| Customer | PCK Raffinerie GmbH, Schwedt/Oder |
| Sector | Petrochemicals |
| Industry | Energy |
| Website | www.pck.de |
Issue
According to the Industrial Safety Regulation, refineries undergo a thorough revision every five or, in exceptional cases, seven years. This not only serves as a general system check and for increased safety, but also improves efficiency. Deposits in the columns impair the quality and yield of finished products – for energy-intensive processes such as crude oil distillation, the cost and also savings potential is not insignificant.
Challenge
An enormous effort is involved. It is not uncommon that several thousand employees from more than 100 revision service providers are tasked with the project over a period of weeks. Furthermore, shutting down the crude oil supply incurs considerable downtime costs. Especially if individual work steps cannot be completed as planned and the revision must be interrupted. Precisely because of this, the time factor accumulates to become a decisive cost driver.
Analysis
At PCK, the EXTRACTOR K401 column in the AROSOLVAN system was to be cleaned during the revision. Large quantities of surfactants are used to clean the extractor in the 300,000 litre system. These are circulated through the system at high temperature for a considerable period of time. Caramba was involved in the planning one year before the revision was due to start and developed a more powerful cleaning agent together with the refiner within this period. Caramba anticipated a relevant potential for optimisation both in terms of the retention time of the cleaning solution and the cleaning result in the entire column.
Best advice
During this period Caramba, in close cooperation with its own research and development department and PCK Raffinerie GmbH, developed a tailor-made cleaning agent specifically for use in the mixer-settler column. The MSK cleaner was added to the system in a volume of 30,000 litres. The system was additionally filled with water and ramped up to 80°C to clean it. The system was flushed by means of circulation over a period of 29 hours. Subsequently, the wash solution was drained and disposed of according to regulations.
Caramba effect
Use of Caramba MSK Cleaner enabled complete removal of all deposits and residues in the extractor column within the calculated time frame. The revision work was completed in less time than anticipated and the performance and efficiency of the system were restored to the original status of when the system was first commissioned.
Product used
MSK Cleaner
- Powerful cleaning agent specifically for refineries
- pH value (conc.): approx. 12.0
Area of application
MSK Cleaner from Caramba was specifically developed for efficient cleaning of refinery systems and is optimally adapted for mixer-settler columns.
Customer feedback
Peter Schulze
PCK Raffinerie GmbH
Production Manager Aromizer/Hydrogen Plant
+49 33 32 46 – 39 65
„The prerequisite for stable benzene and toluene production in the Arosolvan system is that the extractor K401 (mixer-settler) can absorb and separate the maximum quantity required. The drop in aromatics production recorded over the last 10 years was due to residues deposited during the extraction step. The K401 extractor was particularly affected as it contains chips that cannot be removed to be cleaned or replaced. We needed a cleaner to flush the K401 extractor column to remove the contamination and, thus, to improve the separation efficiency. With Caramba, we have found a strong partner who developed exactly the right product for our needs. The performance of the system now corresponds to the original status of when the system was first commissioned. This is a great result for all of us, thanks to Caramba.“
Responsible person at Caramba
„Everything is tightly scheduled during a shutdown, so in addition to selecting the right product, precise coordination of the logistics and service providers was a challenge which made for a really exciting project.“
„Ultimately, the PCK project was very exciting because we worked together in a team with our customers and developed something new.“
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