Product category:
Cooling and Heat Tracing systems
News Release from: Pittsburgh Corning | Subject: Foamglas Terostat
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 03 January 2008
Exxon reaps benefits of new Foamglas
insulation
An Exxon ethylene plant has reaped the benefits of replacing its cryogenic-service pipework insulation with Foamglas Terostat from Pittsburgh Corning
The system has provided significant time, cost and safety benefits to Exxon, while being installed in a very short timescale to keep plant shutdowns to a minimum The project involved the replacement of the majority of the plant cryogenic-service pipework insulation, which operates down to -105C
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 25 Jul 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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The existing polyurethane insulation had been foamed-in-situ under metal cladding and had suffered progressive deterioration as vapour retarders broke down and moisture entered the insulation.
This moisture had then turned into ice which was also evident on the outside of the cladding.
The thermal conductivity of ice is approximately one hundred times worse than that of the original polyurethane so this saturated, frozen insulation had become grossly inefficient.
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Pittsburgh Corning Foamglas Terostat insulation system met all the requirements of this demanding project.
The period allocated for the shutdown was very short and the cryogenic pipework was mostly in very congested plant areas.
The ideal solution for the client was to avoid the original in-situ foam system, to use a minimum number of insulation layers and use factory-applied weather/vapour barriers and preformed boxes for fittings wherever possible.
Foamglas could be installed in one or two layers, pre-cut to suit the pipework.
It was factory pre-coated with Terostat polymer which avoided the need to apply mastics or wraps on site.
A total of 1 km of Foamglas pipe insulation was applied together with 180 preformed precoated elbows, 83 preformed precoated flange and valve boxes and 64 preformed T pieces.
These prefabricated components saved significant time on site and ensured a high quality finished job.
Because of the short timescales, two insulation contracting companies worked on site simultaneously.
Despite only a few of the applicators having installed Foamglas Terostat previously, all quickly adapted to the system and achieved excellent results.
As an added benefit, the Terostat factory-applied finish meant there was no need to apply metal cladding which provided substantial time and cost savings.
Foamglas Terostat without cladding also offers better fire protection for the pipework than the previous metal-clad polyurethane system.
The project insulation coordinator commented that with the original specification it would have taken up to three times as long to complete the job as it took with Foamglas Terostat.
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