"Our analysis gave our client peace of mind that they could run their production unit at full capacity during the upcoming summer period."
Sean Fitzgerald
Technical Director
Operations
Onshore Gas Processing
3 Weeks
$25k
We were engaged to run some process simulations on a potential production constraint at our client's
facility.
Our client's aftercooler heat exchanger was approaching late-life, having recently experienced several tube leaks, which required plugging, reducing the cooling capacity of their production unit. With the summer approaching, our client was concerned that they would be unable to achieve their production targets during the hotter weather.
Our first activity was to review the heat exchanger drawings and map the plugged tubes to determine the heat
exchanger's loss of cooling area. We then ran a number of HYSYS simulations to determine if adequate cooling capacity remained and made
iterative changes to these simulations by assuming a further loss of cooling capacity (i.e. more tube leaks), allowing us to develop the
'worst case' scenario, where the cooling capacity became insufficient.
Our analysis showed that the heat exchanger still had adequate cooling capacity to achieve the required production rates during the summer period. This advice, along with our analysis for the loss of future cooling capacity, due to further tube failures, provided the client with valuable information and allowed them the time to plan for the replacement of the heat exchanger.