Case Studies

TRACERCO Diagnostics™ - Tower Scan

A major customer in Europe was experiencing severe operational problems with a Quench Tower on one of its Olefines units. A sudden surge on the tower had damaged an indefinite number of trays in the lower section.

As a result, they requested an urgent TRACERCO Diagnostics™ Tower scan. A team of experienced engineers was in the area and immediately re-routed to the site on completion of their original project. The engineers were able to perform measurements on the Tower within three hours of receiving the call, taking into consideration the distance from the Tracerco base.

The TRACERCO Diagnostics™ Tower scan was complete within four hours of the engineer’s arrival on-site. The customer was provided with a full assessment of the internal features of the tower. The results showed (see graphical presentation) that the degree of this damage varied from tray to tray. There was considerable damage to the bottom ten trays, the significance of the damage decreasing in the upper trays of the Tower ensuring that by tray ten, the damage was limited and was having little effect on performance.

Being aware of the extent of the damage the client was therefore able to order the appropriate number of trays. Taking into account time restraints, only three full trays were ordered. It was thought that the remaining trays could be re-fabricated from the damaged sections, to produce complete trays.

One of our alliance partners Canatex, had been awarded the contract for tower entry, inspection, repair and reinstallation.

Upon entry, Canatex examined the trays individually. The extent and location of the damage was compared with the results gained from the TRACERCO Diagnostics™ Tower scan. This examination clearly showed a very strong relationship between the damage found and the results from the scan.

Canatex were able to remove the damaged trays, re-configure the superior sections and reinstall in a minimum amount of time.

The whole exercise allowed the client to restart production in the least time possible, confident that the extent of the damage had been identified and repaired. The tower remains in optimum operation.

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