Our customer is one of the most important tank storage and oil processing companies in Europe. Various raw materials and products are processed at one of their distillation units. To optimize this process, the Crude Feed, this is the basic raw material, is preheated before it is further processed in the distillation process.
Preheating is done by means of the Crude Feed Pre-Heater. This is a liquid heater that is characterized in that there is no phase transition and heat transfer takes place between 2 liquids. In this case executed as a shell & tube heat exchanger where the Crude Feed is heated using thermal oil.
Due to the viscous and polluting character of the Crude Feed, the existing heat exchanger had to be cleaned at a very high frequency. The process was shut down at least once a week and then the heat exchanger was dismantled under high time pressure for complete cleaning. Convinced of the solution, ROBOX has shown by means of a test set-up in one of the smaller units that this contamination can be prevented with inserts in the tubes. The predicted capacity gain of 200-300% was also demonstrated with this setup.
ROBOX has now built and delivered the new unit. Thanks to the applied innovation, Our customer was able to save considerably on investment, maintenance and downtime costs with this project. This unit has now been running satisfactorily for more than a year without the need for cleaning.
Project Manager PID at
Koole Tankstorage Botlek BV
“As one of the most important tank storage and oil processing companies in Europe, we face a challenge when it comes to contamination in the heat exchangers. In addition to being a storage terminal, we are also a production location. We can process raw materials and products for customers. To this end, we have four distillation units on site. These are operated differently each time since the supply currents are constantly changing. In some cases, contamination of the heat exchangers is the result. We have therefore taken joint action with ROBOX and various engineering firms to improve our distillation units. The aim of this project was to find out where the pollution comes from and to look for a future-proof solution.
By placing turbulators (spiral-like inserts) in the tubes of the heat exchanger, our processes have become cleaner and faster: our throughput has almost quadrupled. The rotating movement of the liquids in the tubes ensures that the walls are protected. The fact that we achieved this result is partly due to the innovative role ROBOX played in this.
They think along intensively and switch quickly to meet delivery times. In our case, close cooperation was also required with the various parties that lead our projects. They have designed this to their satisfaction. Customer focus is paramount at ROBOX: what is agreed upon is always fulfilled. ”
It concerns stacked Shell & Tube heat exchangers. Two one-pass shells connected in series with U-bundle and removable cover channels, TEMA type 2 x AEU 800 / 4800. Entirely in C-steel according to PED cat.IV / Mod.H1 and ASME VIII Div.1