Andy Puetz - Daily Thermetrics Corp
with Andy Puetz, Daily Thermetrics Corp
Daily Thermetrics is a high-performance temperature instrumentation manufacturer that specializes in petroleum refining and petrochemical applications. With over 40 years of experience in the industry, Daily Thermetrics is pre-approved by the world’s largest licensors for temperature instrumentation in FCCU applications. Daily Thermetrics has developed and employed a variety of unique temperature monitoring systems that maximize temperature visibility in the various units that make up the FCC unit.
Historically, refiners operating FCC reactors have encountered difficulties with sensor and thermowell reliability, and have become accustomed to limited visibility with regards to temperature instrumentation. High-hardness coatings have been used to extend the life-cycle of these thermowells, but it is not uncommon for end-users to experience failures throughout the extended 5-year runs, even with this defense in place.
Over the last several years, a variety of methods for applying high-hardness coatings have become more popular, and these coating techniques have improved the life of the thermowell and the instrument to a point where they can reliably function beyond the scheduled run of the unit. This has improved the overall controllability and safety of the unit.
This presentation will examine the various benefits and limitations of the accepted coating application methods (spray and fuse, weld overlay, plasma transfer arc, and laser cladding), and the effect that surface finish has on the life of the thermowell. In addition to these applications, clients are now requiring more comprehensive profiling to include monitoring of the cyclone dip-leg temperatures. The use of these systems allows operators to monitor moisture content in these critical catalyst pathways during start-up.
Several clients are taking further advantage of breakthroughs in temperature monitoring technologies by introducing radial profiling in both the stripper section of the FCC Reactor and the wash bed section of the FCC fractionators. Such temperature profiles allow for a comprehensive view of the process flow, and will also allow operators to identify issues such as dead spots, channeling, or maldistribution during the run.
Our intention is to expand the refiners’ knowledge of applications that they are already familiar with, while introducing some of the more progressive systems being implemented today.