The petrochemical industry enters a new sphere of branching / So perform constantly branching out of your feeding and production lines

Persian Gulf Fajr Energy Company as the beating heart of the Petrochemical Especial Economic Zone is in charge of providing the vital services to companies in this region. Fajr Co as the only provider of the vital services in the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone supplies petrochemical products, electricity, steam, industrial air, industrial and sanitary water, etc. to the existing industries in the region.

The establishment and launching of some companies in the Petrochemical Especial Economic Zone suggests that the companies should be provided their vital services, so they should receive the energy services out of the transmission lines from different companies. The services of the Persian Gulf Fajr Energy Company are of those services branched off the transmission lines. Sometimes this way of branching or service providing is not possible while the fluid is still running through the lines. So the branching must be carried out live, or in other words, while the fluid is flowing in the lines.

 In an interview with a public relations reporter of PGJEC, Reza Mahdiloui said: After the establishment of Petronad Asia Company in the Petrochemical Special Economic Zone it became vital to provide Petronad Asia with its critical services, so Fajr Co had put on the agenda to carry out a live hot-tapping or branching operation on the service transmission lines. This operation has been carried out very carefully by the managers of Petronad Asia Company in cooperation with the technical and operation services of Fajr Company.

As head of the Department for Inspection of Non-destructive Tests at the Persian Gulf Fajr Energy Company stated: The operations with high sensitivity have been carried out very accurately due to the special conditions of some of these critical services. 10 hot-tapping operations have been successfully carried out with full precision on the transmission lines, the operations which in some cases were unique and done for the first time in the country.

 He said: "Hot-tapping operations have been successfully carried out due to the numerous de-tensioning challenges and the welding operations in special conditions with the help of some field tests and previous experiences." One of these operations has been carried out on the steam line. As it was done for the first time in the country on a special condition of high temperature (420 degrees) of the line and because of the thickness of the company’s transmission pipe, the operation is considered somehow a push forward to the boundaries of knowledge and technology in the world.

 Mehdi Loui added: Branching from the steam line was one of the most challenging operations for hot tappings, because it had been successfully done despite facing some difficulties while reviewing the standardization process and the documents with regard to the primarily evaluations and existing experience. This operation was carried out with creativity, inovation and risk-taking by the managers of Persian Gulf Fajr Energy Company, so various scenarios have been predicted and different solutions were presented and suggested to finally perform the live branching operation, as Karun Petrochemical company (as one of the beneficiaries) was still receiving steam service from Fajr Co and it was not possible to cut off the steam flow.

 He continued: Fajr Co started the operation of hot tapping or branching from the said line after measuring the thickness of the pipe with the help of the most advanced equipment and by choosing a competent contractor. Because the Fajr Co’s steam pipe line is 27 mm thick and is made of a P11 alloy which is sensitive to cutting and welding operations. However, the cutting operation was started with the assistance and consultation of the most experienced people in the field of welding, as the temperature of the steam in the pipe lines was still 420 degrees Celsius flowing with a pressure of 42 bar.

The head of the Department for Inspection of Non-destructive Tests at Persian Gulf Fajr Energy Company noted: Considering the fact that several scenarios have already been examined in the workshop to well perform the operation, the operation was stopped after several attacks on the line and also due to the thickness of the pipe the cutting diamonds were broken during operation. But the cutting operation was resumed once again after a several days break to replace the diamonds and blades.

Furthermore, Mohsen Meshak also said in this regard: There is many differences between this very operation and other normal types of hot tappings, the most important of which we can refer to are the thickness of the pipe (27 mm), the material of the pipe (P11 alloy) and the HPS steam fluid in the said operation.

The Head of Technical Inspection Department at Persian Gulf Fajr Energy Company stated: The very experience made out of these live branching operations well proved that from now on any steam pipe line, the scale, size and thickness of which is up to 27 mm can undergo branching operation without interrupting the flow of steam inside it. The branching and the special experience can be very useful for power plants, refineries and petrochemical companies so that they can still continue their branching operations without stopping production.

He finally noted as saying: Despite these parameters, the hot tapping operation has been carried out for the first time in the country's petrochemical industries. This successful experience of steam hot tapping can also be used as a case study in all similar industries and can be proposed to the scientific, technical and academic communities, as well.