Inventory and Fate of Chemical Additives to Improve Plant Reliability

Chemical additives provide strong benefits to plant operations including the reduction of process upsets resulting from foaming, fouling, emulsions, and corrosion. Though chemical additives are designed to solve specific process problems under known conditions, their impacts on downstream and upstream units (via recycle) are not clearly understood. A continual awareness of how chemical additives may impact areas of the process for which they were not intended can improve plant reliability. Additionally, recognition of the potential accumulation of additive degradation products in process areas allows plant engineers to better prepare for maintenance activities. This study focuses on the development of an inventory and tracking tool that can support efforts to improve plant reliability.