Kuwait refinery switches 1750 steam traps
29 Sep 2010
Kuwait – Faced with the challenge of constantly repairing and replacing thousands of mechanical steam traps, KNPC’s Shauiba Refinery in Kuwait has converted 1,750 mechanical traps to Thermal Energy International’s (TEI) GEM Venturi Orifice design.
With the switch, KNPC, a subsidiary of the Kuwait Petroleum Association, has seen the HP hot condensate header pressure drop from highs of 175 psig to just 90 psig.
Commissioned in 1968, Shuaiba Refinery, 50 km south of Kuwait City, produces around 30 types of light, medium and heavy petroleum products. These consist of mainly gas, ordinary naphtha, various kinds of fuels such as high-octane gasoline, kerosene and ATK as well as automotive diesel, marine diesel, fuel oil and sulphur.
Steam is the refinery’s primary means of transporting energy from the numerous boilers and steam generators to the point of use. It 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 over 10% per annum: failing in either the open position, resulting in the trap passing live steam, or closed which prevents the discharge of condensate from the system.
According to TEI, when it 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 GEM Venturi Orifice 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 M. Atesh, engineering & maintenance Manager at Shuaiba Refinery. “In addition GEM traps are superior as only the strainers require maintenance”.
