【Haichuan Chemical Industry News】Guangzhou Petrochemical: A problem identified; one type of potential hazard rectified

Thread Content

Guangzhou Petrochemical: A problem was identified; a type of potential hazard was rectified. December 9, 2016. Source: Petrochemical News. At 3 p.m. on November 14, the weather in Guangzhou was sunny and warm, like in summer. A tall and thin man was moving around the third coking unit at Guangzhou Petrochemical; he would check one transmitter after another and touch one valve after another. He was Hao Tingfang, a member of the coking team in Workshop 4 of the Instrumentation and Control Center. When he reached the product refinement unit, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed on the lower part of the barrel of the LT3313 vertical level gauge: there were black oil stains. After wiping those stains away, he examined the area carefully but found no obvious signs of leakage. Hao Tingfang did not overlook this minor anomaly. After checking the instruments in other locations, he returned to the LT3313 float level gauge and found some black oil stains on the lower part of the gauge’s barrel, which had just been cleaned. This time he was sure that there was a leak in that lower part of the barrel. He immediately reported the situation to the team leader and the workshop, and stayed at the site to monitor things. Given the urgency of the situation, the workshop supervisor immediately organized technical staff to conduct an inspection. With the assistance of the process team, it was ultimately determined that there were sand holes in the weld between the cylinder of the sinker level gauge and the short pipe connected to the lower flange. The vertical tank level gauge was cut out using the relevant process, and the leakage was eliminated after treating the sand eyes. “Is this an isolated case, or do similar caissons also exhibit this phenomenon? ”“The cause of the cracks must be identified. ”A potential safety hazard was eliminated at its inception, but the workshop supervisors did not lower their guard. They organized personnel to conduct thickness measurements and weld inspection on the 25 level gauges of the same manufacturer installed in the facility, and these inspections revealed serious problems: the thickness of the level gauges produced by that manufacturer was at the lower limit of the acceptable range, making them prone to corrosion over time. The workshop has implemented strict inspection and special maintenance procedures for the 25 barrel-type level gauges, and regularly conducts thickness testing and weld coloring inspections on these gauges in order to prevent safety incidents such as leaks caused by corrosion and perforation of the barrel-type level gauges. “Hao Tingfang strictly enforces the inspection system; the attitude taken to identifying problems in Workshop 4 and addressing potential hazards reflects a high level of responsibility toward one’s work. ” Peng Xuequn, deputy director of the Instrumentation and Control Center, praised and encouraged Workshop 4, emphasizing that the center must further ensure proper implementation of instrument inspection tasks in order to lay a solid foundation for the stable operation of the production facilities. (He Bing, Huang Xiaohong)