The NOVA Chemicals Corunna site uses a five-stage compression process to drive the charge (furnace effluent) gas through the olefin recovery units. High discharge temperatures and the reactive nature of the components in gas stream often initiates undesired polymerization which fouls the internals. Mitigating compressor fouling is key to extend the Corunna Olefins unit's operating time between full maintenance turnarounds.

This study was focused to experimentally investigate fouling chemistry in the compressors. Two main tasks performed were to: (i) complete characterization of deposits from compressor internals to identify the polymer matrix and polymerization chemistry; (ii) simulate gas phase fouling reactions in a lab scale unit and perform a parametric study.

The roles of temperature, pressure and metallurgy were evaluated with temperature having the greatest impact on fouling rate. An operating window has been identified to reduce fouling by fifty percent.