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oily Sludge dry in compressor suction pipeline

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MIANCH

MIANCH

Chemical
Aug 8, 2002
162
Hi,
in my company we are facing problem for oily dry sludge removal from compressor suction line. the dia of pipeline is 30" and length is about 500 meters. I attached photo of dried sludge for observation and comments.
sludge_material_vz4grx.jpg

water flushing or chemical cleaning is not considered because of water weight as this pipeline is 50 year old. is there any other solution of this problem.
Regards
 
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New pipeline?

Can you pig it or get any internal tools in there?

We don't have a lot of information here.

But at 50 years old it has exceeded its service life. Usually far easier and less costly to simply replace it.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
 
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Could be black ferrous sulpide (FeS) corrosion product - is this line in H2S service?
 
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Crude oil storage vapors plus 15 psig low pressure gas recovered through this line. I confirm by adding HCL in this material and pH changes including released H2S.
 
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If water flushing is a concern, then this line must be pocketed, which is not good design practice for a compressor suction line.
For a new line, consider SS316 if operating temp is <55degC, else go for 22Cr duplex, since you have chlorides in this LP gas to the compressor. With 22Cr duplex SS, design velocity upper limit is 30m/sec, which should enable a smaller dia line. Redo the line route to enable free draining.
 
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George,
Is there chances of ammonium bisulfide with such type of material while total nitrogen is 0.58wt% in crude oil.
 
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Doubt it, since nitrogen in crude oil is tightly bound in the heavier fractions with naphthenic and aromatic compounds.
 
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George,
This pipeline is old and material collected from it, indicates iron sulfide, magnesium sulfide or bisulfide, well carbonization has developed or not and cleaning with water or surfactants will not deteriorate further. I mean pipeline already internally exposed and water will react with Sulphur components and can develop sulphuric acid which further weaken pipeline. please add your inputs on this issue.
 
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Suggest speaking to the plant piping engineer to get an inspection done on this line to see if it is worth saving - it may have thinned a fair bit over the years, especially at water wetted low points. If it is worth saving, at the least, would suggest adding drip legs at low points which may be evacuated on auto or manual.
 
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