Case History
Brazilian company earns $2.7 million in additional revenue and saves over $210,000 in maintenance costs when FQE® Oil Degreaser is used to decontaminate towers
Results Achieved
90% reduction in down time
Over $2,700,000 in
additional revenue
Over $210,000 in
maintenance cost savings
Better flow rates on start-up, cleaner equipment
Chemicals Utilized
Alkaline degreaser for heavy oil and grease deposits
A large petrochemical company in Brazil used FQE Oil Degreaser to decontaminate and clean two liquid-liquid extraction, benzene treater towers simultaneously.
The towers had never been taken out of service together due to the length of time required to clean each tower. Typically, it took 25 days per tower to mechanically clean each tower by use of high pressure water. The towers are packed with metal turnings which become encrusted with a high-molecular weight contaminant requiring all of the packing to be removed and then mechanically cleaned.
Chemical cleaning had been tried on several previous occasions without success. After 30 hours of circulation at 60°C (140°F), the towers were drained. Upon opening the manways, the packing was found to be cleaned of the contaminant and “appeared as new”. This method of cleaning required 5 days from shut down to returning to production.
The plant estimated that over $100,000 per tower was saved over the conventional method of cleaning and over $2.7 million was gained in
additional production.
