Case History
Petrochemical plant utilizes FQE® NORM-Clear to decontaminate specialized, high cost filters for reuse that are usually disposed of at a high cost
Results Achieved
Within 6 hours radiation readings were reduced to within the plant’s acceptable allowance
Over 95% reduction in outage time
No personnel exposure to hazardous materials
No additional disposal expense
Chemicals Utilized
Before: NORM Contaminated Gas Filter
After: Decontaminated Gas Filter
4 hours at ambient temperature with FQE NORM-Clear
A large petrochemical plant in Texas used our NORM abatement product FQE NORM-Clear to decontaminate a bank of natural gas filters that were contaminated with radioactive NORM scale.
The filters were chemically treated with an aqueous solution of FQE NORM-Clear. The application was conducted at ambient temperature and each filter was circulated with the treating liquid for 4-hours. After the chemical circulation was completed, the filter casing was rinsed with water.
The initial radiation readings were reported at over 2000 mrem/hr. On completion of the work, the radiation readings were reduced to less than 10 mrem/hr., within the plant’s acceptable allowance.
The decontamination process allows the plant to save the replacement cost of the specialized, high cost filters and to eliminate the cost of disposing NORM contaminated equipment. The total decontamination time, per filter bank was 6-hours to completion resulting in a significant cost and time savings to the client.
The initial radiation readings were reported at over 2000 mrem/hr. On completion of the work, the radiation readings were reduced to less than 10 mrem/hr., within the plant’s acceptable allowance.
The decontamination process allows the plant to save the replacement cost of the specialized, high cost filters and to eliminate the cost of disposing NORM contaminated equipment. The total decontamination time, per filter bank was 6-hours to completion resulting in a significant cost and time savings to the client.
