It's no secret. Every operating plant - whether a chemical processing plant, a paper mill, a refinery or nuclear facility - has occasional upsets, outages and yes, even leaks. We'd like to pretend they don't happen - and we don't talk about it openly outside our tight inner circles - but they do happen. Yet advancements toward the goal of leak-free sealing cannot be made by ignoring these occurrences. Rather, by studying these events - by coming to understand the root causes involved - we can establish the systems, materials and procedures needed to eliminate them. This paper looks at one end-user's experience in unraveling and resolving persistent, long-term leak sources in the refining industry, and shows how their methodologies can benefit others willing to follow their steps. We will look at how two different cases were resolved using the following protocol: 1. Define the Problem 2. Collect Data and Identify the Root Cause 3. Test Possible Solutions (Lab and Field) 4. Write Specifications 5. Roll out to the Field for Implementation
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