Scene 1

Eliminating  Safety Risks of  Fired Start-up Heater

Scene 2

Safety  is part of the  corporate strategy  and is a  key priority Our commitment  to create a safe workplace  never stops… … because safety  doesn’t happen  by accident. Establish a proactive safety culture Focus on behavior-based safety

Continuous aspiration of zero lost time accidents

Scene 3

Introduction Fired Start-up Heater (conventional) Safety concerns Risk mitigations Why Electrical heaters?? Electrical Start-up Heaters (HT solution) Internal and external electrical heaters Design & installation Optimizing cost with safety References

Scene 4

The ammonia industry has experienced a number of incidents related to fired start-up heaters, compromising safety, and in some instances causing severe operational impact.  The causes of the incidents are not only related to the design and operation of the fired heaters, but also to the intermittent nature of their operation.

Scene 5

brief account of few accidents in Ammonia plants

An explosion occurred in the start-up heater in  Shellstar  Ltd.

A fire occurred in the start-up heater in Monsanto Company

A fire occurred in the start-up heater of ammonia plant in Ludwigshafen

A start-up heater tube also failed in Standard Oil’s Ammonia plant

A coil rupture in led to subsequent fire/explosion in the heater

Despite many improvements in material constructions and protection / control systems, the human factor and intermittent operating nature of the fired start-up heater are still major concerns to many operators.

Ammonia and the Fertiliser Industry | Development at Billingham

A picture containing outdoor

Description automatically generated

A picture containing text, outdoor, street, truck

Description automatically generated

A picture containing rocket

Description automatically generated

A coil rupture in the start-up heater occurred

Source:  Proceedings of the last 60 years from the  AIChE  Ammonia Safety Symposium

Scene 6

Inadequate / incorrectly followed procedures

Delayed ignition / build-up of a fuel cloud

Improper fuel-air ratio / unstable burner flame

Tube failure and insufficient maintenance

Scene 7

Brief on incidents related to Ammonia loops

Observations: Mismatch between observed performance & required performance -> Risk Excessive push to expedite the plant startup -> Risk. .

Extract from Haldor Topsoe experience through the years

Scene 8

Design & Metallurgy Consider the risk of creep failure due to overheating of the coil            (nitriding and hydrogen embrittlement) Use ferritic stainless steel material for all coils

Operations Installation and operation of a burner management systems Maintenance procedures strictly followed. Conducting proper root-cause analysis of operational issues and necessary subsequent actions, despite its intermittent operation. Operational procedures should be updated regularly and followed.

C:\Users\caha\AppData\Local\Temp\IML-00006939.tif

Scene 9

Haldor Topsoe provides the alternative solution as  Electrical start-up heaters  in view of:

Mitigating risk associated with open flames

Graphical user interface, application

Description automatically generated

A picture containing diagram

Description automatically generated

A picture containing text

Description automatically generated

Scene 10

Scene 11

Safe, Quick and Efficient  solution invented by Haldor Topsoe A/S in 1950s

Scene 12

Temperature resistant copper conductor Ceramic powder, a pure magnesium oxide for electrical insulation  The stainless steel duplex tube acts as a barrier against diffusion, corrosion and erosion Can be made in very long sections High heater duty and only few electrical terminals.

Scene 13

Scene 14

POSTIONED INTO THE CENTRE GAS PIPE INSIDE  THE CONVERTER

INTERNAL HEATER  (DESIGNED AS LONG HAIRPINS)

CAN BE SIZED UP TO  1.8 MW /SECTION DEPENDING  UPON THE SIZE OF  CONVERTER AND PROCESS

REQUIRED POWER IS 1/2 OF FIRED / EXTERNAL ELECTRICAL HEATERS

NO REQUIREMENT OF  THE INDIVIDUAL  PRESSURE SHELL  AND HOT PIPING

Scene 15

u-L31
Load d4re
level
R-PECÜkQ
MAIN MENU
Voltage control
TRENDS
Hater
Circuit Breaker
MAIN MENU
HALDON TOPSOE
STATUS PANEL
CB ready C}
Thyristor faut C}
0
Isolatim faut
Heater Load degree fadt C}
(See
0
Pressurization faut
Emergerq stop
Local
Amnonia plant
Internal Startu heater
pyccKMi

Scene 16

Internal heater- manufacturing to installation

Scene 17

Scene 18

Scene 19

Scene 20

Advance process control A step regulation with the help of HMI screen and subsequently vary the temperature as required duty ( 0-100%) from Process. The PLC to perform the heater monitoring and control

Electrical & overheat protections Short circuit, Earth fault and overload protections via Circuit breakers and relays. The measurement of resistance (V/I) is indirectly a measure for the heaters “health” in terms of overheating (Forbidden zone).

Scene 21

Advantages of electrical heaters over fired heaters

PARAMETERS FIRED  HEATERS HTAS ELECTRICAL HEATERS SAFETY  Low High tube wall temp. (up to 800  0 C) with higher pressure (100 bar) not  an optimal solution. Open flames represent a potential source of hazard. High Pressure bearing parts and the temp. bearing parts are separated Specifically designed for hazardous areas. No accident  has ever been reported in HT electrical heaters CHECK  &            OPERATION Several  check-points required  Heat regulation is not very smooth. Only Insulation  resistance to be checked before start. Smooth heat regulation from 0 – 100%.  MAINTENANCE High  maintenance due to repair and down-time.  Almost maintenance free solution, running references of more than 30 years. EFFICIENCY Low High COST Additional costs for high pressure piping and reinforced concrete foundation is required for fired heaters. Internal heaters ( HT’s recommended solution ) are installed inside the converter with considerable savings compared to fired heaters.

Scene 22

HTAS ELECTRICAL HEATERS FOR SAFE START-UP OF YOUR PLANT

Scene 23

Overall exceeding 200MW heaters are in operation around the world and committed to serve at its best for our customers

for some plant owners the absence of carbon dioxide emissions from an electrical heater is an added benefit in relation to newbuilds

Scene 24

Toosoe Is
hædquartered
in Denmark.
O Edmonto
Hous
O New
penhagen
O Essen
O Moscow
Manama
Obar
Beijing O
Suzhou
Delhi

Scene 25

To  be   recognized as the  global  leader in carbon  emission    reduction   technologies   by   2024

Scene 26

Wind turbines in a field

Description automatically generated with medium confidence

To find out more or get in contact avsh@topsoe.com   www.topsoe.com

To stay up to date regarding upcoming events, product launches, cases and other developments get connected and follow us:

Eliminating 
Safety Risks of 
Fired Start-up Heater

avatar

 To find out more or get in contact avsh@topsoe.com   www.topsoe.com