Traditionally, reactor cleaning has been performed in a variety of ways. What we have discovered, hydrogen sweep/nitrogen purge alone can be very inconsistent with its results. Historically, it has shown to be incapable of completely removing LEL & hydrogen sulfide, or addressing heavy end deposits remaining on the catalyst, and a safety risk to personnel. Our Entry Safe™ Cat Rx process will remove these risks and concerns. Sage Chemical is equipped and experienced enough to tackle this process; our team offers improved, predictable, plannable solutions.  

Sage Chemical recognizes that every situation is unique and offers different challenges. For that reason, our experts customize every solution to ensure that your reactor cleaning results in a more efficient process.  This saves you time and money. However, our best practice is employing a hot sweep using our proprietary, hardworking, Entry Safe™ Cat Rx chemistry along with our detailed planning and expertise.  

Entry Safe™ Cat Rx is an accelerant that boosts removal of residual gases, helps dissolve any existing solid deposits, and acts as a scrubber to collect LEL and H2S. It saves time and money through improved efficiency without sacrificing safety. If you are looking for a more efficient and fast reactor cleaning, then you only need to call our team.

Our Entry Safe ™ CatRx chemistry delivers speed, efficiency, and results. Please reach out today to our team.

Entry Safe™ CitraClean

There are many applications to choose from when picking the correct package for your equipment cleaning.

Sage Chemical has developed a cleaning system that is a revolutionary achievement in chemical cleaning techniques. Our cleaning package will degrease, acidize and passivate with a onetime application. This can be applied either vapor phase or liquid circulation.

Principal Uses Concentrated citric acid/chelant blend that contains a surfactant package that is specifically formulated for preoperational chemical cleaning of carbon and stainless-steel piping and equipment. This unique formulation provides degreasing, descaling and passivation all in one step and at ambient temperature. A corrosion inhibitor is typically added to the pH 4-4.5 formulation and heat can be applied to decrease cleaning time and enhance passivation. Ideal for removal of heavy calcium and water hardness deposits from piping and equipment.

The product has also been used to clean waterside deposits of exchangers while they are in operation. This “online” cleaning application eliminates the need to take equipment out of service in order to regain heat transfer capacity.  

Key benefits

• Environmentally safe chemistry – easy to use and dispose of and no toxic or corrosive fumes
• Meets all current industry standards – passes salt spray, immersion, copper sulfate and high humidity tests.
• Excellent results with all grades of stainless steel
• Removes only iron, preserving other metals in alloy
• Most acceptance criteria falls under one of two industry standards for citric acid passivation: ASTM A967 and AMS 2700.

Note

• Liquid or Vapor phase applications
• Large capacity for dissolution and chelation of iron and other heavy metal deposits
• Excellent for removal of large quantities calcium/water hardness deposits
• Use on carbon and stainless steel, brass, copper, and aluminum surfaces.
• This system can be liquid circulated, or steam vapor phased
• Contains a surfactant package that aids in removal of light oils and greases.
• Provides in-situ passivation of active metal surfaces.

What is reactive chemical cleaning?

Chemical cleaning is defined as the use of chemistry to remove, dissolve or convert specific contaminants from processing equipment to quickly return it back to peak performance conditions. Chemical cleaning is safe and cost effective which is used in place of mechanical and other invasive methods such as hydroblasting. This proven method is efficiently used in all industries: refinery, petrochemical, paper/pulp, and utility. The applications may include:

• Removing scale and deposits
• (e.g. from boilers and heat exchanger tubes)
• Removing toxic gasses
• (e.g. H2S, SOx, Ammonia, ECT…)
• Removing contaminants from fluids
• (e.g. hydraulic and lubrication oils)
• Altering the chemical characteristics of a solution
• (e.g. the pH level)

Why is chemical cleaning used?

In order for industrial equipment to work efficiently, it must be kept free of contaminants. Unfortunately, rust, calcium, dust, dirt, and certain chemical reactions occur naturally in a myriad of equipment. This occurrence results in a buildup of scales and deposits that decrease the equipment efficiencies (Delta T or P). In order to maximize performance/profitability for the customer, chemical cleaning will keep reduced efficiency of equipment and downtime to a minimum. Chemical cleaning is a safer, more effective and more economical method of equipment cleaning than the older, labor-intensive mechanical methods, such as hydroblasting or grit blasting.

Following are a few of the many advantages of chemical cleaning:

• Can be performed on-site without disassembling/moving the equipment (saving time, labor, and associated costs)
• Eliminates the need for physical entry of personnel cleaning, making it an immeasurably safer alternative
• Cleaning chemicals and wastewater are safely contained within the application and collection units
• Reduces downtime substantially
• Highly effective at accessing and eliminating contaminants
• Conditions the process surface to reduce future fouling

All of which, translates into reduced costs and increased performance/profitability for our customer.

Features of Sage Chemical Services:

• Sage Chemical Cleaning and Decontamination’s team uses an analytical laboratory capable of: measuring deposit density, identifying deposits, testing solvents & recommending procedures, and performing post-cleaning analysis of drain samples.
• Our experienced team has full capability to handle jobs of any size, also incorporating:
• Pumps up to 10,000 gpm
• Heat exchangers up to 3,000 sq ft
• 40hp portable boilers
• Process Specialists, Project Managers, Chemists, Service Supervisors
• Total (local & national) company resources that can be drawn from to support large projects
• Project management capacities include:
• Project timelines using Microsoft Project or Primavera
• Process flow diagrams using Visio
• Dedicated on-site Project Managers which work through all stages of cleaning procedure development
• Turnaround timelines
• Blind/Isolation Lists
• Instrumentation Isolation Lists
• Isometric Drawings for temporary piping
• Parts take off lists for temporary piping
• Detailed cleaning procedures
• Simplified drawings of equipment
• Process Safety Management Reviews
• Coordination of waste disposal for on-site and off-site requirements
• Turnaround Training to all personnel on chemical cleaning procedures

Benefits Include:

• Reduced mechanical preparation requirements for cleaning vs. hydroblasting, equating to lower total job costs
• For complex configurations, there may be no alternative to chemical cleaning
• For some equipment, our services eliminate the need for confined space entry
• Cleaning is uniformly based on deposit loading.
• Prevents corrosion initiation and inhibit growth of microbiological foulants
• Cleaning to “bare metal” is achievable in a large number of cases
• Eliminates potential growth sites for future deposits to begin forming
• Can remove foulants/scale deposits and decontaminates for later vessel entry
• Safe technique for pyrophoric deposit removal
• Can reduce total down time & waste generated via vapor phase, foam cleanings and on-stream applications, depending on equipment design and cleaning techniques
• On-Stream cleaning can restore exchangers’ heat transfer efficiency without shutting the unit down

Chemical Cleaning is routinely applied to the following:

• Boilers of all types
• Cooling water exchangers
• Heat exchangers/condensers
• External fin fans (foaming)Pickling/passivation of metal surfaces
• Refrigeration systems
• Commissioning new equipment (degreasing/removing mill scales/ flushing)Removal of iron and calcium for any surface
• Paper mill digesters and evaporators Tanks (process, storage, product and speciality tanks) Railcar cleaning
• External surface cleaning
• Piping and flare systems

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• Unit drain header piping system that is customizable to suit each individual project
• The system collects all waste streams(liquid and vapor) in our specially designed piping to prevent accidental atmospheric releases.
• Compliant with most facility’s MOC requirements
• Designed to allow connections of ¾”, 2” ,3”,4”,6” low point drains of towers, drums and exchangers
• Cleanout valves installed on the ends of all manifolds for final clean out prior to removal
• Isolation valves are installed throughout according to the timeline supplied by the plant.  The purpose is to allow removal of manifold sections prior to completion.
• Pressure gauges are installed throughout the manifold.
• Condenser collapses and/or condenses steam into a pumpable effluent
• Special self-contained effluent pumps are installed
• Surge tank can be installed for larger project at aid in effluent disposal

A dual high-temperature air operated diaphragm pump is installed to allow the condensed effluent to be pumped to refinery tankage.

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Sage Chemical Cleaning Solutions and Decontamination offers the most efficient process available for HF alkylation unit decontamination. Meeting our customers’ needs is why we offer several options. Our experts are versed in all major methods concerning HF alky units. The methods include: Inhibited Hydrochloric Acid and Chelating Processes.

General Process Description

The HF Alkylation process decontaminates by removing iron fluoride/oxide scales, which cleans and prepares the equipment for a safer work environment. Typical application is engineered by circulation with Sage pumps/process pumps (if authorized by client). During the planning stage, Sage’s team evaluates your refinery’s shut down procedures to offer a multitude of cost-cutting suggestions.

Depending on the design, UOP or Phillips, vessels will be either: liquid filled, cascaded, or will require the use of tank cleaning nozzles. Sage’s team will work to minimize waste, decrease time and increase the maximum surface contact. Our team’s engineers and experienced staff work closely with the customer’s HF alky team to develop detailed procedures, marked-up P&IDs, mechanical spool lists and simplified drawings of the project. The process ensures all aspects of the system are neutralized. Our process of removing the iron fluoride scales from the unit requires significantly less blinding and temporary connections.

Our service does not stop after the chemical cleaning is completed. We are able to 100% remove the remaining fluorides from the chemical cleaning waste. Our portable API and DAF separators are specially designed for this process. They are able to process up to 60 gals per min under normal operations.

Finally, we are proud to offer a one of a kind KOH regeneration system.

Sulfuric Alkylation Unit Decontamination Process

At Sage Chemical Cleaning Solutions and Decontamination, we have developed our Entry Safe ™ chemistry to combat three major items in the sulfuric acid alky unit, including: residual sulfuric acid, corrosion and LEL. Generally, sulfuric acid units have been neutralized with sodium carbonate (soda ash) or sodium hydroxide. Both methods are effective, but have their challenges. Our Entry Safe™ ALKYCLEAR is designed to neutralize and protect your equipment during the neutralization process while removing LEL, all with one application.

General Procedure for Settler and Contactor equipment

Set-up– Entry Safe™ AlkyClear is a proprietary blend to neutralize, protect, and degas your sulfuric acid service equipment. When beginning the procedure, Entry Safe ™ AlkyClear would be transported to our job site and offloaded into a heater coil frac tank (if inclement weather is expected). The intention would be to rapidly fill in order to neutralize and degas the settlers/contactors. If acid carryover is to be expected, our team would extend the process into the surge drum.

Filling Equipment– All targeted equipment will have marked up P&ID to show connections and isolation needs. Further, the equipment would then be drained of product, then, before the equipment is returned to us, nitrogen purged for LEL. Once the equipment has been drained and all temporary spools are installed, as per our instructions, the procedure would then begin. The first step in our process would be to hydrostatically test our temporary equipment, repair any leaking or damaged hoses/connections, and repeat.

Venting– During the filling of the equipment, our team uses process safety valves/flaring systems for the venting process.

Testing– Our team always conducts pH testing during the filling process, which is located on the outlets of each acid contactor. This step in the process reveals if additional chemistry would be required.Draining–  Once all testing indicates neutralization is completed, under customer direction, we would then drain at a predetermined rate. The predetermined rate would be agreed upon during the pre-engineering procedure writing stage, as to not overrun the WWTF

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Due to the nature of desalting, and events that transpire while the equipment is online, desalters are immensely complex to clean. Desalters are designed to remove: salts, suspended solids, water and trace metals by means of electrolysis. These events result in the desalters becoming very fouled with a substantial number of solids.

Sage Chemical Cleaning Solutions and Decontamination has developed a method that not only removes the solids to a remarkably manageable point, but also ensures the desalter is LEL free and provides reduction for overtime turnaround. The method allows our customers to have a completed desalter in just a few shifts.

An additional benefit to using our services is that Sage has the ability to “turnkey the clean”

A common problem in refineries and petrochemical facilities worldwide is the drop in heat exchanger efficiency in between turnarounds. Operators traditionally must make the difficult decision to run at low efficiency or stop production to clean the heat exchangers. Sage Chemical Cleaning Solutions and Decontamination offers an alternative approach to keep the processing unit online and operating efficiently.

Sage Chemical Cleaning Solutions and Decontamination’s Entry Safe™ Heavy Oil Penetrator (H.O.P.) fluidizes/dissolves hydrogen-deficient hydrocarbon deposits, such as those found in heat exchangers. Our team can either segment larger or smaller exchanger groups that can be temporarily bypassed during normal operations or clean the entire train together. An LCO or diesel circulation is performed with the added chemistry (Entry Safe ™ H.O.P.), then circulated for up to eight hours (based on pre-engineered planning and testing). The exchangers can then go back into service without the need for mechanical cleaning.

Normal results from this treatment have shown between 70-80% regained heat efficiency. Additionally, our experts can put a preventative cleaning schedule together for your location. The cleaning schedule can help to avoid a full unit slowdown or shutdown until the actual planned turnaround event is scheduled.

Sage Chemical Cleaning Solutions and Decontamination uses pre-operational chemical cleaning and lube oil flushing to remove contaminants from piping, vessels, drums, and exchangers.

Precommissioning is important to circumvent performance malfunctions and potential initial operation failures.

The contaminants primarily focused on include: mill scale, weld slag, oil/grease, debris, and temporary protective coatings that remain after manufacturing and start-up of application systems.

These damaging contaminants cause probable corrosion during operation. The contaminants also form deposit build-ups resulting in severe equipment damage, costly maintenance activities and unnecessary production downtime.

To choose an ideal application, at Sage Chemical Cleaning Solutions and Decontamination, we always consider several factors, including:

• Tailored chemical cleaning solvents for each system
• Newer fleet
• Economical and prompt budgeting
• Lube oil flushing and drying systems for your needs

At Sage Chemical Cleaning Solutions and Decontamination, we are always looking for solutions to decrease our client’s downtime, increase equipment turnover, and not jeopardize our commitment to protect the environment and personnel safety. Many years of research and development have gone into our services. One example of our research and development is the degassing process and use of Entry Safe ™ P.A.S.C.C. (Polythionic Acid Stress Corrosion Cracking) neutralizer.

Entry Safe ™  P.A.S.C.C. plus degassing formula is an exceptionally high performing chemical and process. The process is used at low concentrations to neutralize/degass refinery equipment that experience chloride cracking (polythionic acid formations). Our formula is used in accordance with the NACE standard, SP0170-2012, for the protection of austenitic stainless steel from polythionic acid stress corrosion cracking during equipment exposure to atmospheric conditions.

The patented process is a one-step program. Further, this process is delivered either as a liquid wash or steam vapor phase depending on your equipment design. The final result is that all targeted equipment is not only NEUTRALIZED but also concurrently removes hydrocarbons, LELs, VOCs and Benzene.The waste solution is generally drained into the unit’s oily water sewer for disposal.