Decontamination of a Venezuelan Coker Column During an Emergency Maintenance Shutdown

Challenge

A Venezuelan refinery conected with ZymeFlow to decontaminate the main fractionating Coker column as part of an emergency maintenance shutdown. The refinery wanted to use a biodegradable chemical agent that ensured sensible and efficient management and disposal of effluents generated. The main objective was to eliminate H2S and LEL gases while neutralizing pyrophoric materials and eliminating the tarry coke solids that had historically filled the lower bowl. 

Solution

The goal was to provide these objectives while eliminating delays in entry by minimizing manual and mechanical cleaning of the tower after decontamination compared to their previous chemical provider. To reach this goal, ZymeFlow proposed an oil wash enhancement with Vapour-Phase®  decontamination. This method would eliminate the need for a large crew, complicated hose layouts, frac tanks, and extensive mechanical preparations.  The result consisted of a coker unit with zero pyrophorics and completely de-oiled.