Hot Refractory Repair Stops Daily Losses

Problem | Hot-Spot Discovery

A hot-spot was discovered on the transition shell ducting, from the radiant section to the convection section of the CCR Platformer. In some areas, external shell temperatures exceeded 560°C/ 1040°F.
After further investigation, it was determined that an internal refractory failure was the cause of these elevated shell temperatures. The existing ceramic fiber blanket failed and fell from the transition ceiling, leaving the internal shell exposed to hot flue gas.

PROBLEM

An internal refractory failure left the internal shell exposed to hot flue gas. As a result, the radiant temperature on the CCR platformer had to be decreased, causing production loss of over $400,000 per day.

SOLUTION

Cetek have successfully completed this repair online using Hot Refractory Repairs Baskets, with no additional impact to production.

Daily Production Losses

Plant operator used steam to cool the external shell to prevent immediate shell failure. Steam lines were only able to provide a maximum decrease of around 46°C/ 83°F on the exposed shell.

Due to the concern of overheating the shell to failure, the radiant temperature and production rate on the CCR Platformer had to be decreased, resulting in a loss of production of over $400,000 per day.

Rapid Success

Cetek has successfully completed this repair in four shifts, with no additional impact to production. A total of only 12 days elapsed from the discovery of the hotspot to the completed repair.

The shell temperature decreased by an average of 300°C/ 572°F. Production rates were then immediately allowed to return to full capacity.

Without this online repair, productivity would have had to be continually decreased until the next scheduled outage in four months’ time. The savings achieved from the application of Cetek’s Hot Refractory Repair compared to lost production are estimated at $40,000,000.

CATEGORIES:

Fired Heater
Hot-tek
Oil & Gas