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Using traditional heat treatment equipment and procedures are commonplace among oil and gas contractors.
Although, the trickle-down effect of this reluctance by subcontractors to change and innovate lands at the EPC contract and facility owners’ feet in the form of budget and schedule overruns to project execution. Even more so on large scope component and vessel projects where the delay of one subcontractor can have pivotal impact to overall scope creep.
But what if there was a heat treatment tool that eliminated common stages in the process altogether? What if magnet integration to the traditional ceramic heating pad removed the need for pin mapping, installation, and removal which requires pre/post grinding, NDE (nondestructive test), and extensive quality management measures?
So, when PBF Energy’s Martinez Refinery, producer of 157,000 barrels per-day and one of the most complex refineries in the United States (Nelson Complexity Index of 16.1), put out an RFQ for onsite heat treatment applications for two coke drums during its 2021 DCU Maintenance Pit Stop Outage, Superheat knew it needed to provide one of its latest innovations to make the project an outstanding success.
With a reinvention of the traditional flexible ceramic pad heater using the integration of magnets, the Superheat MagneMat™ was born. Bobby Wilkes, field maintenance supervisor and key principle for PBF during the outage said, “Superheat used their new magnetic heaters, they were a huge success, and I was really impressed with the maneuverability.”
Cracks in coke drums are nothing new due to the nature of the temperatures, cyclic service and stresses involved. However, the efficiency in which the preheating application is set up in preparation for weld repair can have critical impacts on the overall parameters of the project.
PBF Energy’s Martinez Refinery required 35 preheat applications to support welding in accordance with ASME Section VIII Div 1 on two coke drums. The cumulative scope of the weld repair amounted to a total of 856.5 linear feet – no small task as each independent repair requires a custom setup with its own unique challenges.
The conventional approach to preheat setup for vertical weld repairs on coke drums requires a multitude of procedural steps, one being the need to secure flexible ceramic heating elements using a pin gun in collaboration with the appropriate banding techniques. This phase ensures the heating elements (heaters) do not shift during the heat treatment ramping phase and/or during the welding process.
However, the impact on schedule—thus cost associated with the pinning process—extends far beyond the heat treatment contractor because pre-vessel mapping, installation, and removal of pins requires pre/post grinding, NDE (nondestructive test), and extensive quality management measures. Superheat leaders and their desire to continually make improvements were interested if they could forgo those steps without sacrificing the quality of heater installation.
Over the course of several years, Superheat has invested significant research and development into magnet technology that will forever change the design and installation methods of flexible ceramic heating pads on large vessels and big bore piping.
Where others have failed, Superheat has put a priority on procurement research and testing of magnets in which their electromagnetic field are minimally affected by standard Preheat and PWHT temperature parameters, even when considering chrome applications. The integration of these magnets into the traditional heater has created the new Superheat MagneMat™, which eliminates the requirement for pins during the heater setup process entirely. The result of this advancement brings substantial budget and schedule savings to end users. To see the Superheat MagneMat™ in action, please watch the video below.
When considering the industry average setup for preheat application as it applied to PBF’s two coke drum repair scope, it was calculated that the Superheat MagneMats™ alleviated the need to attach, grind off, and inspect 540 pin locations (90 H-7 heaters x typically 6 pins/heater = 540, also not accounted for pins generally used to secure insulation). The discovery of this revolutionary change to heater setup not only reduced schedule attributed to heat treatment by up to 50 percent but cut overall fees related to NDE of each pin location.
When not used for heat treatment setup the Superheat MagneMat™ played a cross-functional roll in welder safety during through wall repairs on the interior drum. As preheat was only required on the exterior of the drum, internal weld areas were bare to the exposure of local heat. This made it difficult for welders to steady themselves against the structure to produce high-quality welds and posed a significant burn risk.
Superheat MagneMat™, with its ease of installation and unmatched maneuverability, gave welders the opportunity to efficiently place mats as protection in areas where they needed it most. Additionally, by simply providing this tool to welders Superheat didn’t interfere with their progress or working environments. Just another example where grinding, pins, and NDE were not necessary on the interior of the drum.
Jobsite footprint and the productivity of onsite labor are always critical factors when evaluating project efficiency. Superheat strives to do more with less and outfitted the Martinez refinery with five of its highest zone capacity consoles – the Superheat SmartPoint™ CN24. At a compact and portable size of just 45’’H x 25’’W x 25”D, the SmartPoint™ CN24 outputs a staggering 24 Control Zones and a mammoth 48 total thermocouple inputs. A capacity unmatched by the nearest provider, enabling Superheat to do more work and occupy less room on the job site. However, production can never overlook safety. The CN24 is the only heat treatment console engineered and certified to UL # 508A/CSA # C22 No.14-10 Standards, and coupled with the integration of the Superheat SmartPak™, creates industry’s only safety lock out capability directly at the weld location.
Onsite tasks are only half the story as Superheat’s patented process is dependent on communication technology and innovative software solutions that make Superheat SmartCenter™ the knowledge and control hub of the heat treatment process.
The SmartCenter™ and its technical engineering group provide knowledge and design expertise to field staff, outlining the optimal setup and tear down of heat treatment configurations. Once the setup of the preheat configuration at the Martinez Refinery was completed, highly trained control room operators in the SmartCenter™ then control SmartPoint™ consoles via a patented truly remote-operation process.
While the SmartCenter™ performed critical quality check aspects, Superheat technicians and project site management were able to remain focused on the safe and proficiency setup and tear-down of welds. This ensured onsite labor forces were optimized, and heat cycle quality was maximized. The schedule and rates saving because of field and Superheat SmartCenter™ staff working simultaneously had far-reaching impacts on the overall success of this project. Superheat SmartView™, a component within the overall patented solution, provided one source of truth to PBF regarding overall project data. More specifically, SmartView™ provided quantitative heat treatment information in real-time via any device.
From the palm of their hands, clients can now view live critical information from the SmartCenter™ pertaining to their weld running status, live heat treatment charts, as well as a multitude of other features.
When PBF conducted its 2021 DCU Pit Stop Outage Look Back meeting and reviewed the strengths and opportunity outcomes from the project, it was clear this outage was nothing short of an excellent success. Two key performance metrics listed during the look-back discussion were schedule and budget, the outcomes taken from the meeting summary notes can be found below:
Schedule: A day early
Budget: Significantly under budget. Two areas in which the use of MagneMats™ had a significant impact.
Field maintenance supervisor and main overseer on the project, Bobby Wilkes, also took the time during the Superheat customer satisfaction survey to say “Jim Valentino, Superheat site manager, was awesome, very transparent, and a good leader.” He also proceeded to rank all satisfaction categories and overall performance a score of “Superior.”
If you have questions or are interested in utilizing MagneMat™ technology on your next project, visit Superheat, call 1.888.508.3226 or email sales@superheat.com.
