Document jmkEL8OBp3Erpw2Ov4J58nQr9

FILE NAME: Oil Industry and American Petroleum Institute (API) DATE: 1957 Feb 18 DOC#: API078 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Trade Journal Article - Tidewater Insulates Refinery "OIL a n d GAS JOURNAL THE STAFF TULSA OFFICE 211 South Cheyenne Ave. Phone Diamond 3-6291 Kenneth B. Barnes . Editor Henry D. Ralph Chief Editorial Writer Ted A. Armstrong News Ed.tor Gerald L. Forror . ........... Engineering Editor Dr. Frank J. Gardner . Exploration Editor Paul Reed ........................ Pipeline Editor John C. Reidel.............. Petrochemical Editor C. O. Willson ............... Consulting Editor W. L. Nelson................. Technical Editor Lynn M. Nichols ...... Presentation Editor John C. C a s p e r .............. Economics Editor Neil Williams . . . . . . Associate Editor Norman S. Morrisey Drilling-Development Editor Gene T. Kinney . Assistant Pipeline Editor R. B. Tuttle ......... Equipment Editor Bill Linville . . Assistant to Presentation Editor Corl Hoot ....................... District Editor Carl J. Law rence..................... District Editor John C. M c C o slin ..................... District Editor W. A, B a ch m a n .......................District Editor J. O. Scott ............................ District Editor J. C. Bradford.......... District Editor Robert B. Bizal ..................... District Editor Sara Bangert ......................... District Editor LoWanda Turner ........... Readership Research Helen Brown .................. Editorial Assistant Alice B u r t ........................ Editorial Assistant Ailleen C an tre ll................ Editorial Assistant C. Dudley Johnston.................... Art Director Jo Jeanne Speaker................... Staff Artist NEW YORK OFFICE . 500 Fifth Avenue Phone LOngaere 4-6160 George H. W eber............... Refining Editor Paul Swain .....................International Editor Ray Gt G ib s o n ....................... District Editor John P. O 'D o n n e ll.................... District Editor HOUSTON OFFICE 802 Sterling Building Phone CApItol 4-7726 Larry Resen ...........................District Ed McGhee ........................... District Joe Reilly ..............................District Editor Editor Editor DALLAS OFFICE 1238 Mercantile Building Phone Riverside 8-3074 Robert J. Enright .....................District Editor LOS ANGELES OFFICE 650 South Grand Avenue Phone VAndyke 0722 D. H. Storm on t....................... District Editor William T. Smith . District Editor W ASHINGTON OFFICE 621 Albee Building Phone District 7*1710 Bertram F, Linz . District Editor Correspondents at Denver, Pittsburgh, Calgary, Columbus, Ashland, Ky., Oil City, Pa., Mount Pleasant, Mich., Melbourne, Australia; Regina, Sask.; Chatham, Ont.; Casper, Wyo., and Anchoroge, Alasko. The Oil and Gas Journal, Published Mondays, copyright 1957, by The Petroleum Publishing Co. Entered as second-class matter September 1, 1910, at post office at Tulsa, Oklo., under act of March 3, 1879. United Stotes and foreign rates to the petroleum industry, 1 year $ 4 , 2 years $7, 3 years $8. FEBRUARY 18, 1957 VOLUME 55 NUMBER 7 IN THE NEW S General Interest: Oil Prices Lagging Behind Costs, Comparison Chart Shows 100 Seaton, Flemming Back Industry at Senate H e a r in g ........... 102 Jersey Standard's Rathbone Answers Industry Critics ......... 104 Oil-Country Steel Goes Up Another 3.5 Per C ent................ 106 Gas Shortage On Way, Phillips Attorney Warns.................... 109 Water Pollution Must Go, Government Warns Industry 115 Now You Can Cool Your Home With O i l ........................... 115 Russia's Oil Program Moves Ahead of Schedule .................. 120 ' Processing: Refiners Cut Runs to Free Crude for Europe.........................103 B.P. Entering North American Refining Scene .................... 107 Humble Will Lead Parade On Hydrogen Treating 110 How Magnolia Refinery Irons Out Its Labor Wrinkles 112 Processing B r ie fs ............. ........................................................... 113 Production: ' Colorado Production-Tax Case Opens in Denver Court 111 Texas' Big Cogdell Flood Doubling Water-Input Rate 114 Mud Cyclones Gain Wider Use in Mid-Continent................117 Exploration: Apco Abandons Costly Wildcat Off L o u isia n a .....................106 Gulf Oil Has Prolific Wildcat Off Lafourche Parish................ 113 Texaco Deep Strike Excites East Texas.................................. 114 New Seismic Tool Unveiled by Seismograph Service 116 California Offshore Squeeze Worries O perators..................... 117 Details of New Wells in Kuwait Revealed .................... 119 Multibillion-Dollar Gamble Faces Long O d d s ........................215 New Logging Technique Spots Oklahoma Oil . 219 Two Big Strikes Ignite Williston ...................................... 222 Pipelining: Mexican-Gas Line Crosses Houston Ship Channel 108 Pipeline B r ie fs ............................................................. 115 Sahara Successes Stir Up Pipeline Talk.................................. 118 Guatemalan Aerial Survey Fixing Concession Boundaries 119 (2) (0.0065) (17) (5,280) (7.32)2 (51.4) (32.2) (0.673) = 148.300 lb./ft.2 AX = (51.4) (300) = 15,400 lb./ft.2 Therefore: 1(14.7) (144)]--P ,= -148,300-15,400; or P, = 148.300 + 15,400 4 2,120 =r 165,820 lb./sq. ft. abs. = 1,151 psia. dependent on surface roughness but is also affected by pressure drop and diam eter for the exponents used for these values usually differ slightly from the actual ones obtained. " Saph and Schoder Formula This is another empirical equation that has sometimes been used to design water systems. It is usually written as: yl.M i h = 0.38--------D 12' (18) - Where: h = friction loss, ft. water per 1,000 ft. pipe v = velocity, ft./sec. D = internal diameter, ft. The limitations of the above two em pirical equations are obvious and their use cannot be generally recommended. However, where sufficient data and know-how are available they can give satisfactory results. = 1,136 psig. A convenient equation may be de veloped for oil lines using Equation 3 above. If B = oil flow rate in bbl./day and d = internal pipe diameter ex pressed in inches: ON THE JOB IN THE PLANTS v = 0.286 B/'d2 0.04 f = ------------ Re"m (d 12 x 0.04 (4) X 0,286 B /d2)0172 Then: 2fLv2p APf = ------------ gD L B i s2 8 p<> 828 ^ 0 .1 7 2 = 1.470 ---------------------------------- (5) 4 .8 2 8 when the value of f from Equation 4 is substituted into the above equation and the result consolidated. The num ber of significant figures shown for the exponents result from the derivation and do not reflect the accuracy. For practical purposes these numbers may be rounded off to two significant fig ures. Hazen-Williams Formula The Hazen-Williams formula is an empirical equation that was originally developed for the flow of water. Like manv such equations it contains an arbi trary constant for which a value is necessarv. It has been used successfully for oil-line design where sufficient ac tual data were available to estimate a value of the constant C. In common engineering terms this equation may be written as: Q = 0.67 CD23 (AP/pL)" 57 (17) Where: Q = D = AP = L = p = flow rate. ft.3/sec. diameter, ft. pressure drop, lb./ft.'-' length, ft. density, lb./ft.3 The arbitrary constant C is primarily SHEET-METAI, JACKET being applied over pointed blocks on a column iu the atmospheric group at Tidewater's Delaware refinery. Mineral wool used as . . . Tidewater Insulates Refinery by E. 1. Waller* and H. L. H um es7 'T'HE trend of petroleum-processing units towards higher and higher operating temperatures increases the importance of thermal insulation. Be cause of the vital role which insulation on equipment and piping plays in the prevention of costly heat loss and the maintenance of correct process tem peratures, its. selection and design merit careful consideration. At the largest single refinery con struction project ever undertaken. Tide water Oil Co.'s new Delaware Flying A refinery near Delaware City, Del., over 750,000 board feet of mineral-wool block insulation are used. The basis Senior engineer, C. F. Braun & Co. ar Alhambra. Calif., and tvice president in charge of research and development. Baldwir,Hill Co at Trenton, N. J. for determining the insulation require ments is the norma! operating temper ature. At the new Delaware Flying A refinery all surfaces above 150c F. are insulated for heal conservation, for personnel protection and for tempera ture control. Surfaces with operating temperatures from 75 to 150 F. are insulated only where unusually close operational tem perature control is necessary. Below 75 F. surfaces are insulated only where required for temperature and condensation control. Piping and equipment (w'ith only six exceptions) normally operating above 150 F. is insulated for personnel pro tection to a height of 7 ft. above the operating level. The exceptions are hot pump cases, coolers, turbines, con- 166 THE OIL AND CAS J O UR N AL ON THE JOB ... . .. IN THE PLANTS densers, heat-exchanger flanges, pipingvalves, and flanges. Material Selection Low conductivity over a wide range of surface temperatures is considered especially desirable. The ability of one basic insulating material to cover sur faces operating at many different tem peratures simplifies purchasing and warehousing, and, usually precludes the necessity for stocking special hightemperature insulations. A relatively high degree of struc tural strength also is important. For this reason rigid block type of insula tion, rather than the more flexible types, is considered superior, because today the added labor cost of ade quately supporting flexible type of in sulations more than offsets any saving in material cost. The insulation should be resilient in order to fit snugly the surface to which it is applied, and to adjust itself to a limited amount of thermal expansion. Resistance to abra sion also is desirable so that the ma terial may be salvaged if removed for maintenance of the vessel. A final, but by no means less-im portant criterion, is ease of both han dling and application, since erection costs exceed material costs by approxi mately 50 per cent. A felted block type of insulation manufactured from spun mineral fibers was selected to insulate all surfaces operating at temperatures above 600 F. In addition, it was applied on all insulated flat surfaces and all cylindri cal surfaces greater than 24 in. in diameter in. the temperature range 150 to 1,700 F. Combining low thermal conductivity (for instance, .51 B.t.u., in./hr., sq.-ft., "Fahrenheit at 600 F.) and a wide tem perature range (to 1,700 F.) with ex cellent structural strength, resilience, abrasion resistance, comparatively low moisture absorption and low alkalinity this material meets the desired criteria. Lightweight and easily cut with a knife or saw, it is simple to handle and apply. It conforms readily to irregular and curved surfaces. In addition it is available in thick nesses from 1 to 6 in. and in a wide range of standard sizes up to 24 by 36 in. Thus, because it is easily shaped, only the larger sizes need be stocked. Smaller sizes can be cut from large blocks in the field as required. Thickness . . . Insulation, except that applied merely for personnel protec tion, should pay for itself, either in B.t.u.'s saved or in maintaining tem perature control during extreme weather conditions. At the Tidewater project, calculation of insulation thicknesses was based on normal-operating surface tem peratures and a 4-year payoff life. Cost of heat was estimated at 25 cents per million B.t.u.; cost of ap plied insulation at 26 cents per board foot. Mean ambient temperature was assumed to be 50 F., and average wind velocity as 15 m.p.h. Block thick nesses determined in this manner are shown in Table 1. Weatherproofing . . . Basically, two methods were employed to weatherproof tank and vessel insulation. Plastic weatherproofing was used on small ap paratus and exchangers and on the bot tom heads of large vertical cylinders and columns. With minor exceptions, sheet-metal jackets protect insulation on the tops and sides of large horizontal and vertical vessels and tanks. Either roofing paper or sheet metal covers most pipes and lines, while roof ing felts weatherproof the tops of the A.P.I. storage tanks. Small Equipment Appropriate thicknesses (see Table 1) of 6 by 36-in. mineral-wool block insulate all apparatus and exchangers having radii of from 13 to 30 in. For equipment with radii greater than 30 in., 12 by 36rin. blocks were used. Adjacent blocks were applied with staggered joints, butted tightly together. To fit the smaller diameter, units blocks were field cut and scored on inner sur faces. Elastic bands composed of ropes and springs or of rubber strips tied together, held the blocks initially until utility wire was wrapped around the vessel to secure them temporarily. Finally the block was permanently se cured by % by ,022-in. stainless-steel expander strap, 5-ft. corrugated and 5 ft. plain, sealed with closed type of seals and the utility wire was removed. At manholes, large nozzles, support brackets, and on vessel heads, securement with expander strap is imprac tical. Here studs were welded to the vessel surface. A web of 14-gage tie wire, fastened to the studs, secures the block. Interrupted expander straps also are anchored to the tie wires. After the block was secured, all joints, cracks, and bruises were pointed with a white mineral-wool insulatingfinishing cement. Then the cement was applied over the entire surface in a single Vi-in. layer and finished with a slightly rough outer face. Reinforcement of the subsequent layer of plastic weatherproofing was accomplished by laying wire mesh over the cement coat. The mesh was at tached with A by 2-in. galvanized iron staples driven through the cement into the mineral-wool block. Sides and ends of adjacent mesh sections were inter woven. First step in weatherproofing appa ratus and exchangers was the applica tion of a filler coat of plastic weather proofing compound over the cement and mesh. The filler coat consisted of two parts No. 20 dry, washed sand and four parts by weight of asphaltic mastic weatherproofing. Then a finish coat of mastic alone was applied. Application of multilayer block in sulation on small apparatus and ex changers was very similar to that of the single layer just described. However, the inner layer of block was secured with 14-gage galvanized iron wire on 8-in. centers instead of expander strap, and only bruises-- not joints--in the inner layer of block were pointed with mineral-wool cement. The outer layer, its joints staggered with respect to those of the inner layer, was then applied and secured with expander strap. Large units . . . The larger vessels, tanks and columns at the Delaware refinery are insulated with spun mineral-wool blocks in the same way as the smaller equipment, with the addition of expan sion joints. Columns wth radii from 13 `to 60 in. were insulated with 6 by 36-in. blocks. Those greater than 60 in. in radius were covered with 12 by 36-in. blocks. Longitudinal spacing of these units of insulation is accomplished by weld ing a continuous ring of steel angles around the vessel shell at intervals along the vessel length. Minimum ring spac ing is 9 ft. Maximum angle-support spacing is 15 ft. except on A.P.I. stor age tanks. Insulation on the heads of vessels is secured with a combination of welding studs, tie wires and circumferential ex pander strap. Blocks were field cut to conform to the shape of the surface and pointed. TABLE 1-- INSULATION THICKNESS SCHEDULE, MINERAL-WOOL BLOCK ON APPARATUS AND TANKS ,------ 'Thickness, (in.)----- Temperature Temperature Personnel range control, heat protection degrees F. conservation only 150-299 .............. U4 I 300-399 .............. 1Vi 1 Vi 400-499 .............. 2 1VS 500-599 .............. 2 lVi 600-699 ............... 2Vi 1 Vi 700-799 .............. 2Vi 2 800-900 .............. *3 2 900-1,000 .............. *3 2 Vi 1,000-1,100 .............. *3Vi 2Vi ` Double-layer insulation, first layer, lVi in. thick. F E B R U A R Y 18, 1957 169