The complexity of gas and oil pipelines has not substantially changed, but the demands for pipeline cleaning and de-scaling have. Millions of dollars are at stake in lost production time and equipment costs if pipelines have to be dismantled to be cleaned.
The key for pipeline cleaning and specialist companies such as Tube Tech International, is the ability to bring innovative thought to problems that have always bedeviled the petrochemical industry. Indeed, the company's reputation is growing rapidly on the back of the proposal that won it a three-year contract with Nigeria LNG Ltd (NLNG).1
Problems at the gas processing plant in the West African state, which opened in 1999, were classified as 'uncleanable'. Condenser, heat exchanger tubes, and pipelines had become seriously contaminated by deposit, and millions of dollars in new equipment and downtime were at stake if the complex system had to be dismantled.
Tube Tech won the initial pipeline cleaning and de-scaling contract on three grounds:
* A pledge that production loss would be minimal because none of the pipelines would need to be cut
* Work in Nigeria could start within two weeks
* Regardless of dimension ( 2 - 36 in) deposit could be cleaned
Work began immediately at the company's headquarters in Essex , England , focusing on the logistics on getting 32 multi-disciplined operatives and 46 t of cleaning and de-scaling equipment on site at Bonny Island as soon as possible.
Project planning was also started, involving 12km of pipeline and 60,000 heat exchanger tubes. With a convolution of bends and 'T-offs in a maze of differing diameters of pipe work, there was no 'one size fits all' cure. In the event, the project team came up with a combination of 12 techniques to clear highly stubborn scale and blockages.
An airborne assault was organized, and 3 cargo aircraft of equipment were off- loaded in Nigeria just 2 weeks after the initial site visit. Working continuous day and night shifts in frequently extreme weather conditions the teams completed the cleaning and integrity inspection three times faster than the nearest competing estimate.
The plant was quickly restored to full production using 12 techniques. The first cleaning system was a novel 'mini pig', only 150mm in length and conforming to the tube internal diameter. Propelled by water, the rotating blades only extended as far as the tube diameter and not beyond, thereby avoiding any damage.
The middle third of the dart houses a rotating bladed turbine, and with a water pressure of 500 psi, these blades (emulating the turbine blades on an aircraft engine) are forced to rotate at a speed of approximately 4000rpm.
In this instance, the scale causing the blockage consisted of calcium and iron oxide product. The rotating blades remove impeding scale in their path at a travel rate averaging out at approximately 2 m/s. using this method, pipe work can be cleaned in a matter of hours rather than days.
This particular turbine blade is entirely bespoke and manufactured by hand in materials that can be ferrous or non-ferrous. Tube Tech has a wide range of Dartts(TM) to suit diameters ranging from 10mm to one metre.
A second system used at Bonny Island was a traditional, automated high-pressure water-jetting lance, but this was modified by Tube Tech to create a new, more effective, method for the smaller pipes. Its engineers adapted this system by modifying the traditional high pressure jetting hose system, which normally reaches a maximum pipe length of 400m, so that it can extend as far as 2km.
A further 10 systems were also mobilised, thereby avoiding the worst case scenario of substantial downtime at Bonny Island and the vast financial impact that would be implicit.
There was also a considerable amount of pipe work that was deemed 'un-pigable' by the client, but it too required cleaning and de-scaling as part of the contract.
Cutting is costly
The only solution option proffered by many experts at that time was either to fill the entire arterial network of pipe with acid or to cut into the pipeline and pressure jet.
However, along with this option came environmental implications and costs. There were also considerable safety issues, as well as the cost of cutting the pipe open at various points.
Tube Tech went ahead with an environmentally sound solution using non-standard pigging. The volume of scale built up in the pipeline was such that it needed to be cleaned over the whole surface area, or the flow rate would have been compromised. The result was that more than 40 t of iron oxide and calcium water scale was removed using a variety of innovative pigging processes and types, including:
o Pigs that could be inserted into a 25mm aperture and inflated to match the given pipe diameter.
o Bi-directional pigs adapted with pressure bypass valves so that, in the event of sticking due to the volume of deposits ahead, the increased water back pressure would engage a solenoid in the nose of the pig, turning it into a pressure-jetting nozzle.
o Pigs fired with a guide wire attached so they could be retracted
o A biodegradable pig was developed to break down at the end of a potential dead-end run. This would have negated the need to cut into the pipe, as well as alleviating any risk of losing it. This particular pigging solution had been developed prior to the project.
Once the pipeline cleaning and de-scaling work had been completed. Tube Tech also put both closed circuit TV and wall thickness integrity assessment inspection equipment into action. This enabled technicians to inspect the wall thickness of the pipes electronically rather than by using expensive intelligent pigging.
The competition
While there are many pipeline cleaning systems available from global sources, with every successful contract Tube Tech has frequently found the basic equipment to be inadequate for dealing with the problems specific to each contract.
It is client's increased dislike of the environmentally unsound chemical route and the costly cutting method that has led to the development of bespoke solutions by the research team. With this 'applied innovation' in conjunction with an in-depth study of the system, the company has changed the rules of pigging and exchanger cleaning by inventing new pigs and tube cleaning processes.
In the case of the Nigeria contract, the client approached a number of other companies, but none were able to offer more than three cleaning techniques involving either acid cleaning, cutting into the pipeline or high volume water jetting. Tube Tech's involvement came through the recommendation of Shell Global Solutions International (SGSI). Without using any of these options, Tube Tech was armed with 12 techniques tailored to the varying consistencies and volumes facing them. The loss of efficiency translated quickly into financial loss, which was why the client was looking for a fast, effective cure.
The reward for restoring production to 100% was the three-year contract for further work. This has included advice on fouling mitigation procedures to prevent further scale blockages, particularly with the introduction of vital measures for sound quality water treatment.
While pipeline blockages are eminently treatable with expertise, there is a cause for a rethink on several fronts where prevention is better than cure. Process pipelines are not often manufactured with a view to cleanability. Tube Tech can offer end users and plant fabricators proven advice on how to modify them so that, rather than fighting fires are serious problems arise, a rethink at the manufacturing stage can tackle the root causes of scaling and blockages to out-engineer the problem.
Seeking for Singapore chemical cleaning services? Visit us today over this URL.A marketing article by Dougles Chan - Search Engine Guru - One of the best SEO companies in Singapore and globally. Contact Dougles Chan @ +(65) 9388 0851 or email to dc@dougleschan.com for more information on how to make your website to be the top in Google.The key for pipeline cleaning and specialist companies such as Tube Tech International, is the ability to bring innovative thought to problems that have always bedeviled the petrochemical industry. Indeed, the company's reputation is growing rapidly on the back of the proposal that won it a three-year contract with Nigeria LNG Ltd (NLNG).1
Problems at the gas processing plant in the West African state, which opened in 1999, were classified as 'uncleanable'. Condenser, heat exchanger tubes, and pipelines had become seriously contaminated by deposit, and millions of dollars in new equipment and downtime were at stake if the complex system had to be dismantled.
Tube Tech won the initial pipeline cleaning and de-scaling contract on three grounds:
* A pledge that production loss would be minimal because none of the pipelines would need to be cut
* Work in Nigeria could start within two weeks
* Regardless of dimension ( 2 - 36 in) deposit could be cleaned
Work began immediately at the company's headquarters in Essex , England , focusing on the logistics on getting 32 multi-disciplined operatives and 46 t of cleaning and de-scaling equipment on site at Bonny Island as soon as possible.
Project planning was also started, involving 12km of pipeline and 60,000 heat exchanger tubes. With a convolution of bends and 'T-offs in a maze of differing diameters of pipe work, there was no 'one size fits all' cure. In the event, the project team came up with a combination of 12 techniques to clear highly stubborn scale and blockages.
An airborne assault was organized, and 3 cargo aircraft of equipment were off- loaded in Nigeria just 2 weeks after the initial site visit. Working continuous day and night shifts in frequently extreme weather conditions the teams completed the cleaning and integrity inspection three times faster than the nearest competing estimate.
The plant was quickly restored to full production using 12 techniques. The first cleaning system was a novel 'mini pig', only 150mm in length and conforming to the tube internal diameter. Propelled by water, the rotating blades only extended as far as the tube diameter and not beyond, thereby avoiding any damage.
The middle third of the dart houses a rotating bladed turbine, and with a water pressure of 500 psi, these blades (emulating the turbine blades on an aircraft engine) are forced to rotate at a speed of approximately 4000rpm.
In this instance, the scale causing the blockage consisted of calcium and iron oxide product. The rotating blades remove impeding scale in their path at a travel rate averaging out at approximately 2 m/s. using this method, pipe work can be cleaned in a matter of hours rather than days.
This particular turbine blade is entirely bespoke and manufactured by hand in materials that can be ferrous or non-ferrous. Tube Tech has a wide range of Dartts(TM) to suit diameters ranging from 10mm to one metre.
A second system used at Bonny Island was a traditional, automated high-pressure water-jetting lance, but this was modified by Tube Tech to create a new, more effective, method for the smaller pipes. Its engineers adapted this system by modifying the traditional high pressure jetting hose system, which normally reaches a maximum pipe length of 400m, so that it can extend as far as 2km.
A further 10 systems were also mobilised, thereby avoiding the worst case scenario of substantial downtime at Bonny Island and the vast financial impact that would be implicit.
There was also a considerable amount of pipe work that was deemed 'un-pigable' by the client, but it too required cleaning and de-scaling as part of the contract.
Cutting is costly
The only solution option proffered by many experts at that time was either to fill the entire arterial network of pipe with acid or to cut into the pipeline and pressure jet.
However, along with this option came environmental implications and costs. There were also considerable safety issues, as well as the cost of cutting the pipe open at various points.
Tube Tech went ahead with an environmentally sound solution using non-standard pigging. The volume of scale built up in the pipeline was such that it needed to be cleaned over the whole surface area, or the flow rate would have been compromised. The result was that more than 40 t of iron oxide and calcium water scale was removed using a variety of innovative pigging processes and types, including:
o Pigs that could be inserted into a 25mm aperture and inflated to match the given pipe diameter.
o Bi-directional pigs adapted with pressure bypass valves so that, in the event of sticking due to the volume of deposits ahead, the increased water back pressure would engage a solenoid in the nose of the pig, turning it into a pressure-jetting nozzle.
o Pigs fired with a guide wire attached so they could be retracted
o A biodegradable pig was developed to break down at the end of a potential dead-end run. This would have negated the need to cut into the pipe, as well as alleviating any risk of losing it. This particular pigging solution had been developed prior to the project.
Once the pipeline cleaning and de-scaling work had been completed. Tube Tech also put both closed circuit TV and wall thickness integrity assessment inspection equipment into action. This enabled technicians to inspect the wall thickness of the pipes electronically rather than by using expensive intelligent pigging.
The competition
While there are many pipeline cleaning systems available from global sources, with every successful contract Tube Tech has frequently found the basic equipment to be inadequate for dealing with the problems specific to each contract.
It is client's increased dislike of the environmentally unsound chemical route and the costly cutting method that has led to the development of bespoke solutions by the research team. With this 'applied innovation' in conjunction with an in-depth study of the system, the company has changed the rules of pigging and exchanger cleaning by inventing new pigs and tube cleaning processes.
In the case of the Nigeria contract, the client approached a number of other companies, but none were able to offer more than three cleaning techniques involving either acid cleaning, cutting into the pipeline or high volume water jetting. Tube Tech's involvement came through the recommendation of Shell Global Solutions International (SGSI). Without using any of these options, Tube Tech was armed with 12 techniques tailored to the varying consistencies and volumes facing them. The loss of efficiency translated quickly into financial loss, which was why the client was looking for a fast, effective cure.
The reward for restoring production to 100% was the three-year contract for further work. This has included advice on fouling mitigation procedures to prevent further scale blockages, particularly with the introduction of vital measures for sound quality water treatment.
While pipeline blockages are eminently treatable with expertise, there is a cause for a rethink on several fronts where prevention is better than cure. Process pipelines are not often manufactured with a view to cleanability. Tube Tech can offer end users and plant fabricators proven advice on how to modify them so that, rather than fighting fires are serious problems arise, a rethink at the manufacturing stage can tackle the root causes of scaling and blockages to out-engineer the problem.
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