Case History: Uses in a Gulf Coast Petrochemical Plant

To Verde:  We have used Micro-Blaze^® Emergency Liquid Spill Control [Micro-Blaze] in a variety of ways during the past year. I will try to briefly describe the uses we have found for Micro-Blaze, as well as some projects we will try it on in the future.

One of the main uses we have found for Micro-Blaze is for the cleaning of equipment. Prior to turning the equipment over to maintenance, the equipment must be decontaminated to remove any residual contaminants. By using Micro-Blaze, we have been able to clean equipment faster and more completely than in he past. The equipment we have tried Micro-Blaze in is towers, exchangers, lines and pumps.

Towers

When preparing towers for a turnaround, the tower has to be completely de-inventoried and washed. Depending on the composition of the material in the tower, this has taken anywhere from two to five days in the past. Standard procedures in the past have called for the towers to be washed with water and drained several times, steam the tower with 150-lb. steam, and wash again (sometimes using industrial soap). Even after all of this, the towers would sometimes show elevated levels of contaminants. When this happens, additional cleaning is required, and/or maintenance personnel are required to use some type of respiratory protection (i.e., half masks or supplied air respirators).

Beginning in the latter part of 1997, we began using Micro-Blaze in the wash portion of the tower cleaning. We tried using a standard eductor to proportion the Micro-Blaze into the towers at the appropriate concentration. However, we found that standard eductors used for applying foam through hand lines will not work properly against back pressure. The back pressure results from the weight of the water as the tower fills. We are looking at purchasing high back pressure eductors that will work for this type of application.

To get around this problem of the eductors, small air driven Viking pumps are currently used to pump Micro-Blaze into the towers. The technicians try to get a mixture of 1 – 3% Micro-Blaze™ in the tower by calculating the total volume of water in the tower. Sometimes they simply ball park the estimate. They have found that on a typical tower, one drum of Micro-Blaze does the trick. Once we have located the proper eductors for the job, we will be able to proportion the Micro-Blaze correctly to prevent the overuse, and thus, waste of Micro-Blaze.

During one of the turnarounds, cleanup time was reduced by 24-hours[emphasis ours-Verde.]. In a second turnaround, the cleanup time was reduced by 36-hours. It is easy to see that the Micro-Blaze more than pays for itself in less down time for the unit. Of interest on the second turnaround is the fact that the Micro-Blaze solution was later calculated to be about 5% in the wash water (the ballpark estimate calculated by the technicians during the cleanup was off quite a bit). This particular system has historically been the most difficult one to cleanup; and in fact, fresh air has been required in the past because contaminants could not be reduced below regulatory limits. Using Micro-Blaze, the levels of contaminants were reduced to zero.

In some of the towers, it was possible to circulate the wash water in the towers using the pumps associated with that process. However, some pumps will not pump water. In those cases, the tower was filled with water and Micro-Blaze and allowed to sit for 2 – 3 hours. In either case, the Micro-Blaze worked. It should be noted that the Micro-Blaze works best when sufficient oxygen is available. This was accompanied by opening high point bleeds to allow oxygen to enter the tower. Since the towers are gas freed prior to washing the towers, this option is usually available.

Micro-Blaze has also been used to decontaminate exchangers, lines and pumps prior to turning the equipment over to maintenance. It is usually easier to get an estimate of the water capacity for this type of equipment, so the amount of Micro-Blaze to use is easier to determine. A 1 – 3% solution is normally used when cleaning exchangers, lines and pumps. Since oil usually floats on water, oil is sometimes trapped in the high points of exchangers and pumps, which can cause problems when the equipment is drained and/or opened. By using Micro-Blaze, the oil and associated problems are eliminated. In cleaning this type of equipment, the Micro-Blaze is normally allowed to sit in the equipment for a couple of hours. We are looking at ways to circulate the Micro-Blaze through the equipment, which should shorten the cleaning time.

In the past year, we have also used Micro-Blaze during spill response. In each case, Micro-Blaze was able to handle the problem quickly.

During routine operations, small amounts of oil are sometimes spilled on the slab in operating areas. The operating units have small hand-held sprayers (garden type sprayers) with a 3% solution of Micro-Blaze in them. When oil is spilled, the technicians use the sprayers to apply Micro-Blaze to the spill. In a matter of minutes, the oil is gone. Not only does this eliminate a slip/trip hazard, it also keeps oil out of the contaminated sewer system.

Earlier this year, we had a gas release where Micro-Blaze was used by the response team to eliminate the source of the gas. A suction drum on a compressor began to fill with oil. The technicians had to drain the oil to the contaminated sewer to protect the equipment. This would not normally cause a problem, since the contaminated sewer enters an oil/water separator where the oil could be captured. However, unknown to the technicians at the time, the oil contained entrained hydrocarbons. When the oil entered the sewer system, the hydrocarbons began breaking free of the oil, resulting in a gas release. Since the contaminated sewer is an enclosed system, it is very difficult to remove hydrocarbons from the system. The hydrocarbons tend to hold up in the sewer system’s high points, and remain there until flushed out with water.

However, when flushed with water, the hydrocarbons can leave the system at any sewer hub in the system. The response team took hand-held sprayers and began spraying the Micro-Blaze solution into sewer hubs in the area. Many of the hubs had shown concentrations exceeding LEL prior to applying Micro-Blaze. Within less than two hours, all of the hydrocarbons had been eliminated from the system, with all hubs showing zero on the LEL meter. Rather than flushing the system and liberating the hydrocarbons in large amounts throughout the plant, the response team was able to mitigate the problem in place, greatly reducing the threat of a fire or explosion.

Recently, an MTBE tank car was overfilled when the automatic shutoff valve failed. The loading rack has a secondary containment system that drains to a holding pond. The amount of MTBE collected by the system was later estimated to be 600 gallons. While the MTBE was contained, the vapors from the containment system were both irritating to personnel in the vicinity, and explosive. A hand line and eductor was used to apply Micro-Blaze at a 3% solution to the pond. Fifteen gallons of Micro-Blaze was applied to the MTBE initially. After one hour, the vapors were only detectable within a few feet of the pond. An additional 10 gallons of Micro-Blaze was applied to he pond at that time. One hour later, there was no MTBE detectable in the pond. So within two hours total, the entire 600 gallons of MTBE was cleaned up, leaving nothing but water in the pond.

We have several projects that we plan to try Micro-Blaze on in the future. Based on what we have seen Micro-Blaze do in the past, we feel that these projects will also be successful.

The grease trap in our cafeteria has been filling up every four to six weeks, which requires us to have the trap cleaned out by a vacuum service. [One of your salespeople] was telling us how a Luby’s Cafeteria used Micro-Blaze to slow the buildup of grease in their grease trap. The way this program works is to use 4 ounces of Micro-Blaze in the mop water each day. The Micro-Blaze will remove the grease from the floor during mopping. After the mopping is complete, the mop bucket’s contents are poured down the drain that enters the grease trap. The Micro-Blaze attacks the grease in the trap, reducing buildup in the trap. Luby’s went from pumping out their grease trap each month to pumping it out once every 8 – 12 months. We recently started this program in our cafeteria, but there has not been sufficient time to determine how it will work on our grease trap. The Micro-Blaze is doing an excellent job of removing the grease from the kitchen floor.

The earlier discussion of cleaning exchangers pertained to decontaminating exchanger bundles that had fouled, requiring the bundle to be pulled and cleaned. Prior to the bundles reaching the point where they are completely fouled, our plans are to try a preventative maintenance program whereby the bundles will be cleaned in place using Micro-Blaze. If Micro-Blaze will work in this type of application, the usable life of the bundle will be extended. The exchanger will be taken out of service for a six-hour period, during which time the bundles will be cleared of product and filled with a 3% solution of Micro-Blaze. A small pump will be used to circulate the wash water through the bundle. After three hours of circulating the wash water through the bundle, the bundle will be drained and placed back in service. We feel that this has a good chance of working on exchangers that have not begun to bake the material onto the bundle. This project has the potential to save our company quite a bit of money. 

Each time a bundle is pulled, hydroblasted, and replaced, it costs us a minimum of $5,000. If the life of the bundle can be extended a few months by this PM Program, substantial cost savings will be realized. If a bundle is currently being pulled for cleaning three times a year, but only has to be pulled twice a year after using Micro-Blaze, we can save $5,000 / year on the maintenance cost of that bundle. If it only has to be pulled once a year after using Micro-Blaze, we will save $10,000 / year. If this is successful on 100 bundles, we are looking at a cost savings of $500,000 - $1,000,000 per year. This will be quite a return since it will only take about 4 – 5 gallons of Micro-Blaze per bundle.

Contaminated Sewer System

We also plan to experiment with a drip system of Micro-Blaze into our contaminated sewer system. The sewer system is routed to a biological treatment plant for TOC removal. By instituting a continual drip system of Micro-Blaze we feel that we can lower the TOC entering the biological treatment plant. This will help lower the load on the system, as well as avoid potential upsets in the biological treatment plant. It was mentioned earlier that high points have developed in the sewer system over the years. These high points trap oil until the system is flushed out during a heavy rainfall event. When this happens, the oil/water separator system can be overwhelmed by the sudden influx of oil. We feel that introducing Micro-Blaze through a drip system will eliminate this problem by allowing Micro-Blaze to attack the oil trapped in these high points.

As you can tell, we are firm believers in Micro-Blaze. To date, we have not found any hydrocarbon-based material in our plant that Micro-Blaze will not work on. [Italics ours –VEI.] Every application we have come up with for Micro-Blaze has worked so far. It appears that its uses are only limited to our imaginations. If a hydrocarbon-based material needs to be eliminated, all you have to do is find a means of getting Micro-Blaze into contact with the material.

As I mentioned to you during our telephone conversation, I request that you do not use my name or my company’s name when using this information. I make this request since I am not sure how my company feels about endorsements and/or testimonials.

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