Fin Fan bank cleaning – Results of the modified CTP procedure trial- Grangemouth 2003

EF101 crude overhead condensers – frequently limit crude unit throughput due to flaring
constraints – lack of overhead cooling
Introduction
Normal finfan cleaning requires access into the plenum chamber (involving scaffolding), man access on top of
the bank and typically 1-2days preparation (with the fan off).
Using CTP new cleaning process, a trial was conducted without accessing either above the bank or inside the
finfan plenum chamber on the basis that CTP new technique combined with their undoubted experience
[cleaning heaters with long lances and limited access} would give acceptable results.

Why a trial?
Normal finfan cleaning is expensive and potentially hazardous
because of the need to provide access into the plenum
chamber of a finfan. The cost of providing this access
(scaffolding) and predicted safety improvements (no internal
access = no heat stress = no man access) made a trail without
access a worthwhile operation. Potential prize: With no internal
access to the plenum, a new cleaning process and a very
much reduced time the fan is off for (2-3hrs vrs 48hrs) the
opportunity to have a new method that would allow cleaning on
banks that could not be taken off without process loss a trial
was considered very worthwhile.

Summary
Trial exceeded expectations, delivering a performance
improvement better than normal cleaning techniques.
For comparison purposes the main elements are set down comparing existing and the new technique.
Item Normal finfan cleaning Normal CTP technique Grangemouth modified CTP
procedure
Cleaning medium Water / detergent Decamex process Decamex process
Access requirement Access above and below Access above and below finfan No access required above or
Force draft finfan bank bank inside plenum chamber
Scaffolds required Inside plenum chamber / Inside plenum chamber / No additional scaffold – no
access platform / hand rails access platform / hand rails access above or below
around bank around bank
Safety Entry into plenum – heat Access to plenum and above – No heat stress to operators –
stress and man access heat stress, on normal access platforms. No
required entry into plenum
Enviromental Detergents used No detergents used No detergents used.
Estimated time fan is 11/2 days (includes internal 2 banks per shift (after access 3 banks per shift – 3hrs total
offline scaffolding required in is granted) isolation time per fan
plenum)
Advantages Local contractors can be Improved cleaning medium, No access internally required.
used removing oxide scale that is not Reduced activities – fan off for
removed by detergents a far shorter time
No high volume water wash No high volume water wash
required – potential for trips on required – potential for trips on
instrumentation. instrumentation.
Cost* $500 per bank + $500 $600 + scaffolding costs + $600/bank + initial mobilisation
scaffolding cost. (note initial mobilisation costs costs
Cost* Scafffolding cost assumes 100% use of scaffolders – unless several fans can be released at once this cost will be x 2 at least.

120 seconds into the cleaning , bright .

areas have had stage one of the clean Technical summary
Average increase in air velocity through the cooler of 50 -100% with three of
the fans reduced from 80% to 32% output (and still delivering x2 air)
Cleaning time 2-3hrs (including electrical isolation and reenergizing time)
No scaffolds required, no entry into plenum chambers or access above bank Air velocity through bank
1
increased between 50-100% *
Visually impressive clean.

Commentary on other aspects of the procedure.

Safety:
No entry into plenum chambers – recent Hipro – access to incorrect plenum.
Greatly reduced heat stress compared to normal method (access into plenum chamber) – on some finfans this
prevents access.
Extensive TBRA required for this activity
Mechanical:
No damage to fan guards – a common problem during
scaffolding access to plenum.
No risk of damage to fins – during conventional cleaning
“duck” boards” are used to access the top of the bank.
This can result in damage or flattening of the fins
reducing heat transfer

Time
Typically a normal clean requires entry into plenum
chambers and access to the top of the bank. This
Fan: Eight blade Hudson. Toothed belt drive. requires scaffolding out plenum and removal of guards.
Three fans variable pitch, three fixed pitch At best this could be done in one shift (build), removal
and reconnection of guards 1 –2 shifts., clean 4 hrs =
2days fan off for. These times could be improved on but
typically are of this order. Hidden costs are waiting times
(since a set of fans will not be made available together to allow economic scaffolding resourcing).
Cost.
Actual cleaning costs are similar between the two techniques although the new one requires separate
contractors compared to the normal ones (local). Scaffold- typically X 2 of the cleaning cost.

Quality of clean
New technique – visually better – cleaned oxide
layers off fins, air flow measurements confirmed an
improvement of up to 100%. Viewed from
underneath light was seen from neighbouring lamps
that was not visible before.

Other Points Noted

No low pressure high volume water wash (hydrant)
required after clean(convectional technique) – this
floods the area underneath – unpleasant and risk to
instrumentation – previously this has caused unit
trips .

Air side measurements –

Air side measurements were taken before and after. As a consequence of the cleaning the variable pitch fans
were cut back from 80% output to 32% - even with this reduction these fans were still providing increased air
flow. After cleaning the two of the fixed pitch fans were found to be operating close to stall although they too
had 100% increase in air velocity

1
After clean three fans were reduced in power due to excess cooling. Two out of three fixed speed fans were
subsequently found to be in the stall condition resulting in poor air movement (although air flow was increased)
This will be corrected.
Process outlet conditions
Boardman Comment : “After the first banks were cleaned and the fan was reinstated, column
pressure started to drop like a stone…Fans had to be trimmed back to compensate.”.
Graph below is of the outlet temperature measurements. Before cleaning 2C difference seen between
pass outlets after cleaning all banks this reduced to 0.5C
Thermal comparison

After the first two banks were cleaned a 11 to 13C reduction was noted in the outlet conditions. This is
more difficult to see
80.0°C
After 80

60

LI02: 37.9°C
LI03: 52.3°C 40

Outlet
downcomer
20
LI01: 37.7°C
20.0°C

Information thermography shot.

Outlet header below. This has a single partition plate between rows 3 and 4 (count the plugs!) The
condensed liquid level can be seen on the bottom row, with a cooler level on the next row up.

86.0°C

80

SP05: 59.7°C
60
SP04: 59.4°C

SP03: 58.2°C
40
SP02: 55.3°C

SP01: 40.7°C
20

9.5°C

Conclusions
This technique should be now the technique of choice for routine finfan cleaning. Since CTP is used
on a six monthly basis for routine furnace cleaning this new service should be incorporated into our
PM strategy for unit optimisation. Cleaning program should be targeted for March prior to summer.

Post script
Refineries are not the only
people that depend on
cooling fan performance to
maximise unit performance.
In the real example below,
“cooling” cows has been
worked out in terms of gain
in milk production – maybe
its milk we are cooling in the
EF101’s….