Kuwait refinery traps steam savings
6 Sep 2010
Kuwait – Kuwait Petroleum Association subsidiary KNPC’s Shauiba Refinery has converted 1,750 mechanical traps to Thermal Energy International’s GEM Venturi Orifice design. In addition, KNPC has seen the HP hot condensate header pressure drop from highs of 175 psig to just 90 psig.
Commissioned in 1968, Shuaiba Refinery, located some 50 km south of Kuwait City, occupies an area of 1,332,000m producing approximately 30 types of light, medium and heavy petroleum products – mainly gas, ordinary naphtha, high-octane gasoline, kerosene and ATK as well as automotive diesel, marine diesel, fuel oil and sulphur.
As is the case in oil refineries worldwide, steam is the primary means of transporting energy from the numerous boilers and steam generators to the point of use and is used throughout the oil refinery for applications ranging from trace heating systems designed to keep the product at the correct viscosity to large reboilers consuming many tonnes of steam per hour.
As the steam gives up its useful heat it condenses to water. The steam trap’s function is to remove this water and air from the steam pipework. At Shuaiba Refinery the mechanical steam traps were failing at a rate of in excess of 10% per annum. Steam traps can fail in either the open position, resulting in the trap passing live steam, or closed which prevents the discharge of condensate from the system.
When Thermal Energy International was first approached by the Shuaiba Refinery, failed mechanical traps had caused the condensate return pressure to rise to 175 psig, preventing the 150 psig steam stem from being able to discharge.
During a recent unplanned boiler outage, the refinery was able to run on just two boilers which prior to the installation of the new steam traps would have resulted in a loss of steam pressure to the refinery’s extremities and impacted on production.
“Use of GEM traps has resulted in an 85psig l reduction in the HP hot condensate header pressure as well as steam savings from the reduction in steam loss”, said Habib Atesh, engineering & maintenance manager at Shuaiba Refinery.
Instead of utilising a valve mechanism to close off steam for maximum energy and water conservation, the steam traps use the venturi orifice design to drain condensate from the steam system. As there are no moving parts to wedge open or fail, it needs only minimal maintenance and requiring no spares, testing or monitoring equipment.
