Engineering Encyclopedia

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Exxon Chemical And Mechanical Cleaning Manual

1) Introduction

Note: The source of the technical material in this volume is the Exxon Research
and Engineering Company Chemical and Mechanical Cleaning Manual.
Warning: This Exxon Research and Engineering Company Chemical and
Mechanical Cleaning Manual is made available exclusively for the use of
Saudi Aramco for its own use and for no other purpose. The disclosure of its
content are subject to the provisions of the Contract No. 30934/00 dated
November 1, 1986. The material in this manual may not be copied,
reproduced, sold, given, or disclosed to third parties or otherwise used in
whole or part without the written permission of the Vice President,
Engineering Services, Saudi Aramco.

Chapter : Introduction For additional information on this subject, contact

File Reference: Section 1 R.S. Sarathy on 875-3520
Engineering Encyclopedia Exxon Chemical And Mechanical Cleaning Manual
Section 1
Introduction

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHAT IS CHEMICAL MAINTENANCE............................................................................... 1

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Engineering Encyclopedia Exxon Chemical And Mechanical Cleaning Manual
Section 1
Introduction

WHAT IS CHEMICAL MAINTENANCE

With the high price of crude and fuel, plants can no longer afford to operate with heavily fouled
equipment. In addition, many of the organic sludges and foulants that have been disposed of in
the past have energy value as recoverable hydrocarbon. Therefore, it is the purpose of this guide
to show how chemical maintenance and chemical and mechanical cleaning can make plant
operation more efficient.

Chemical maintenance refers to the use of chemicals to maintain plant equipment or to the use of
chemical additives to reduce the maintenance required. It includes the endeavors previously
associated with chemical cleaning, the use of corrosion inhibitors where added to reduce fouling,
the application of antifoulants to process streams and, for the purposes of this manual, the use of
extraordinary cleaning techniques such as high pressure water jetting, controlled combustion and
explosive cleaning.

Chemical cleaning generally refers to the use of various acids, alkalies, oxidizers and solvents to
remove scales, deposits, and fouling accumulations from process equipment when it is shutdown
for maintenance or repair. It obviously includes the use of similar chemicals when used to
remove protective paints, oils, rust, and mill scale from new equipment when required prior to its
being placed in service. Also, occasionally chemicals are added on-stream in an attempt to build
up an effective cleaning concentration for a limited time.

Corrosion inhibitors and antifoulants are chemicals added to process streams in ppm quantities to
control or reduce the effects of corrosion or fouling. Because they are used at low
concentrations, they normally are not very effective in severely corroded or fouled systems. A
corrosion inhibitor may help reduce further corrosion, but it will not adequately clean up existing
deposits. However, care must be exercised in starting the initial injection of these compounds
because they may cause enough "sloughing" of deposits to cause plugging of downstream
equipment.

The use of high pressure water jet equipment is included because it is frequently provided by the
same contractors who provide the chemical cleaning service. It can be used on deposits that
have limited solubility in chemicals and thereby permits the contractors to provide a more
complete service.

Information on certain other maintenance techniques is included simply because it is a

convenient place to accumulate data on these tools which become a part of the "bag of tricks" the
chemical maintenance engineer is expected to have at his disposal.

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