Refractory Services

Specialist Materials & Maintenance Division

 Engineers India Limited (EIL) was established in 1965 under Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt. of India, to provide engineering and related technical services for petroleum refineries, oil and gas pipelines, petrochemical industries, chemical process plants and other industrial projects. In addition to petroleum refining field, with which it started initially, it has diversified into and excelled in other fields such as pipelines, petrochemicals, oil and gas processing, ocean engineering, fertilizer, and non-ferrous metallurgy. EIL today provides a complete range of project services in these fields and has emerged as south Asia’s leading design and engineering company. 

Scores of satisfied clients, constantly rising turnover and profits, a treasure of technical knowledge and skills and a unique reputation of professional competence make EIL a versatile market leader among engineering companies. In addition to process design, detailed engineering, procurement, construction management, project management and commissioning EIL provides other specialised services like risk analysis, material management and corrosion control, reliability analysis and environment management. 

Specialist Materials and Maintenance Services (SMMS) division of EIL was established in 1972 with the objective of providing specialised services in the field of Refractories & Non-metallic, Corrosion Control, Maintenance & Inspection and Metallic Materials & Corrosion.  

The Refractory services group of SMMS is assisted by a team of 5 fulltime engineering graduate and post-graduate with experience ranging from eleven to twenty eight years and equipped with the latest computer software and hardware. It is capable of providing the entire range of services related to refractory and insulation materials and lining to the following major sectors of industry in India and abroad: 

-           Petroleum Refining

-           Petrochemicals

-           Oil and Gas Processing

-           Metallurgy

-           Chemicals

-                     Fertilizers

-                     Off-shore platforms

-                     Mineral Processing

-                     Space research

-                     Thermal Power                                                    SHUT DOWN REPAIR OF HEATERS

 The group has a unique advantage of utilising technological and engineering competence and experience, which is available to them in house from other specialised departments of EIL to provide the entire range of services related to project, construction, shutdown repair etc.  

The Refractory services group has been instrumental in designing and commissioning of a large number of Heaters, Sulphur Recovery Units, Waste Heat Boilers, Incinerators, Fluidised Catalytic Cracking Units, Primary and Secondary Reformers, Gas Crackers, Stacks, Chemical Tanks, Fire Proofing of Off-shore Platforms etc. during the past three decades.

 Much of the group’s rich and varied experience on refractories lining and design is derived from the experience of working with International designer and process licenser agencies like Universal Oil Product (UOP), Stone & Webster (SWEC), Exxon, Lurgy, Kellogg, Haldor Topsoe, Kinetic Technology, Krupp UHDE, Delta Hudson, Stork, Black & Veatch, Shell, ABB Lummus, Foster- Wheeler, IFP, Linde, Aluminium Pechiney etc. 

This document gives a brief account of the various services in the area of refractory lining that are offered by EIL; it also indicates the list of major assignments undertaken and resources available at its disposal.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            AUTOCAD DRAWINGS OF LINING

SERVICES AVAILABLE 

These following services are available as part of a project or separately depending upon requirement of the client: 

SERVICES OFFERED 

REFRACTORIES:

v             DESIGN OF REFRACTORY LINING SYSTEM,

v           MATERIAL SELECTION AND SPECIFICATION

v           DETAIL ENGINEERING DRAWING

v          SELECTION OF VENDORS

STRESS ANALYSIS OF REFRACTORY DOME

 (SECONDARY REFORMER)

v           SELECTION OF CONTRACTORS                   

v           INSPECTION OF REFRACTORY MATERIALS                           

v           APPLICATION PROCEDURE AND SEQUENCE OF APPLICATIONS

v                  DRYING-OUT SCHEDULE AND MONITORING

v                 QUALITY ASSURANCE SERVICE DURING APPLICATION

STRESS ANALYSIS OF ACID TOWER

v                 PRE AND POST DRYING-OUT LINING                      INSPECTION                                                                                                           

v                  TROUBLE SHOOTING

v                  FURNACE/EQUIPMENT LINING INSPECTION DURING PLANT SHUT DOWN

v                  CHEMICAL RESISTANT LINING DESIGN AND MATERIAL SELECTION

INSULATIONS:

v                  COLD AND HOT THERMAL

v                  DESIGN OF THERMAL INSULATION SYSTEM

v                  INSULATION AUDIT

v                  TROUBLE SHOOTING

v                  INSPECTION AND TESTING OF INSULATION MATERIAL

                                                                                STRESS ANALYSIS OF PERFORATED DOME

IMPORTANCE OF REFRACTORY LINING FOR PROCESS PLANTS

Refractories play an important role in the performance of furnaces, heaters, kilns, lined vessels & equipment, incinerators etc. Services related to the areas of Refractories for operating plants and in-house projects have been a part of EIL's work for most of its clients in India and abroad. Proper design, selection and application of refractory lining are the key words for efficient performance. In a continuous plant, failure of refractory lining in any equipment results in shut down of the unit causing sizable revenue losses. Even best of the refractory materials, if not applied properly, may cause failures. It is, therefore, imperative to provide utmost importance to design of lining, selection of materials and application of refractory for improving the availability of the plant/unit. Refractory services group is offering these services and more. The wealth of information, experience and expertise developed through decades of involvement in numerous projects and operating plants maintenance and trouble shooting assignments are now available to the clients through project or directly.

 In furnaces, heaters, reformers etc., where the lining is subjected to high temperature and high pressure of operation, it is particularly important that the quality of refractory lining in such critical equipment is maintained at different stages starting from material specifications, procurement & inspection at different stages and during installation. For many of EIL projects with refractory lined vessels and equipment, specialists from Refractory services group ensure quality supervision. In most of the cases, the process licensors recommend to engage expert agency to monitor the quality aspect of refractory lining. Therefore, howsoever good or renowned refractory application agencies are engaged, the lining job being manual, without serious quality control and monitoring by expert agency, deficiencies in lining work may creep in. Once the application is over, the total quality check of the completed job is difficult. Also, it is because most of the masons and skilled operators engaged by the application agencies for a particular job are floating type, giving rise to similar deficient quality output in most of the cases. To a certain extent, it may be possible to evaluate / identify some of the problems in the lining by non-destructive evaluation methods, such as radiography, but they are expensive and cumbersome for lining job. Over and above, carrying out small post-commissioning repair may not cost much but could force a shutdown of the furnace for many days, causing huge losses.  

                      Inspection of lining condition, identifying probable causes of failure, repair methodology and quality supervision during relining are paramount important. Therefore, to avoid any future problems and for reliable operation of the furnace and equipment lining, it is always recommended that all possible care be taken while carrying out lining through quality control and monitoring method. These services are available from the Refractories group to various industries in India and abroad.

SOFT WARES AVAILABLE 

Refractory services group is equipped with a wide variety of models and software for carrying out Heat transfer Calculations, Finite Element Stress Analysis of Refractory structure like domes, walls etc., Preparation of Detail Lining drawings and shape & sizes using Autocad-2000 software etc.

ASSOCIATION WITH REGULATORY AND OTHER AGENCIES

Refractory services group has rendered technical assistance in areas of Refractories, Insulation, Fire-proofing, Chemical Resistant lining etc. to various ministries of Government of India such as Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Ministry of Industry etc. It has also provided similar services to statutory bodies such as Bureau of Indian Standard’s sub-committee for Refractories and Insulation related activities,  Oil Industry Safety Directorate etc. through active representation. SMMS division is also active member of professional bodies like National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE), Materials Technology Institute (MTI), The Welding Institute (TWI) etc. and keep abreast of latest developments and techniques.  

PRESENTATION OF PAPERS    

A number of papers on design of refractory lining, specification of materials, testing requirements, failure analysis, case studies etc. have been presented at international and national forums. Engineers also regularly attend international and national conferences, workshops and seminars on Refractories and Insulation where ideas are exchanged and new developments are discussed.

REFERENCE LIST OF RECENT PROJECTS EXECUTED BY REFRACTORY SERVICES GROUP 

-:INDIA:-

Oil Refineries