Characterization of Sludge Deposits from Refineries and Gas Plants: Prerequisite Results Requirements to Facilitate Chemical Cleaning of the Particular Equipment
Table 2
The description of the sludge samples investigated in this study.
Sample
Sludge Deposits Collected from
Use of Sitepu and Zaidi (2017) [1] Method of Sample Preparation Procedures
Why the Phase Compositions are Required?
XRPD-A
Regeneration overhead acid gas condenser located at the low-pressure gas treating unit.
The deposits were treated with dichloromethane, and then filtered in the filtration assembly. The (i) insoluble part (i.e., inorganic materials or non-hydrocarbon) was analyzed by advanced XRD and Rietveld method; (ii) hydrocarbons (dichloromethane soluble part) was analyzed by GCMS.
The results assist the field engineers to identify the cause of the accumulated sludge deposits and provide corrective remedies.
XRPD-B XRPD-C
Water draw off pump’s suction strainer in a gas plant suction strainer for pumps, to determine the water recycle pump.
Knowing which phases were involved in the deposits can guide the field engineers and source of materials found XRPD-C in the suction strainer, and identify the root cause of the repetitive pumps trips.
Condenser tube side #1 Condenser #4 Condenser manway cover Inside vessel of inlet head Heat coiler tube Condenser #1 tubes Condenser #1 inlet head Condenser #4 tubes Condenser steam drum
Sulfur type of deposits were directly analyzed by the advanced XRD and Rietveld method without any pre-treatment.
Thick deposits of various types of mineral scales accumulated in the SRU process equipment can cause one of the major operational problems. The phase composition results can guide the engineers to overcome the problems by devising the right corrective procedures.
