Situation
Oman Refineries and Petrochemicals Company (ORPC) processes about 222,000 barrels per day
One-stop supplier for sealing technology at the Sohar refinery
Full range of EagleBurgmann products for sealing technology in Oman
Challenge
Commissioning and continuous service of the operating mechanical seals
Solution
TotalSealCare service and own service center on-site in Sohar
The refinery
The Sohar Refinery was built with state of the art technology to process a mixed feedstock of crude oil and atmospheric residue from the Oman Refining Company since 2006. This feedstock is transported to the Sohar Refinery via a dedicated 24 inch diameter, 266 km long pipeline. Besides an atmospheric distillation unit with a capacity of 116,000 bpd (barrels per day), the refinery has a residue fluidized catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit, a LPG merox unit, a gasoline desulphurization unit and also a deep desulphurization unit. The refineries' output for export includes fuel oils, gasoline, LPG, naphtha, gas oil and kerosene.
In 2007 the government of Oman merged the “Oman Refinery Company” (ORC) with “Sohar Refinery Company” (SRC) to create a competitive world class refining company in the Sultanate. Since then the merged entity is named “Oman Refineries and Petrochemicals Company” (ORPC) with a combined capacity of about 222,000 barrels per day (ORC 106,000 bpd + SRC 116,000 bpd).
Service contracts
In 2006 EagleBurgmann received its first big order for mechanical seals from Sohar Refinery. To enable a quick support to the customer, EagleBurgmann Middle East (EBME) started to stock spare parts in its Dubai service centre. After a successful commissioning and reliable support of EagleBurgmann, the first service contract in the frame of the company's comprehensive TotalSealCare service concept was signed.
Because the cooperation between EBME and Sohar Refinery got stronger, the seal manufacturer decided to set up a seal repair service centre directly in Sohar, very close to the refinery in December 2007. As the customer was very satisfied, especially with the performance of EagleBurgmann mechanical seals and the after sales service, a long term seal repair contract was signed by the two parties, valid for several years.
Mechanical seals for pumps
The Sohar Refinery complex is equipped with approximately 320 pumps in total. With a share of approx. 60 %, EagleBurgmann is the main mechanical seal manufacturer of the plant. EagleBurgmann Middle East is responsible for several hundreds of installed mechanical seals ranging from Cartex-DE, H75, MFLWT80, MFL85N to SH types. These seals are running in 188 pumps from Sulzer, Ebara and KSB and are mainly installed in process areas, utilities and tank farm areas of the refinery. To ensure the maximum lifetime of the seals, supply system types according to API plan 23 and 52 have been selected carefully from EagleBurgmann's application engineers.
Mechanical seals for compressors
EagleBurgmann is not just the leading manufacturer for pump seals within the plant, there are also several other machines fitted with their sealing products. In the gas processing part of the plant, there are compressors from Ebara installed, which are fitted with EagleBurgmann dry gas seals. For example type NF90E is running in a circulation compressor, and type NF953E is installed in a heat compressor.
Couplings for compressors and pumps
Additionally, EagleBurgmann has a good population with its flexible diaphragm couplings for compressors from Ebara and Mayekawa and also for Ebara pumps. In total, there are 22 machines fitted with Model-67, Model-74 and Model-100 couplings.
Packings and Gaskets
Beginning of 2010, ORPC Sohar Refinery had their first plant turnaround and EagleBurgmann got the chance to participate by supplying Buralloy heat exchanger and equipment gaskets as well as Spiraltherm spiral wound gaskets. Various metal types like soft iron, SS316, SS304, SS410, F5, Monel and even Titanium were used to produce the semi-metallic gaskets. Cut gaskets made of Burasil fiber sheets and Statotherm graphite sheets were also supplied. Due to a very good co-operation between ORPC engineers and EagleBurgmann Middle East Packings and Gaskets team, more than 700 gaskets have been supplied on time.
Due to reliable performance of the EagleBurgmann sealing products in several refinery units and frequent customer visits of EBME to the customer, the company received an additional order to retrofit approximately 40 ACME pumps in offsite and utility units. The original seals had been component type rubber bellows seals of an Asian competitor. The pumps are processing a water/ sludge mix by ambient temperature and low pressures. EagleBurgmann replaced these seals with Unitex seals. Compared to component seals, these cartridge seal type has the benefit of easy handling. Since installation, the Unitex seals are running fine.
Additionally EagleBurgmann received orders for further diaphragm couplings and dry gas seals. This growing success is the result of a good customer-manufacturer relationship, excellent quality of products, service and technical know-how of seal specialists.
Further reference projects
China, Mainland
10 years ahead
Between June 2017 and March 2019 the Hengli Group constructed an integrated refining and chemical complex in the Chinese harbor town Dalian where 20 million tons of crude oil are processed every year. EagleBurgmann advised the company Hengli concerning the selection of mechanical seals and supply systems for the whole plant and supplied more than 95 % of the components in use.
United Kingdom
10 years of reliability: Protecting the heart of Great Britain’s natural gas infrastructure from failure
In Great Britain, a shortage in natural gas supply has severe consequences: Since the country switched from coal-fired to gas-fired power stations, a gas supply shortage makes households and industrial consumers not only vulnerable to failing heating and gas stoves, but also to power outages. Companies along the value and transportation chain of natural gas are therefore especially dependent on reliable equipment.
Germany
100 percent performance at 300 degrees
Things get hot in rotary kilns, very hot in fact. In the production of cement, for example, the thermometer measures more than 1,000 degrees Celsius. Sealing systems from EagleBurgmann, a company of the Freudenberg Group and EKK, make sustainable contributions to environmental protection, energy efficiency and process reliability under these "fiery" high-temperature conditions.
India
A Partnership to build on
Our modern civilization is quite literally built upon cement. Today, building materials made from cement are used in buildings, roads, bridges, dams etc. Cement production is a heat-intensive process and causes thermal expansion in duct systems. To compensate this, Indian cement producer Ramco Cement needed fabric expansion joints with a diameter of several meters for two of their plants. On the basis of a close collaboration, EagleBurgmann was able to design components that increase the efficiency of the plant in the long run.
Argentina
Clean gas despite fluctuating operating conditions
Frequent starts and stops are a severe test for gas-lubricated compressor seals. Installed in an Argentinean combined cycle power plant is an EagleBurgmann supply system that provides a continuous gas flow rate for the seals and adapts it to changing conditions. Since then, the operational reliability of the compressors has increased significantly.
Germany
Clean sealing solution for demanding crystal production
Seals are a risk factor in the production of liquid crystals. If there is even the slightest contamination of the liquid crystals, this will later affect the image quality of the display. Read on to see which sealing solution Merck KGaA uses in paddle dryers for the production of liquid crystals.