Sulphur Condenser Effective Modification/Refurbishment

摘要

The Sulphur Recovery Units (SRU's), at Dolphin Energy's Gas Processing Plant were installed to process the conversion of unwanted H2S present in feed gas to the plant into Sulphur. Sulphur condensers are operated in each of these SRU's, and used to condense gaseous Sulphur formed within the unit through the Claus process. Following several years' reliable operation of these SRU's, a series of tube failures occurred in some of the Sulphur condensers. This resulted in unplanned outages of the SRU's and costly interventions to make necessary repairs as well as to identify the root cause of the failures. Failure analysis of condenser tube leaks was carried out by a third party consultant and a process licenser. The study included a review of the design, operation and failure mode of the rupture tube. Root cause analysis revealed that the most probable damage mechanism was Film boiling and Flow Induced Corrosion (FIC) on tube and tube sheet. Management of Change (MOC) was approved to carry out In-Situ refurbishment of all four condensers to restore the mechanical integrity based on constructability study and root cause analysis. This paper presents the details of the root cause analysis, a brief on the refurbishment / modifications implemented and discusses outcome of these efforts. Cited information may permit other operators with SRUs incorporating Sulphur Condensers to take active steps to avoid such incidents from occurring within their facilities.