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Oil Refinery In The Philippines Substantially Increases Preheater Energy Savings

USE CASE
INDUSTRY
Oil & Gas
LOCATION

Philippines

CAPACITY
416 000 bpd

About 6% of the energy content of each crude barrel processed in an oil refinery is used in the refinery itself, of which a large amount is in the crude distillation unit.

Heat Exchangers E-118A is the use case subject, and is susceptible to heavy shell-side (crude) fouling, causing hydraulic and thermal obstructions. Over six months, duty of the entire exchanger network would drop significantly from 3.8MW to only 2MW.

In 2012, the Process Team decided to implement USP Technology, an Ultrasonic Clean-In-Place system, to improve CDU intake and improve energy recovery.

Quick Outcomes

Heat Recovery Savings

Improvements in energy recovery and furnace efficiency led to savings of $790,000 (USD) in the first year with Ultrasonic CIP.

Preheat Feed Rate

Improvements in preheat throughput unlocked $700,000 (USD) in additional revenues in the first year with Ultrasonic CIP.

Energy Intensity Index

Our customer was able to improve their Solomon Energy Intensity Index by 0.7.

Is your process a candidate for Ultrasonic Clean-In-Place Technology?

Is your process a candidate for Ultrasonic Clean-In-Place Technology?

Fouled crude bundle E-118A before cleaning or applying USP.

BACKGROUND

The Decision to Implement Ultrasonic Clean-In-Place (CIP)

The preheat exchangers in our customer’s refinery are the workhorses of the Crude Distillation Unit, processing heavy opportunity crudes regularly.

Between 2009 and 2012, the refinery was cleaning their CDU preheat exchangers in situ every 10-12 months using high-pressure water and steam blasting.

The design duty of this heat exchanger network is 3.8 MW. After only 6 months, fouling in the train would reduce this metric to as low as 2 MW.

In 2012, the Process Team decided to implement an Ultrasonic Clean-In-Place solution on these preheaters to compare them to their counterparts running in parallel.

RESULTS

Reduce Heat Exchanger Fouling with Ultrasonic CIP

Ultrasonic Clean-In-Place (CIP) was able to generate substantial cost savings for this Asian Oil Major. Below is a graph collected by the refinery and provided to us that measures Duty (MW) and Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient (OHTC) of E-118 to that of a train in similar service.
By implementing USP Technology after their 2012 turnaround, we have helped our customer to achieve 4.53 MW duty, sustaining even two years after first installation. This customer continues to proliferate USP within their refinery today.
See how USP Technology can unlock new capabilities in your process

See how USP Technology can unlock new capabilities in your process