Cleaning of Primary Reformers Convection Section and

Combustion Chambers Firebrick Coating

Sukardi, Hari Supriyadi and Process Engineering Team
PT. Kaltim Parna Industri
Plant Site, Kaltim Industrial Estate
Bontang, East Kalimantan, 75314
Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Abstract
PT. Kaltim Parna Industry, a Joint Venture Company between Indonesian and Japanese
companies, is operating single train 1500 T/D name plate capacity ammonia plant in Bontang, East
Kalimantan of Indonesia. The plant has been entering into commercial production since February,
2002 and almost of the entire product was mainly exported to international market. The plant is built
using TOPSOEs license, in combination with BASFs CO 2 removal and Air Products purge gas
recovery.
TOPSOEs primary reformer consists of heat exchanger stacks on top of the furnace, in order
to facilitate heat recovery. Due to heat duty requirement and perhaps by the assumption that no
cleaning is necessary, the arrangement is so tight leaving almost no space for human movement in
between.
KPI experienced severe fouling on the flue gas side of these heat exchangers. This is on outer
tubes side, which some are finned tubes. Although the cause has not clearly identified, laboratory
analysis indicates that the fouling is having similar composition with the firebrick (contains Silica).
Therefore, preliminary assumption of what causes the problem is silica evaporation (firebrick erosion).
We developed cleaning method and also special tools to do the cleaning and have applied it
successfully. Performance has been improved by 2.51% and since then, periodical cleaning during turn
around is always been conducted.
In order to completely eliminate fouling source and in the hope to reduce cleaning frequency,
we plan to coat combustion chamber with special high temperature resistance coating. Some specimen
has been applied near our side-fired burners and its resistance against erosion has been monitored
since February 2005.
The result is promising that the material is stable against high temperature and even further
helps the operation. The coating acted as heat reflector from burner to reformer tubes. Heat loss to
surrounding has decreased as seen from decreased outside wall temperature. In overall, fuel
consumption has been decreased by 133 Nm 3/h. A full scale implementation will be conducted in the
next November Turn Around.
This paper will share our experience battling fouling problem, operation adjustments to
temporary overcome the trouble, cleaning method of the convection section heat exchangers and the
result of the coating experiment in the primary reformer.
Keywords:
- Convection Section : Upper section of the furnace (radiant section), a group of heat exchanger stacks used for
recovering heat from the flue gas.
- Fouling
: Phenomena of dirt attaches to the surface of heat exchangers tubes. In this paper, it is
interchangeably used in its verbs form (the phenomena) and noun (the material).
- Garnet
: Natural mined sand, mainly contains Almandine ore (Iron Aluminum Silicate,
Fe3Al2(SiO4)3), used in sand blasting.
- 4 point nozzle
: Specially prepared (in-house) nozzle used in sand blasting, made of stainless steel that
has 4 four outlet.
- Furnace coating
: Zirconium based coating, exposable to high temperature as inside the furnace. There are
two types: non-vitreous and vitreous. However, this paper refers to non-vitreous type only.
INTRODUCTION
KPIs Primary Reformer is duplex chamber reformer (having two parallel furnaces) with a single flue
gas duct, designed by Haldor Topsoe. The reformer has two inlet distributors and a single cold collector or
transfer line, which is connected to catalyst tubes by a number of hot sub-collectors and pigtails. Combustion air

is introduced to the burners using two induce draft fans located in the top of flue gas duct that also keeps furnace
chamber in vacuum.
The furnace is divided into two sections: radiant and convection section. Radiant section is located in
the lower part of the furnace where the burners and catalyst tubes are located. Convection section is located in
the upper side adjacent to the radiant section. In the convection section, some heating to gas process streams are
taking place, recovering heat from the flue gas, as follow (from bottom to top):

Heat Exchangers
E-0201
(reformers feed gas preheater)
E-0202A
(2nd process air preheater)
E-0203-1
(steam superheater)
E-0203-2
(steam superheater)
E-0204A
(3rd natural gas preheater)
E-0202B
(1st process air preheater)
E-0204B
(2nd natural gas preheater)
E-0205
(boiler feed water preheater)
E-0204C
(1st natural gas preheater)

TOTAL

Bare Tube
Base, m2

Tube Surface
Ratio

Total Area,
m2

Remarks

348.96

1.00

348.96

Bare. 1 bundle

182.32

1.00

182.32

Bare. 1 bundle

679.00

1.00

679.00

Bare. 2 bundles

329.60

12.60

4,152.96

Finned. 1 bundle

230.00

2.08

478.40

Finned. 1 bundle

170.90

3.51

599.86

Finned. 1 bundle

227.90

3.94

897.93

Finned. 1 bundle

1,595.30

5.05

8,056.27

227.90

3.52

801.07

3,991.88

Finned. 4 bundles
Finned. 1 bundle

16,196.76

Only after several months operation, temperature of some streams in convection section was
uncontrolled and sometimes threats the plant operation, without clear reason. The most critical streams, which
require extra observation and control, are natural gas outlet E-0204A and boiler feed water outlet E-0205.
Operational countermeasure was immediately prepared and conducted, in purpose of maintaining the
critical parameters within the safe ranges until the nearest turn around, when inspection can be done. The
program is summarized as follow:
1. Adjusting heat balance in the convection section by moving heat absorption to lower coils, achievable from:
a. Increasing cooling steam from 2.21 T/h to 5.6 T/h at the inlet of final process air preheater, E-0202A, which
will decrease its flue gas outlet temperature. Therefore, heat goes to the upper coils will also decrease.
b. Circulating more boiler feed water to E-0205 and then excess water balance is returned back to deaerator.
c. Reducing combustion excess air. Since this method will cause burner inefficiency, therefore the reduction is
limited to 0.7% excess (minimum), from normal value 1%.

d. Increasing H2/N2 ratio in the synthesis loop from 3.0 to 3.5, in order to reduce quantity of fuel off-gas from the
Hydrogen Recovery Unit. This fuel gas contains high inert (Nitrogen), which will act as additional heat carrier in
the flue gas and carrying the heat to upper side coils.
2. Decreasing HP steam temperature from steam superheater coil, E-0203, from normal value 515 C to around
480 C by injection of high pressure Boiler Feed Water on the inlet.
3. Increasing HP steam production by increasing heat absorption in the waste heat boiler. Outlet process gas
temperature is decreased from normal figure 360 C to around 335 C.
In the Turn Around, we had opportunities to inspect the convection section and found that exchangers
coils were severely fouled by red-colored material. Physical appearance indicates the material is similar with the
refractory, which further confirmed by laboratory analysis resulting the following:
Parameters
Appearance
Total insoluble matter
Fe (Iron)
Cr (Chromium)
Ca (Calcium)
Cu (Copper)
Ni (Nickel)
Loss on ignition

Units
% weight
% weight
% weight
% weight
% weight
% weight
% weight

Refractory
(reference)
Brown powder
79.64
0.10
0.16
1.90
Trace
Trace
0.30

Fouling
Brown dust
67.11
5.19
0.22
0.77
Trace
Trace
0.85

Methods
Gravimetric
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
AAS
Gravimetric

From this result, we concluded that evaporation or erosion had happened to the refractory in the radiant chamber.
Initial assumption was that the fouling contamination will stop by itself, after saturation of the
refractory. However, after several cleaning works, we did not observe decreasing tendency and therefore decided
to stop the source of fouling.
Coating to the firebrick inside radiant section is expected can reduce erosion due to flue gas. Because
we did not have previous experience with coating at high temperature, an experiment and trial application was
conducted in the year 2005. Having observed the good result, full scale implementation has been conducted in
the year 2006.
METHODE AND TOOLS
Convection Section Cleaning
Cleaning method is by sandblasting using garnet sand. It is applied due to characteristic of fouling and
convection sections environment. Generally, fouling is loosely attached to the tubes (unless for E-0201 up to E0203, the bottom exchangers), but too sticky for air blowing. On the other hand, refractory material is sensitive
to water (wet cleaning method).
Garnet 20/40 mesh (425 850 microns) was chosen due to the following advantages compare to silica:
1. High hardness (7.5 8 MOHS), not easily broke-up so will not dirt the convection. Although theoretical
breakdown rate is 10 20% per cycle (5 10 recycles), however we strictly did 3 recycles only. Therefore,
material purchase was prepared based on this value.
2. Higher melting point (min. 1,350 C). It is beneficial in case of some left over, will not adding more trouble as
operation temperature of convection section is about 950 C at the inlet.
3. Higher specific gravity (SG) of the abrasive grain and low breakdown rate, also result in reduced dust level,
thus ensuring good operator visibility. Higher SG also means less power required to achieve similar result with
silica.
4. Having minimal ferrous particle, which will reduce risk of ferrous contamination to the surface.
5. Faster cleaning speed, due to low power requirement.
General procedure was initially developed by our contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, which is then
modified to match our requirements. It consists of the following stages:
1. Installation of refractory protection
In order to prevent sandblast work eroding the refractory, all side must be completely covered. End
Tube protection is made from 5 mm board designed specifically following the contour, while side protection
(longitudinal portion) is covered with a canvas-tarpaulin. It is a modification from original method by using
corbel protection.

End tube protection is installed according to the following sequence:

Side protection installation is just a simple insertion of the canvas-tarpaulin. A wire is required in the beginning,
to guide the tarpaulin down. In our experience, salient portion of the refractory is strong enough to handle the
friction and will not collapse.
2. Installation of waste trap on every 3 rows exchangers
Waste trap is essential in order to be able recovering used garnet for recycle. The shorter placement in
between, will result in better recovery. However, installation time will also take longer. Here, every three rows is
a compromise between these factors.
3. Sandblasting from upper and lower side of tube banks
Due to tubes arrangement, sandblasting is conducted from two sides, upper and lower part. The special
4 points nozzle is very helpful to speed up the cleaning. Sketch of sandblast direction is as follow:

4. Air blowing for garnet recovery and final cleaning

Although garnet is relatively dust free, however fouling material is becoming dust after blasting. In
order to prevent the dust attach to the tubes again, air is blow into the tubes using the same nozzle. In the same
time, blower (air-out position) is used to catch some flying dusts. This will also push the remaining garnet
downwards. Recovered garnet on the waste trap is then separated from the fouling material by vacuuming the
dust, which is then re-utilized for blasting until three recycles.
For the above works, required equipments are as follow:
No

Equipment

Qty.

Compressor

1 ea

Sand blast pot

2 ea

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Vacuum machine
Blower
4 point nozzle
Hand grip for nozzle
Waste trap
Sand blast hose
Refractory protection (end tube)
Refractory protection (longitudinal)

1 ea
4 ea
20 ea
4 ea
1 set
4 set
1 set
1 set

Specifications
Engine: 250 cfm; weight: 2 ton;
Dim: 1.5x3x1.5 m. P disch: 10 kg/cm2G
Capacity 300 liter; weight: 500 kg;
Dim: 0.5x2 m

As per drawing
As per drawing
Plastic tarpaulin
L: 150 m; : 3/4"
Plywood 5 mm, to be cut following the contour
Canvas tarpaulin

The special nozzle was prepared in contractors shop. Closed-end stainless steel is drilled at 4 points, at
angle 30 deg to shape the nozzle head. Due to shops limitations, no ceramic protection is applied around the
holes that usually be provided for reinforcement purpose. Hand grip at 50 cm long, for ease of operator
maneuver, is prepared separately from the nozzle. This is to safe material usage as only the nozzle head will
damage during the blasting process. Simple sketch is as follow:

Required material is per the following table:

No

Material

Qty.

Specifications
Size: 20/40 mesh.
Composition:
1 Garnet
20 Ton
Almandine: 97 98%; Ilmenite: 1 2%
Quartz: < 0.5%; Zircon: < 0.2%
Whole sandblast works above is completed within 14 days time frame (24 hours shift-works).
Radiant Section (Combustion Chamber) Coating
The first experiment was conducted in the turn around February 2005, which is purposed to observe
coating stability in the actual reformer environment and taking some information related to expected
performance improvement. Eight coating samples were applied around 8 burners at different locations, covering
area approximately 0.6 m2 per samples. Considerations for these sample locations are as follow:
1. Locations shall be exposed to extreme operation environment inside the furnace chamber, in order to identify
stability under high temperature and velocity.
2. Locations shall be near of peeping hole, for easiness visual observation.
3. Locations shall represent overall reformers wall.
4. Located in the lower row of the burners for easier installation.
Coating thickness was applied differently, ranging from 1 mm to very thick, to confirm theoretical
coverage area 3 kg/m2 using our chosen furnace coating Furnascote Novit. This material is characterized by
very high content of Zirconia and imparts high resistance to aggressive attacking environments typically
encountered at high temperature. Complete chemical compositions are as follow: Zirconium 62.97%, Aluminum
1.63%, Calcium 1.37%, Magnesium 0.34%, Silicon 32.06%, Titanium 0.25%, Boron 1.1% and Fluorine 0.25%.
Mixture of furnascote in water (25 kg of furnascote in 3.2 liters water) was applied with a paintbrush.
Required quantity is about 2 3 kg/m 2 in order to achieve thickness 1 2 mm (arbitrary). It has a good adhesion
to the refractory wall. Then, the sample was aerated several days for natural drying, in order to avoid thermal
shock and rapid evaporation upon burner ignition.
After 9 months operation, we have the opportunity to do visual observation again inside the Turn
Around. Following is the result:
1. Visually, the samples were strongly adhering to the castable surface. Only minor deterioration occurred in
sample one. Further investigation showed that the sample is thicker compare to the others. Therefore, it is
concluded that excessive thickness is not preferable.
2. Coated surface was smoother than non-coated, which is in line with observation during operation. This surface
is shiner, which indicates better reflections.
From the findings, it is concluded that the coating is applicable for reformers furnace and also able to
prevent any releasing dust material or erosion. Further resuming this good result, application to other sections is
then to be conducted gradually. Here below is record of implementation:
Total area to be coated

1,696

m2

TA November 2005
Actual coverage area (thin)
or

29.16
2.5720
0.3888

m2
kg/m2
m2/kg

TA March 2006

104.00

m2

TA November 2006
Actual coverage area (thin)
or

796.00
2.1635
0.4622

m2
kg/m2
m2/kg

Coating progress overall

54.79

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Cleaning works using method and equipment presented herein is proven to be successful. Red fouling
can be removed even to the hardest position inside the tube banks. Below is result of cleaning on bare tubes:

And below is picture on finned tube:

Cleaned tube color is back to its black-active state. Heat duty improvement was observed as follow:

E-0201
E-0202A
E-0203
E-0204 A
E-0202 B
E-0204 B
E-0205
E-0204 C

Gcal/h
Gcal/h
Gcal/h
Gcal/h
Gcal/h
Gcal/h
Gcal/h
Gcal/h

Before
(A)
14.21
3.59
18.68
2.46
1.62
3.42
13.64
0.82

Overall absorbed heat

Gcal/h

58.44

Description

Unit

After
(B)
16.45
3.14
17.73
2.68
2.07
3.57
13.38
0.89
59.91

Delta
(B - A)
2.24
15.78%
-0.45 -12.57%
-0.95
-5.07%
0.22
8.87%
0.45
27.86%
0.15
4.53%
-0.26
-1.91%
0.06
7.56%
1.47

2.51%

Overall absorbed heat has increased by 1.47 Gcal/h (about 2.51%).

Coating works is also proven to be successful, observed from shiner surface that has been coated, as per
following pictures:

Performance improvement is measured from higher temperature at the coated surface due to reflecting
more heat and lower temperature at outer wall of reformer. Below is tabulated result:
No.
1
2

Sample Type
Coated
Non Coated
Differential

Inner wall, C
1092.19
1046.71

Outer Wall, C
66.10
69.91

45.48

3.81

Summing up the findings from our experience are below:

1. Fouling in the convection section of primary reformer had caused operation difficulty and forcing to sacrifice
plant efficiency in order to maintain some operation parameters within considerable safe range. The fouling
material is suspected comes from the refractory by erosion/evaporation.
2. Provided cleaning method and tools is proven to be successful removing the fouling.
3. Special coating application in the refractory surface is proved to be stable and producing expected result.
4. The works presented herein had improved convection sections heat absorption by 2.51%.
THE WRITERS
Sukardi:
(to be completed)
Hari Supriyadi:
(to be completed)