Long term protection and cost savings achieved during maintenance
Perhaps one of the toughest decisions in managing any industrial plant is knowing when to shut down production in order to carry out scheduled maintenance – finding the balance between market demands and seasonality, lost revenue and increased expenses, stopping today to be better tomorrow.
This is a challenge that has been successfully overcome at a geothermal facility in Europe, simply by carrying out maintenance, while keeping the plant in full production.
Geothermal power is a clean and renewable energy source. In some areas of the world, it provides a large proportion of the local population's energy supply. In 2011, geothermal overtook oil as the leading energy source there, thus preventing the emission of over 160,000 tonnes of CO2 per year and catering for more than 23 percent of the energy needs.
The trial
Facility undergoes CUI maintenance without disruption to production schedule.
Hempel has participated in a number of projects involving geothermal facilities. At one such maintenance project, our Versiline 56990 coating was being used to repair corrosion under insulation (CUI). In total, 1,700m2 of geofluid piping was being repaired. Such a project would normally require that the facility is shutdown during maintenance work. However, at this project the application company used a novel application technique to keep the plant operating. As a result, the client was not required to slow or halt production at any time in the process.
As is standard practice on any pipe coating renewal, the first stage was to strip the piping of its old insulated cladding to gain access to the steel pipe, which was then abrasive blasted to grade SA2½. Once the surface was suitably clean, it was coated with two 150 micron coats of Hempel’s Versiline 56990, our single component inorganic co-polymer coating designed specifically to protect against CUI, it was then insulated with new metal cladding.
The result
The project is a magnificent example of how Hempel's Versiline 56990 offers tremendous cost-saving benefits over conventional aluminium silicone coatings. In this case by offsetting the expense of scheduled maintenance by keeping production in full swing.
We would like to thank EDA Renovaveis and especially their manager, Eng. Carlos Bicudo, for their cooperation.
Naturally, Hempel experts are on hand to advise on how we can help you cut costs on maintenance.
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