David Williams - Berthold Technologies
This presentation focuses on lessons learned from a recent startup of a delayed coker unit, including the proper installation, mounting and design of radiometric level solutions. At a recent startup, a lot of time and money was spent to correct issues that could have been prevented with proper design. Some issues were as follows:
- Where to mount the radioactive sources on the drum?
- Prevention of radiological safety issues.
- How to prevent alignment issue and prevent erroneous readings?
- How to ensure proper operation of the level system?
David Williams is the Global Business Development Manager for Berthold Technologies, focusing primarily on the Oil & Gas, Refinery and PetroChemical/Plastics industries. Berthold Technologies is one of the world leaders in providing measurement solutions with the use of radiometric devices. David has spent the past 25 years plus working at various refineries and chemical plants around the world, learning how to improve different processes with the use of radiometric level and density measurements. He has performed the duties as a startup engineer, applications engineer and sales engineer in the past and is currently acting as an advisor to different process technology providers, corporate subject matter experts and engineering companies in the proper use of radiometric devices. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering Technologies and has experience in operating nuclear power plants and various measurement technologies that are used in the oil & gas field. Lately, David’s main focus has been centered around changes to the refinery industry based on IMO MARPOL 2020, which includes challenging applications in such processes as resid hydrocrackers, delayed cokers, solvent deasphalting, and desalters.