Optimizing Desalter Performance is Just One of Tracerco's Specialties We Proudly Provide.

Desalter vessels are a refinery’s first line of defense to reduce the amount of unwanted salts present in the feed inventory. Prior to crude oil entering a refinery processing stream it undergoes a water washing stage where the water used during this process is separated using Desalter vessels. In these vessels the oil and water mixture separate from each other using gravity and high voltage coalescing plates. The water phase contains the washed salts as well as other suspended solids. Desalting and separation prevents water and salts from entering the crude unit furnaces, distillation towers and other downstream equipment. Salts, sediment, and other solids will foul the process and can undergo chemical change to produce corrosive chemicals that cause damage to process metallurgy. It is therefore important to efficiently separate wastewater from crude feedstock within the Desalter vessels.

Tracerco Tru-Scan™ technology provides you detailed data on where the oil/water interface level is, determines if there is a significant “rag” or emulsion layer or detects how many solids are built up in the bottom of the Desalter. In addition to performing these applications our advanced tracer studies are used to provide residence times of the oil and water phases and distribution within the vessel. Further to our scanning and tracer technologies that can aid plant personnel in optimizing your process, our award winning Tracerco Profiler™ HTX instrument provides accurate phase measurement including oil, emulsion (rag), water and solids/sludge in real time. The installation of the Tracerco Profiler™ HTX can eliminate unplanned Desalter shutdowns, reduce chemical usage, increase fluid throughput and provide the capability to handle more challenging crude blends.

Read more to learn how Tracerco helped our customer determine what was actually happening within their Desalter.

Topics: desalting, Flow distribution, desalter optimization, desalter, desalter maldistribution, distribution study

Tracerco Insight Vol. 8 Ed. 2 newsletter is now available.

The Tracerco Insight newsletter featuring some of our latest case studies illustrating how Tracerco was able to provide our customers the necessary data that allowed the operations staff to make informed decisions for troubleshooting and optimising their process. Read more to see what's inside the latest issue.

This issue contains the following articles:

• Optimizing Desalter Performance Is Just One of Tracerco's Specialties We Proudly Provide. 
• Crude Vacuum Tower Wash Bed Optimization.
• Application Note - ThruVision™
• Manage and Control Your Turnaround Costs to Avoid Possible Surprises.
• New Product Announcement: PED-ER and PED-ER+

Read more on how to download the latest issue.

Topics: nucleonic instrumentation, Tru-Scan, process diagnostics technologies, gamma scan, monitor wash bed coking, tracer technology, Tracer Study, catalyst bed wash, desalter optimization, wash bed optimization, manage turnaround costs, Depropanizer scan tray damage, desalter, Tracerco Profiler, crude vacuum tower, turnaround critical path project, pre-turnaround scans

 "Measure the Difficult to Measure"

2019 Innovative Process Diagnostics Symposium

May 21, 2019 in Deer Park, Texas, USA - 8:00 am - 3:30 pm

May 23, 2019 in Gonzales, Louisiana, USA - 8:00 am - 3:30 pm

Reserve your space today.

 

 

Tracerco is happy to announce that we have rescheduled our symposium "Measuring the Difficult to Measure" to be held in Deer Park, Texas and Gonzales, Louisiana. These new dates allow both our refining and petrochemical customers the ability to schedule their time to attend the symposium. Read more to learn about the topics of discussion.

Topics: solids buildup, exchangers, gamma scanning distillation columns, pipeline blockage, flare gas meter, Flow Study, fccu studies, flare flow measurement, fugitive flare flow, verify flow meters, flare flowrate data, flow rate calculations, Process Diagnostics Technology, tray fouling, gamma scan, fcc services, level detection devices, packing mal-distribution, liquid distribution, quantitative analysis pack beds, PackView Analysis, packed bed towers, packed bed scan, monitor wash bed coking, tomography scan, off spec product, online leak detection, chemical leak test, feed/effluent heat exchangers, exchanger bundle leak testing, Tracer Study, packed bed performance analytics, Damage to vessel internals, trayed tower, mass transfer diagnostics

Underestimating the time and resource required to correctly transport NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) or TENORM (Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material) during decommissioning could prove to be costly, not least because it is likely to cause delays in shipping. It is clear that there are many considerations required to managing the transport of NORM and TENORM. Consultation with experts at the very early stages will be essential and could lead to significant cost saving benefits.

Topics: Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material, NORM Detection, NORM, NORM Management, Decommissioning, Radiation Waste Adviser, TENORM, Radiation Protection, Radiation Protection Adviser

Topics: leaking exchangers, Liquid maldistribution, optimising plant production, Suspected maldistribution in packed beds, Flow Study, fcc diagnostics, flare system tracers, flare flow, excessive flare flow, fcc troubleshooting, fcc unit process, fluid catalytic cracking unit, fugitive flare flow, verify flow meters, flare lines, gas meter proving techniques, fcc services, coke drum, coker optimization, delayed coke drum, liquid distribution, tomography scan, off spec product, online leak detection, chemical leak test, feed/effluent heat exchangers, exchanger bundle leak testing, Tracer Study, density of liquid

Are you planning a scheduled turnaround and want to know the advantages of scanning before  and after your planned turnaround?

A Tru-Scan™ or Tru-Grid™ Scan will assist in defining and developing a turnaround critical path project scope at an early stage ensuring that your turnaround meets your goals. The most common use of gamma scans is to give process engineers and operations an online tool that results in understanding how a column is performing.  This data can be used in advance of a turnaround to identify tray or packing damage and other process problems without having to shut down the column for internal inspections. These results will fully prepare turnaround planners with the knowledge they need for critical path decisions that must be made prior to a shutdown. At other times the results from a Tru-Scan™ or Tru-Grid™ Scan can either justify an unscheduled shutdown or identify options that will enable a plant to continue operating until the next scheduled shutdown.   

Read more on how Tracerco scanning technologies can help to develop a plan for your turnaround planning.

Topics: Gamma Scanning, Liquid maldistribution, packed column, Packed Beds, Tru-Grid Scan, Suspected maldistribution in packed beds, turnaround schedules, turnarounds, turnaround planning, tray fouling, gamma scan, liquid distribution, quantitative analysis pack beds, PackView Analysis, packed bed towers, packed bed scan, packed bed performance analytics, density of liquid, fouling, critical path

Topics: Gamma Scanning, Liquid maldistribution, packed column, Packed Beds, Tru-Grid Scan, Suspected maldistribution in packed beds, tray fouling, gamma scan, liquid distribution, quantitative analysis pack beds, PackView Analysis, packed bed towers, packed bed scan, packed bed performance analytics, density of liquid, fouling

 

Advanced analytics introduce a numerical and easily understood approach to tower gamma scanning

Refinery and chemical plant operations depend heavily on distillation and separation towers. Tower gamma scanning is well established in the process industries as a qualitative tool to help troubleshoot towers. Advances in data analysis have lead to a quantitative approach in expressing gamma scan data in numerical terms easily understood by process and operations engineers. 

In a recent Tracerco article published by Petroleum Quarterly Technology (PTQ) magazine you will be able to read three example case studies of packed towers that will answer questions concerning the state of liquid distribution through the packed bed and illustrate how Tracerco's PackView™ analysis was developed to consistently analyse Tru-Grid™ Scan data to reach a conclusive result.

 CLICK HERE To read the full article (Page 69) published in the Q2 2018 Petroleum Quarterly Technology (PTQ) issue.

Topics: Gamma Scanning, Liquid maldistribution, packed column, Packed Beds, Tru-Grid Scan, Suspected maldistribution in packed beds, gamma scan, liquid distribution, quantitative analysis pack beds, PackView Analysis, packed bed towers, packed bed scan, packed bed performance analytics, density of liquid

The challenging conditions faced in today’s oil and gas market has increased the focus on cost effective, sustainable operations. Operators are faced with the decision of extending or ending offshore production asset life and pre-decommissioning planning has emerged as a key challenge for the industry. Mitigating uncertainty, enabling decision making and justification as to whether to end or extend asset life, as well as detailed knowledge of asset conditions is crucial. In this blog, we will discuss how a range of Diagnostics services can be used to provide this detailed knowledge throughout late life operations.

Topics: pipeline integrity, Flow assurance, chemical tracers, reservoir, reservoir characterisation, NORM, NORM Management, Decommissioning, Flooded Memeber Inspection, Subsea Inspection, Subsea Integrity, water inflow, inflow measurement, pipeline life extension

Tracerco Diagnostics™ Flow study and meter proving services

Determine the Volume and Value of Material Lost To The Flare

Flare flow measurement is a crucial activity in chemical plants and refineries with loss of process material to the flare costing millions of dollars each year in profits and environmental costs. Tracerco Diagnostics™ Flow studies performed through sections of the flare piping system detect and isolate sources of fugitive flow. Once it is determined which unit(s) are contributing to the flare flow, each valve can be individually tested to determine which is leaking.

This blog will cover a customer case study illustrating how our Tracerco Diagnostics™ Flow studies played a key role in their predictive maintenance and process optimisation and a link to our Tracerco newsletter featuring two additional case studies on our flow study and meter proving services.

 

 

Topics: flare gas flow meter, flare study, flare system tracers, flare gas flow measurement, excessive flare flow, fugitive flare flow, Tracer Study