IR Thermography in Petrochemical Industry Application

1. A R R E L I C I N S I G H T
INFRARED
THERMOGRAPHY
O I L & G A S I N D U S T R Y
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2. I N S I G H T
OVERVIEW
A P P L I C A T I O N F O R O I L A N D G A S I N D U S T R Y
APT Infrared Thermography
plays a hugely important role
within the oil, petrochemical,
chemical, and power
generation industries. With the
current global energy crisis,
and the huge demand for
energy on the increase, these
energy-based industries must
continue to meet higher
volume demands while
endeavoring to reducing
operational costs and
preventing failures. Such
failures can lead to losses in
production which in turn can
cause massive monetary costs
as well as ongoing effects that
can be felt as far down as the
consumer. This webpage will
discuss the areas where APT
Infrared Thermography is used
within the petrochemical and
energy sectors such as
furnaces, generator cores, and
offshore oil and gas platforms

3. I N S I G H T
The petrochemical industry is a
fascinating, varied and challenging
industry in which to carry out the
many different types of
nondestructive testing and
predictive maintenance inspections.
Within any refinery complex there
numerous plants that carry out a
specific function and process; and
within each plant there is a
multitude of equipment from steam
powered, to hydraulic, electrical &
mechanical. There is
positive/negative pressurised
equipment and a varied amount of
exotic metals and alloys. The
terminology used to simplify this is
“the Balance of Plant”.
Experienced inspectors know, the
words “balance of plant” simply mean
you must be prepared to meet the
confusing and unexpected.
When we think of petrochemical
plants and operations we usually
think of an oil refinery; however, the
process of oil refining is undertaken
in multiple stages. There are
separate chemical plants within a
petrochemical refinery, and usually,
where there is a region of
petrochemical and hydrocarbon
activity, there are also other forms
of process or chemical plants such
as methanol, ammonia, etc.
INTRODUCTION
I N F R A R E D T H E R M O G R A P H Y I N T H E
P E T R O C H E M I C A L I N D U S T R Y

4. I N S I G H T
OIL & GAS
OFFSHORE
PLATFORMS
Before any oil can be refined or any
gas can be used to run power
generation turbines, it must be
retrieved from deep below the
ground. In the offshore environment
this usually means drilling wells and
maintaining and managing them via
an offshore platform. Once the wells
have been drilled and the flow of gas
and oil is harnessed and controlled,
the offshore process is relatively
simple in concept.
A platform’s main function is to
retrieve the gas and oil from the
wells, whilst controlling the flow,
separating the solids, liquids and
gases, and thereafter distributing
the needed products whether it be
oil or gas via usually via the
undersea pipelines to the mainland.

5. I N S I G H T
Undertaking APT Infrared Thermography on an offshore platform can
be on standard equipment such as electrical switchgear and pumps.
However materials coming up from the wells can cause detrimental
erosion problems to the pipelines, valves, and vessels. One of the most
common ways of monitoring sand etc is via ultrasonic sensors
mounted at strategic locations on flow lines. Unfortunately, like all
technologies, these ultrasonic sensors do have their limitations. An
effective means of monitoring sand being carried up from the wells is
by conducting a thermographic survey of the separator vessels.
The main function of an offshore separator is to quickly separate
sand, water, oil, and gas. We know that out of these four materials,
sand sinks in water while oil floats, and gas is light and cold and will
remain on top. Also, each of these materials has a very different
thermal capacitance and conductivity making it possible to use APT
Infrared Thermography to locate and highlight the relative levels of
solids and fluids.
Using thermal images we can distinctively differentiate between the
layers of sand, water, oil, and gas. We can even see the sand’s flow
pattern through the outlet nozzles, which can help to determine
which valves will be more affected by the erosive power of sand.
Our APT Infrared Thermography engineers undertaking
thermographic surveys for separator sediment levels have a firm
understanding of fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and erosion
mechanisms, along with a good understanding of heat transfer,
emittance, and reflectance. With this knowledge our APT Infrared
Thermography engineers are qualified to make accurate diagnoses
which in turn leads to proper, cost-effective means of minimizing the
problems or, hopefully, eliminating the problems. It may be something
as simple as packing gravel/stone in the well to reduce the flow of
sand, thus alleviating the overall mass travel of sand and as a result
reducing the wear on valves etc.

6. I N S I G H T
Power Generation Plants
Pressure, heat, and natural gas are
used to spin gas turbines, which in
turn spin the generators; this
generates electrical power through
electromagnetism. Within the
turbine section, heat leaks can be
found at the gas seal areas of a
turbine. This inspection can be
carried out online.
Gas Turbines and Heat Leakage
The generator section contains a
stator and rotor. Both can be
inspected with APT Infrared
Thermography, however the
generator needs to be offline and
disassembled. Stator cores are made
of iron bars which contain many
small thin plates called laminations.
Both the stator and rotor can be
inspected with APT Infrared
Thermography by wrapping several
coils with insulated cables along the
axis of the stator.
Pumping from Sea to Land
Once the platforms are operational
and are producing, there are usually
two main products that are sent to
two different places. The crude oil is
generally piped via undersea
pipelines to large holding tanks for
further refining. A common
application of APT Infrared
Thermography at this stage is
monitoring holding tank levels.
Holding Tanks
The natural gas is pumped through
miles of pipelines to its main
destination which is usually a power
generation plant. Some plants use
fuel oil instead of natural gas to
generate power by steam generation
via boilers, however for now we will
leave the focus storage tanks and
focus on the much faster moving
natural gas.

7. I N S I G H T
Insulation Damage to Water Tune
Another use for natural gas within a
chemical plant is to produce
hydrogen through a process called
reforming. Natural gas is sent into
many catalyst-filled tubes within a
reformer furnace and is mixed with
the steam generated by the boilers.
The reformer furnace is heated via
many burners that usually use
natural gas as their fuel. This heat
creates a catalytic reaction that
produces hydrogen from the natural
gas and steam.Infrared
Thermography is undertaken on
reformer furnaces in a similar way to
boiler and heater inspections.
Thermographic surveys can highlight
insufficient insulation. Cold liquefied
natural gas inside the tank and warm
air outside the tank caused
condensation to form throughout the
tank’s external shell and domed roof.
This condensation problem along
with the sea breeze hitting the tank
carries over microorganisms from
the sea and air. The damp and warm
conditions allow these
microorganisms to thrive on the
concrete shell and steel dome of the
tank, resulting in mold and algae
growth. In turn Mold and algae love
to corrode steel, which leads to
external corrosion and pitting of the
steel dome of the holding tank.
Generator stator core
This inspection is to locate potential
shorts within the many laminations
that make up the entire core. Shorts
in laminations can cause large
temperature rises which will
ultimately lead to a stator or rotor
burn out.
Incoming and Receiving Stations
Once the power reaches the
petrochemical plants, it is stepped
down via transformers and then
distributed to various switchgear,
and distribution panels. It is this
area where APT Infrared
Thermography would perform their
thermographic survey.
A Smoothly Flowing Plant
Much of the power distribution
within petrochemical plants goes
towards driving motors, pumps and
compressors. This rotating
equipment is vital to a plant’s
operation and can be thought of as a
plant’s heart whose job it is to pump,
compress, pressurize, and cool down
the various fluids that maintain the
plant’s production. APT Infrared
Thermography inspection of rotating
equipment is very common.

8. I N S I G H T
Conclusion
It is now common knowledge that APT Infrared Thermography plays a large part of fault
diagonsics within the within all aspects of the chemical and petrochemical industry.
Not only to monitor live equipment conditions but also to help identify design, repair, and
construction oversights. Although these are some of the more common applications for APT
Infrared Thermography within these plants, there are many more uses and applications.
Many of the thermographic applications carried out within chemical and petrochemical
plants are very challenging and require a solid understanding of plant equipment, processes,
and heat transfer physics in order to properly identify and diagnose problems and conditions.

9. ABOUT ARRELIC
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