"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

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 crude unit of today’s modern refinery is where it all starts.  Good, clean fractionation from the crude atmospheric and crude vacuum towers greatly impacts the operation of downstream units.

The wash bed in the Crude vacuum tower is one of those so-called evil necessities.  When it operates well, it does not seem to garner much attention but, when things go wrong challenges can occur.  The wash bed of the Crude vacuum tower is prone to coking/fouling due to the low liquid rates along with high vapour rates and high temperatures.  Generally, the wetting rate at the top of the wash bed is minimised to prevent high-value product loss, but lower wetting rates lead directly to coke formation in the bed.  The operating condition or the rate and severity of coking in the Crude vacuum tower wash bed is also one of the key variables determining the cycle time or run length between turnarounds.  So, the typical refiner works to balance the economics of product Heavy Vacuum Gas Oil (HVGO) recovery versus unscheduled or premature downtime to replace a coked bed. 

Marathon Petroleum Company LP’s (MPC) approach for operation of the vacuum tower wash bed is based on a novel approach.  MPC regards the packing in the wash bed as a consumable item.  The goal – fully consume the useful life of the packing by the end of the operating cycle to maximise operating profit, by maximising HVGO yield.  MPC uses Tracerco’s ThruVision™ technology to routinely monitor the wash bed density to help manage the wash bed useful life during the operating cycle.  The ThruVision™ technology provides a detailed density map at a specific vertical elevation that can pinpoint specific areas of liquid maldistribution or solids/liquid build-up. 

This case study shows the learning process over short operating cycles and an example of the operating stratagem to manage the operating life of the vacuum column wash bed over a multi-year operating cycle.

 CLICK HERE To download the full article that was published in the April 2017 issue of Hydrocarbon Engineering.

Topics: Gamma Scanning, Tru-Grid Scan, ThruVision scan, gamma scan, liquid distribution, quantitative analysis pack beds, PackView Analysis, monitor wash bed coking, tomography scan

Tru-Grid™ Scans reveal vital process information that helps solve operating problems.

 

A Tru-Grid™ Scan of packed towers is a reliable and widely used field measurement used for evaluating the hydraulic performance in packed beds, including the results from plugging / fouling or damage. When experiencing problems there are two important questions you would like answered:

 

1. Where is the fouling / plugging or damage?  

2. What is the extent of the hydraulic problem due to fouling or damage to the packing?

Gamma scanning has proven to be an essential measurement tool to supplement operating history data analysis. Process engineers and operations personnel need to know what is happening inside their process equipment so they can take corrective action. A Tru-Grid™ Scan provides a density profile of the internal process to diagnose hydraulic operating conditions such as damage to internals, flooding, liquid levels on trays and distributors, and liquid distribution through packed beds.

Performing Tru-Grid™ Scans before a scheduled shutdown can help capture real-time data to optimize your turnaround and reduce cost over-runs. Scan results will prepare those planning the turnaround activities with the knowledge needed for critical path decisions. Scans performed five to six weeks prior to a scheduled shutdown usually provides enough time to order new equipment without expediting charges and to schedule the required manpower. 

In this latest blog, Tracerco, part of Johnson Matthey Plc, discusses how an unexpected pressure surge affected the performance of an acid solvent recovery column.

Topics: Gamma Scanning, Tru-Grid Scan, gamma scan, packing mal-distribution, liquid distribution, quantitative analysis pack beds, PackView Analysis, packed bed towers, packed bed scan

Tracerco will be highlighting our latest technology and improved analysis, PackView™ for packed towers, at this year's AIChE 2017 Spring Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Topical 8 - Session: Kister Distillation Symposium 2017:

Distillation Troubleshooting and Controls: Lessons Learned 

 

Tracerco Presentation Details:

"Packed Bed Performance Analytics Based on Gamma Scans"

Wednesday March 29, 2017 8:05 am 

Room 302 AB, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center 

Mark your schedule to sit in on the paper "Packed Bed Performance Analytics Based on Gamma Scans" presented by Lowell Pless - Business Development Manager - Distillation Applications for Johnson Matthey - Tracerco. The presentation will provide actual case studies illustrating how this advanced analysis provides a new method of extracting quantitative information from gamma scan data to diagnose and characterize operation of distillation and separation towers. Read more about the the presentation in the following abstract that will provide an overview of what will be presented.

Topics: Gamma Scanning, Tru-Grid Scan, gamma scan, packing mal-distribution, liquid distribution, quantitative analysis pack beds, PackView Analysis