Heat Exchanger Deposit Removal using Pressurized Liquid Nitrogen (LN2)

摘要

Pressurized liquid nitrogen (LN2) can be used as a highly effective means for completely and rapidly removing the most tenacious deposits encountered in petroleum refinery process equipment. As a result, significant improvements can be seen in process flow rates and control and in process energy and pollution management. In addition, the use of a non-water based cleaning method ensures that there will not be any reactions with the deposit and that there will be minimal waste streams or pollution to the surrounding area. In this paper, a detailed description is given of the NitroLance? Ultra High Pressure liquid nitrogen cleaning system which uses a controlled stream of liquid nitrogen at pressures up to 55,000 psig and temperatures down to -250 °F to penetrate and breakup just about any deposit. Using varying nozzle configurations, the system can be customized to clean heat exchangers and process equipment encountered in sulfur recovery units and associated heat exchangers such as waste heat boilers, sulfur condensers, and catalytic reactors. A case history is presented from Frontier El Dorado Refining on the effectiveness of the LN2 cleaning system on their waste heat boilers.