Fired Heaters, including Ethylene Furnaces, have the greatest running cost on your site. If any one of these heaters is 1 or 2% inefficient it can consume an additional $1m in fuel over a year or result in $millions in lost revenue.
IGS Ethylene Furnace Solutions deliver:
Tube Tech – Engineered Convection Section Cleaning
Hot-tek™ – Online Maintenance & Emergency Services:
High-Emissivity Ceramic Coatings for Refractory Surfaces
Cetek provides a distinct benefit in treating refractory surfaces with a high emissivity ceramic coating, increasing the radiant heat transfer inside Ethylene Furnaces over design. The coating increases refractory emissivity which results in fuel savings and an improvement in the uniformity of heat flux, which may provide an increase in run length between decoking operations.
The refractory linings of Ethylene Furnaces are designed for structural integrity and insulating properties, to contain the high processing temperatures.
The refractories used have relatively low emissivity and consequently are not efficient at handling radiant heat, which is the major heat exchange mechanism inside the furnace.
Cetek’s High Emissivity Ceramic Coating system increases the radiant heat transfer inside Ethylene Furnaces, delivering optimum performance and reducing CO2 and NOx emissions.
The Benefits
Engineered Convection Section Cleaning
Tube Tech’s Ethylene Furnace convection section cleaning service is recognised by world-leading refining and petrochemical companies as the most effective technology to achieve OEM performance clean fired heaters.
95% clean guarantee even on the most fouled assets
Fouling
Ethylene Cracking Furnace fouling is a costly problem for refineries around the world. Heater intake collects 1 ppm airborne particulate whilst in service, which results in deposits of 2.5 tonnes over 12 months either landing in or travelling through the heater.
These deposits most commonly land:
Fouling results in:
Tube Tech’s Ethylene Furnace convection section cleaning service is recognised by world-leading refining and petrochemical companies as the most effective technology to achieve OEM performance clean SMRs.
Traditional cleaning methods are only able to clean 30-45% of the total fouled area. Tube Tech, backed by multi-million-dollar European funding, has developed a Rover system that penetrates deep between tube rows to remove even the most stubborn fouling.
The Benefits
Read: Fired Heater Convection Bank Cleaned Robotically at German Refinery
Online Maintenance & Emergency Services (During the Heater’s Normal Operation)
Hot-tek™ is the industry leader in hot maintenance and online Ethylene Furnace repair and cleaning techniques and holds multiple patents on the approach, methods, and tools used to carry out these services. The approach is customized for every client’s needs. Often, multiple Hot-tek™ Services are employed simultaneously during an application to achieve the best results.
The Problem
Failure of refractory material can lead to energy wastage, poor performance and even complete shutdown of your Ethylene Furnace.
The Solution
Hot Refractory Repair Services may be made gaining access through the heater steel shell directly behind the damaged area. Minimal openings are used to insert specially designed components to support the repair material. This technique offers a semi-permanent repair method lasting at least until the next planned turnaround.
The Benefits
The Problem
Low steam production, low process pre-heat, and high stack temperatures are some of the symptoms of fouled tubes within a convection section.
Fouling results in:
The Solution
Hot Convection Cleaning process removes convection section tube fouling & scale during furnace operation. The tube cleaning process uses consumable abrasive media projected through specially designed application lances to blast away years of accumulation, while the heater is in service.
This emergency or intermediary solution prevents losses associated with taking the heater offline. However, we advise a Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) approach, and our Tube Tech service provides industry-leading offline cleaning services to prevent emergency cleaning situations.
The Benefits
The Problem
Sometimes, an issue can arise in high temperature fixed equipment, but you can’t see the cause or the exact location of the problem. We designed and developed Cetek’s Lancescope™ heater inspection tool for just this situation. It allows a high-temperature furnace inspection to be carried out to determine the scope of the problem, often avoiding an expensive shut down of the heater.
The Solution
Cetek’s Lancescope™ system provides real-time, close-up, or wide-angle views of virtually any area inside a fired heater, or other high-temperature equipment while it is still in operation.
The hot inspection service for fired heaters uses a state-of-the-art digital camera system, which provides clear, detailed images of problem areas up to 3000°F (1650°C). The furnace inspection system can be inserted into openings as small as 2.75” (7cm) and reach up to 30ft (10m). In applications below 1000°F (540°C), the heater inspection system provides illumination via a high-temperature light source for optimum clarity.
Thorough inspection provides data needed for other Hot-tek online services.
The Benefits
The Problem
Over time, debris such as ceramic fiber inorganic dust and combustion by-products entrained in the flue gas accumulate on the upstream face of the SCR catalyst. This debris hinders gas flow through the catalyst increasing the pressure drop across the SCR unit. To overcome this effect, the induced draft fan utilization must be increased consuming extra energy. After the fan has reached max capacity, production must be reduced to decrease the pressure drop across the SCR.
The Solution
IGS’ Hot Vacuum Service cleans catalyst banks in SCR units to Ethylene Furnaces and other fired heaters. SCR catalyst banks are cleaned during operation with no interruption to production, offering a rapid payback on associated costs.
Our online SCR catalyst cleaning service removes pluggage and fouling from SCR screens, immediately improving catalyst reduction system efficiency.
The Benefits
Read: ‘Hot Vacuuming Prevents Emergency Shutdown’ Case Study