacy.
How it works
Think of Tech Sonic’s ultrasonic applications as a vessel filled with microscopic scrub brushes, scrubbing away the fouling and contamination that is negatively affecting the performance of critical process equipment. The scrub brushes, being the ultrasonics, remove the fouling, and the specially designed chemistries in the Tech Sonic vessel hold this fouling in suspension away from the equipment being cleaned. The scrub brushes are created by the cavitation process, whereby positive and negative pressure waves that generate microscopic bubbles form on all surfaces throughout the component being cleaned. These are no ordinary bubbles, releasing energy through an implosion near the surface being cleaned. When they implode, they formulate a high-speed jet of liquid that impacts the surfaces of the component at extremely high pressures and temperatures. This dynamic action separates the contaminants from all surfaces without any damage to the component.
This micro-jet impact combined with specialized ultrasonic solutions removes bitumen, heavy oils, greases, calcification and other refinery byproducts faster and more thoroughly than conventional methods of power washing, steam, manual scrubbing and chemical dip tanks.
Foundations of Tech Sonic
What separates Tech Sonic from the competition and makes its cleaning technologies superior to others? There are six foundations of Tech Sonic. Each foundation demonstrates no matter the challenge Tech Sonic is the choice for your site requirements.
1. CLEANER. Tech Sonic’s technology has proven to clean critical process items, including pumps, valves, filters and especially heat exchangers at the highest level achievable. This is based on documented performance reports from multiple projects. So what is the value of this cleaner exchanger? In the case of a major refinery in North America, the result was $4.2 million in energy savings from a more efficient exchanger block. Did the refinery pay more for Tech Sonic’s services than traditional services? Actually, no! Its return on investment was over 14-to-1, which has led to the refinery applying Tech Sonic applications for all critical process cleaning requirements in turnarounds and outages.
2. FASTER. Tech Sonic’s technology will clean faster than conventional applications and in some cases will be the only cleaning application that will work to remove the fouling. In documented reports from multiple sites globally, process items such as heat exchangers, pumps, valves, filters, etc. have been cleaned in half the time. This will make a material difference in equipment being returned to operational readiness faster. What is the value to the plant? Plain and simple, it directly relates to operational uptime versus downtime and what throughput is obtained versus conventional means. In the case of one of Tech Sonic’s clients, that throughput enhancement was 40 percent, a return on investment of over 187-to-1. This is based on the fact the plant could push through a substantial gain in production with a moderate investment in a Tech Sonic application. The plant used conventional applications for years and could not achieve anywhere near these results.
3. GREENER. The use of Tech Sonic applications will generate a massive savings in water usage and wastewater creation versus conventional applications. In documented cases, water savings were in excess of 90 percent at a plant in North America and more than 86 percent at a petrochemical facility in Europe, creating savings ranging from $750,000 to $5 million. The return on investment from environmental savings alone for the North American refinery was over 13-to-1 and for the European petrochemical plant was 5-to-1.
4. MORE RELIABLE. Tech Sonic applications are nondestructive/abrasive by design versus conventional cleaning applications, which are abrasive by nature. When it comes to the longevity of process equipment, how much is it worth to the plant and the process engineers to have equipment in place, operational and more efficient for longer periods of time? How many replacements of heat exchangers or other related process items can be deferred or canceled when the cleaning process is nondestructive and will erode the metallurgy of the item? One of Tech Sonic’s clients repurposed an exchanger destined for the scrap heap as no conventional application could clean it. Its return on investment for this exchanger alone was 10-to-1.
5. MORE THROUGHPUT. This is one of the most elemental differences among conventional cleaning applications and Tech Sonic applications. Based on the design of Tech Sonic’s patented ultrasonic applications, the company delivers to a site capacity by way of a large submersion bath that can clean everything you submerge into it. When timeframes become short, especially in a turnaround, Tech Sonic offers the ability to catch up and keep the project in scope by way of capacity. When product has to be turned around quickly due to an emergency or unforeseen event, Tech Sonic applications can deliver capacity to clean one, two or 10 or more items all at once — whatever can fit in the bath can be cleaned at that one time. Tech Sonic’s applications are not affected by manpower or the need for additional equipment to be deployed. They simply run 24/7/365, and whatever you can fit in the vessel will be cleaned at the same time. What is this worth to a plant? In the case of one major refinery, it cleaned over 700 valves plus 44 heat exchangers and related components in the span of 10 days total. The plant eliminated six sets of high-pressure water blasting equipment and over 60 personnel that would have been required. That would have been double the economic investment for the plant, let alone the safety exposure costs. Capacity is value, especially when applied from both maintenance and turnaround perspectives.
6. SAFER. Labor has been a substantial contributor to not only cost but also exposure to safety hazards. The more a technology can deliver with less manpower, the better an absolute target for all operating sites. In the case of Tech Sonic applications, the best of both worlds is met. Tech Sonic vessels operate with a maximum of two operators (only one is really required — the second operator is in place for backup) who can operate more than one Tech Sonic vessel at any one time. This reduces exposure for a labor workforce by up to 67 percent and greatly reduces labor costs in the process.
Bottom line
Tech Sonic gives the industry better-performing critical process equipment by way of a cleaning methodology that is faster, safer, greener and more cost effective. Tech Sonic continues to expand its reach around the globe driven by proven results. Period.
Locations
Tech Sonic has offices in Edmonton, Alberta; Toronto and Sarnia, Ontario; League City, Texas; and Denver.
For more information, visit http://techsonicint.com or call (289) 371-3999.
