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Tower internal and drum maintenance is essential for keeping operations running smoothly and at peak efficiency.
Designed for mass transfer and separation process requirements, these internals work in demanding conditions, as they’re continuously exposed to temperature changes, pressure, erosion, corrosion and more.
With their rugged and fouling resistant reliable operation, fixed valve trays hold up in difficult distillation applications. WMP manufactures precisely crafted optimized fixed valve trays in a variety of available materials and types — from sieve trays, bubble and tunnel cap trays, rectangular valve trays and round valve trays.
When planning maintenance for these internals, keep this checklist of six questions in mind from Woven Metal Products (WMP), a U.S.-based state-of-the-art fabrication facility, specializing in tower, drum and reactor internals and custom fabrication.
How old is the tower or drum? When was the last time (or known time) the internals were replaced?
Knowing the age of your tower or drum is helpful for planning which products may need maintenance or to be replaced altogether. In addition to the overall vessel age, it’s important to know how long individual internals products have been running, so we can help you develop a plan for what should be replaced — and how often.
At what capacity is your tower or drum running?
Knowing your capacity limits, concerns and needs, our team can make recommendations to improve process flow capacity. WMP can work with your team to help your existing tower or drum meet your unit’s higher rates.
At what capacity do you want your tower or drum to run?
Based on existing flow capacity and your desired future capacity, the WMP team can propose design improvements. By utilizing different internal equipment choices, such as tray or packing styles, or mist eliminator types, upgraded internal changes can improve your process flows, normally without major design modifications or replacement of an existing tower or drum.
Are you interested in debottlenecking options or process flow improvements?
Our team can review your existing process internals and suggest improvements in specific areas and equipment to optimize efficiency and increase capacity — without a massive equipment overhaul.
A lot of times changing internals can result in significant long-term operational cost savings, making the investment payback short.
Are you interested in replacing old trays with newer improved trays?
Based on current flow and desired future flow, the WMP team may suggest improved tray options that can provide additional capacity and efficiency — without modifying the tower or drum.
WMP’s patented tray deck repair washers are available in many metal alloys and shapes to match existing tray valves. The washers bend into enlarged tray panel holes, allowing for repair during turnaround discovery without a large unplanned expense.
If old tray panel openings are enlarged from spin or valve wear, WMP’s patented tray deck repair washer can cost-effectively fix the problem. WMP’s patented washer simply bends into your existing enlarged tray valve hole, allowing the field crew to quickly repair existing panels during turnaround discovery without welding, panel replacements, special tools or extra labor. This keeps your outage on track and within budget, avoiding significant panel replacement delays and large unplanned expenses.
Do you have any prints, pictures or recent inspection reports of your tower or drum?
In many cases, the WMP team may have a plant’s existing and historical prints on file, saving you time and potentially money and hassle. Just ask our team.
Regardless of your situation, WMP can review your current internals and process conditions to recommend the best equipment solution. When our team updates internal equipment items, we utilize the latest 3D and 2D modeling packages, so a plant’s record drawings will be helpful and accessible in the future.
Get in touch with the WMP team at wovenmetal.com/contact or call 281-331-4466, so we can work with you to help your plant run at peak performance. Working together, we can help you prepare for a practically painless maintenance or turnaround outage, with superior operation results.
