REFINING

Oxygen contamination of
hydrocarbon feedstocks
An examination of the detrimental effects caused by dissolved O2, and practical
solutions to control fouling, corrosion and expensive unplanned shutdowns
when processing feedstocks vulnerable to air or oxygen ingress
M Vadekar
Chem Tech Consulting

O
xygen is present in chemically nate the oxygen contamination from information has been exacerbated over
combined form as oxides of met- process feeds are well understood, the the past decade as older experienced
als and nonmetals, as minerals preventive and/or corrective steps can personnel who used to serve as mentors
in the earth’s crust and on the surface, as be expensive and in some cases difficult and a resource to a younger generation
a wide variety of oxygenates in bio- to implement. The problem frequently of engineers have been systematically
chemicals and as a gaseous component appears to be minor or is masked by “downsized out”, leaving a void. Within
in the atmosphere in its diatomic molec- other factors, and can be easily over- this context, the most important areas
ular form, constituting almost one fifth looked or set aside. However, it silently to address in pursuing cost effective
of the air surrounding the globe. In its takes its economic toll in the industry. solutions include:
form of hydrogen oxide, or water, and as Furthermore, comprehensive infor- — Sources of oxygen contamination
gas in the atmosphere, oxygen is essen- mation on the topic to address the prob- — Damage caused by oxygen contami-
tial to sustain all plant and animal life. lem is not easily available to most young nation
However, when it comes to processing engineers entering the technical work — Mechanisms of the role of oxygen in
hydrocarbons for fuels and chemicals in force on an ongoing basis. This is espe- causing fouling, corrosion etc
the petroleum and process industry, cially true since a unified database or — Influence of the chemical nature of
oxygen plays a subtle and insidious role compendium of resources is not readily the process feedstock
as a minute contaminant. available on the subject. This lack of — Reliable measurements of minute
The harmful role of elemental oxygen
when dissolved in petroleum fractions
Process units most affected by dissolved oxygen in feed
and related feedstocks has been well
established. Numerous papers and pre-
sentations in the industry as well as Operations mentioned below represent critical units in typical petroleum refineries and/or
almost yearly discussions at petroleum chemical plants. The adverse effects on operations referred to are caused by oxygen
refining and chemical processing dissolved in liquid feed to the units. Oxygen concentrations may be 0.5 to maximum
forums testify to the deleterious effects possible at solubility limits under storage or handling conditions.
of minute amounts of oxygen present in
hydrocarbon and other non-aqueous Operation/unit Nature of problems Consequences/penalties
feedstocks. type caused incurred
The problem affects a wide variety of Refinery hydrotreaters Preheat exchanger plugging, Heat transfer efficiency loss,
HDS/HDN/hydrocrackers, gums/coke depositions, crusting off-spec products,
process operations. Serious fouling, cok-
reformers and similar in reactors/high pressure drops, unplanned shutdowns,
ing and subsequent plugging as well as
cat deactivation high
severe corrosion occurs in some of the
maintenance costs
most important refining and process
operations including hydrotreaters Solvent extraction, amine/ Polymers/tar formation, lay- Capacity loss, solvent
(HDS/HDN units), reformers, solvent caustic treaters and down on surfaces, foaming, loss, corrosion, entrain-
extractors, amine/caustic treaters, frac- others carryover, acidic pH ment, shutdowns
tionators and several others. The impor-
tance and economic impact of this Fractionators Acidic pH, rusting and rust Potential for ruptures in
problem cannot be overemphasised due lay-down on trays, down spouts tower shells, reboilers,
the fact that fouling, plugging, corro- corrosion in overhead systems safety compromises
sion and other previously mentioned
problems lead to unplanned shutdowns, Vacuum towers, Air aspiration, oxygen buildup All above problems
service factor deterioration, loss of pro- regenerators, pump seals leading to all above
duction and significantly higher main-
tenance/repair costs to the plant Summary
operators. Oxygen in feed or system itself often unsuspected but the real cause of problems.
Deliberate, positive and proactive Penalties severe: loss of service factor and production.
steps must be taken to minimise or elim- High maintenance and repair costs, premature catalyst regenerations, perhaps change.
inate oxygen contamination to forestall Compromising personnel and public safety.
such eventualities.
Although the problem is well recog-
nised and the steps to control or elimi- Table 1

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 REFINING

concentrations of oxygen in feeds fractions. Although only saturated (or

— Means of avoiding or eliminating Oxygen solubility in non-olefinic) individual hydrocarbons
oxygen contamination. non-aqueous liquids are shown in the table, their unsatu-
rated counterparts as well as oxygenat-
Units affected ed derivatives exhibit comparable
Data from J M Hale, Orbisphere
Among the most affected operations are solubility for oxygen.
Laboratories Inc. Specially adapted probe
chemical process units, extraction or It is worth noting that the previously
normally used for measurements in
solvent treating units where feeds mentioned detrimental effects of oxy-
water. Solubility measurements at 25°C
and/or solvents are stored over long and at one atmosphere pressure.
gen on process units is experienced at
periods in large volume, and air breath- far lower levels of dissolved oxygen than
ing storage tanks. Many of these opera- Solubility the maximum possible denoted by the
tions are interdependent and vital for Test liquid weight ppm solubility data. Thus the actual concen-
smooth running of large integrated Hydrocarbons trations in a given parcel of material
refineries or chemical plants. For exam- Paraffins may well be far lower than the maxi-
ple, unplanned breakdown of a Pentane 118 mum solubility, depending on the
hydrotreating unit processing virgin Hexane 101 extent of air/oxygen contact, turbu-
cuts from an atmospheric or vacuum Heptane 90 lence, storage temperature, O2 partial
tower in a large refinery would adverse- Octane 89 pressure etc.
ly affect several downstream operations Decane 68
leading to severe disruption of opera- Dodecane 54 Oxygen-induced problems:
tions, supply line to markets etc. Pentadecane 41 The mechanisms by which oxygen-
Virgin-fed HDS/HDN units, reform- induced problems occur specifically
Naphthenes
ers, hydrocrackers, amine/caustic relate to the nature of gaseous oxygen,
Cyclohexane 76
treaters, aromatics extracting units and a liquid phase chemical reactions, the role
Methylcyclohexane 83
host of others fall into this category. In Cyclo-octane 54
played by peroxides and free radicals,
addition, units and equipment pieces and mechanisms of polymer and coke
operating under sub-atmospheric pres- Aromatics formation.
sures are vulnerable, since air/oxygen Benzene 61 Elemental oxygen is a highly reactive
can get aspirated into the system unless Toluene 67 molecule due to its electronic structure.
the equipment is sealed unfailingly at all Paraxylene 71 An oxygen molecule in the gaseous state
times. The latter is virtually impossible. consists of two atoms of oxygen O2.
As previously mentioned, catalytic Oxygenates Each atom in the molecule contains a
operations such as HDS/HDN units, Methanol 68 “free unpaired” electron. As such the
reformers and many others experience Ethanol 65 molecule is referred to as di-radical:
severe coking in the preheat exchang- 1-Butanol 57 O’=O’
ers, catalyst chambers, and elsewhere Acetone 75 (where, symbol ’ on each O atom repre-
by oxygen inclusion. Coke deposits on sents the single unpaired electron in
exchanger tube walls lead to loss of Aqueous media addition to the normal contingent of six
heat transfer efficiency, pressure drops Fresh water 8–10 electrons surrounding each atom).
and flow restrictions. In the reactors, Seawater 5–7 It is this feature that imparts to oxy-
coke causes crusting on top of the cat- gen its para-magnetism and unique
alyst beds and plugging deep in the reactivity in chemical and biological sys-
pore structure, thus preventing free dif- Table 2 tems. Dissolved oxygen exists in liquid
fusion of reactive species to and from (aqueous and non-aqueous) phase as a
catalytically active sites for the desired examples and special situations to the solvated molecule, or in a “cage” of host
chemical reactions. The net effect is list from their specific operations. or solvent molecules oriented according
not only development of excessive to their polarity. In non-aqueous media,
pressure buildup, but also off specifica- Solubility of O2 oxygen reacts with solvent molecules to
tion products. Solubility of oxygen in fresh water (at produce much more reactive peroxides
As for the fractionating towers, sea level or 1 atmosphere pressure and and free radicals. These reactions are
extraction units, acid gas removal units, ambient (20°C) is 8–10wppm.
Specific gravity
etc, oxygen leads to the formation of Whereas in seawater, with 0.7 0.75 0.8 0.85 0.9
peroxides and free radicals which even- ~3.5wt% dissolved solids, it is 180
tually generate carboxylic acids. The lat- only 4–6ppm. It is interesting Conditions:
160
ter lower the pH in water phase and to note that this seemingly Temp: 77°F; 25°C
cause severe corrosion of trays, tower meagre amount of dissolved 140 Air (21% oxygen)
745 mmHg press.
shells, overhead exchangers. Oxygen oxygen keeps an enormously in equilibrium
W ppm oxygen

120
also promotes formation of heavy poly- large marine life alive and
Toluene
mers and tars (from olefinic species in thriving. In comparison, 100 Iso octane

the feeds processed), which cause foul- hydrocarbons exhibit much

80
ing and pressure drops. The overall higher relative solubility for Petroleum
result is plugging, failure of equipment oxygen depending on their distillates
60
integrity, safety and economic losses. chemical structure, molecular Xylenes
40
Table 1 (previous page) briefly sum- weight, boiling point and Benzene
marises the oxygen-induced problems polarity. 20
incurred in the various operations. Suf- Table 2 illustrates the point 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25
API gravity
fice it to say that this table is necessarily well for individual hydrocar-
incomplete. Engineers and experienced bon species and Figure 1 Figure 1 Oxygen stability trends in hydrocarbons
operators will be able add many other shows the data for petroleum (data from API tables)

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thermore, conjugated di-olefins and

Mechanisms of hydrocarbon reactions with oxygen poly-olefins react even more rapidly to
form polymers and tars even at ambient
temperatures during prolonged storage,
Reactions of hydrocarbon molecules with dissolved oxygen in liquid phase at or near
and in the presence of dissolved oxygen.
ambient temperatures in the absence of free radical initiators or inhibitors. Reaction
Table 4 shows relative oxidation sta-
conditions assumed to be under storage, preheating, fractionator and/or catalytic
bility for various hydrocarbon species
reactor temperatures. Data from many references and corroborated by many texts.
encountered in petroleum processing.
Molecular oxygen The data were obtained from various lit-
O’ = O’ (where ’ stands for one unpaired electron) erature references.
For the purposes of this discussion,
Sequence of free radical chain reactions “oxidation stability” is defined as the
Initiation: RH + O2 → R’ + HOO’ lowest temperature at which oxygen is
Propagation: R’ + O2 → ROO’ dissolved in the liquid and begins to
ROO’ + RH → ROOH + R chemically react with the given hydro-
(Note: Several other propagation reactions are also believed to occur) carbon under comparable experimental
conditions. The obvious conclusion is
Termination: R’ + R’ → R-R Dimers, trimmers etc, eventually ; that, the lower the temperature at which
higher polymers. ROO’ radicals also this interaction begins, the lower the
contribute to polymer formation. hydrocarbon molecule stability. An
Decomposition: ROOR → Alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, empirical scale of oxygen stability can
carboxylic acids. be constructed from the data in Table 4:
Low O2 stability →High O2 stability
Conclusions Conjugated di-/poly olefins <mono-olefins
High molecular weight polymers drop out of vapour (and even liquid) phase. <paraffins, naphthenes <aromatics.
Deposition on catalyst and metal surfaces eventually results in coke under elevated
Complex hydrocarbon mixtures or
process temperatures.
various cuts from refining operations
Polymers and coke bind and lump catalysts to develop high pressure drops.
Oxygenates further oxidise to acids, low pH in water phase, promote corrosion. follow the same trend as single com-
pounds.

Oxidation stability of
Table 3 hydrocarbons
promoted. The extent to which they are cess piping, heat exchangers and inert
promoted is determined by several fac- balls on top of catalyst beds and on the Oxygen stability factor, °C
tors such as exposure to radiation, tem- catalyst particles themselves, as well as Reported Experi-
perature, residence time (or length of deep into the pore structure of the cat- Hydrocarbon valuel mental data
type 1 2
contact), presence or absence of alyst particles. Eventually, polymer
Paraffins
inhibitors, chemical nature of the sol- films pyrolyse at the reaction tempera-
n-Hexane 68 70
vent molecules etc. tures over prolonged time to produce
Cyclohexane 55 –
coke.
n-Octane 125 125
Peroxides and free radicals The scenario is now complete to n-Dodecane 151 –
Free radicals and peroxides undergo exhibit increasing pressure drops, plug-
complex chain reactions in the liquid ging, restrictions to material flow and Mono-olefins
phase to ultimately produce polymers, heat transfer in the operating units as 1- Hexane – 60
aldehydes, carboxylic acids and other well as loss of catalyst activity by deny- 1-Octene 110 –
oxygenated compounds. The reactions ing contact of the reactive species with
are highly complex and their exact the active sites in the catalyst pores. It Diolefins (3)
sequences are difficult to predict. How- is important to note that the above Cyclopentadiene – 50
ever, a generally accepted scheme can reactions occur in the absence or pres- Hexadiene – 50
be written as shown in Table 3. As pre- ence of hydrogen in the systems.
viously mentioned, initiation and the Aromatics
subsequent reactions of free radicals are Oxidation stability Benzene 140-150 –
greatly influenced by storage tempera- It is well known that a wide range of para-Xylene 95 –
ture, long residence times, access to hydrocarbons processed in the industry Mixed Xylenes 95 –
and availability of oxygen, and the cat- exhibit widely varying stabilities
alytic influence of solids such as rust towards oxygen. Saturated aliphatic 1. Data reportedly obtained in simulated
closed circuit test apparatus with oxygen-
particles. (and cyclic) hydrocarbons in virgin
saturated feeds. Stability temperature was
petroleum oils are generally more stable
the lowest value at which minimum 10%
Polymer and coke formation towards, or resistant to, oxygen attack in
oxygen was consumed.
At elevated processing temperatures the previously mentioned scenario. Aro-
2. Experimental data from private
and in liquid or vapour phase, oxygen- matics such as benzene, toluene and communications from fellow workers in
induced polymerisation proceeds rapid- xylenes (in streams such as reformates) several laboratories.
ly to ultimately form much higher are even more resistant to oxygen 3. Rapid gum formation was evident and
molecular weight species, called “gums attack. the test unit plugged at 50°C
and/or “tar”. In all or partially vapour However, unsaturated or olefinic
phase operations, polymers drop out of hydrocarbons (in cracked stocks) react
vapour onto solid surfaces in hot pro- with oxygen much more readily. Fur- Table 4

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ination, compared to the same opera- etc). The presence of even minute oxy-
Measurement of dissolved tion with feed completely free of oxy- gen contamination in unit feed is harm-
oxygen gen. The extent of fouling increases ful to equipment. Since it is virtually
rapidly with progressively higher levels impossible to practically or economical-
of oxygen contamination. ly preclude oxygen from refinery or
Oxygen measurement routinely made
Despite such experience, quantitative chemical plant feed materials, it is desir-
in industry
In gaseous phase for combustion or predictable correlations or evalua- able to remove dissolved oxygen from
control, breathing apparatus etc tions, even in the same unit, have been unit feeds where possible.
Industrial oxidative processes and elusive. This is because actual rates of Oxygen ingress can be prevented by:
many other applications. polymer deposition, fouling, plugging, Blanketing the headspace in storage
Numerous instruments and know- coking or corrosion may depend on tanks (fixed or cone roof) scrupulously
how on market. many other factors in addition to the with inert gas while using an oxygen
Measurement ranges from ppm to presence of oxygen in the feed. analyser to ensure inert blanketing
high percentage possible Nonetheless, contribution of oxygen works reliably.
contamination cannot be ignored. It has Routing feed streams directly between
Measurements in aqueous liquid phase also been firmly established that units when possible without intermedi-
also routinely made removal of oxygen contamination by ate storage tanks.
Environmental control major expedient, deliberate means can virtual- “Floating” the feed line on the storage
objectives but need in many other ly eliminate the problems. tanks using bypasses around feed tanks
areas. whenever the need for surge capacity
Measurement ranges generally low Measuring dissolved O2 (intermediate tankage) is unavoidable.
(10-20+) ppm. Measurement of oxygen dissolved in liq- One such example is shown in Figure 2.
uid aqueous phase and particularly in Floating roofs can prevent oxygen
Measurements in non-aqueous, hydro-
non-aqueous hydrocarbons is tricky and ingress into tanks as well as prevent
carbon phase another important need.
was highly unreliable in the past. How- vapour loss to the atmosphere. It should
Dissolved oxygen levels relatively low
ever, with modern technology and be noted that in large volume storage
but higher than in water phase.
Need recognised in process newer instruments, very rapid reliable tanks, oxygen in the head space above
operations for many reasons. and reproducible measurements are now the liquid level will slowly diffuse into
Problems identified in this article possible. A brief account of the available the liquid and, depending on turbu-
another need. tools appears in Table 5. lence in the tank, dissolved oxygen may
Apparently, the most important step well be layered towards the bottom of
Instruments used for water phase in such measurements is preserving the tanks.
applications useful the integrity of batch samples for Another factor that should also be
Minor modification of sensor probe repeated measurements. In such cases, considered is that rainwater leaking into
needed online continuous measuring instru- tanks will introduce oxygen. Rainwater
Modern technology allows reliable, ments are now available. Several is usually saturated with oxygen, which
reproducible measurements instrument vendors market and ser- then will partition itself preferentially
possible by batch testing or on-line vice equipment for batch or continu- into the hydrocarbon phase. Often, seals
tools. ous online oxygen measurements around floating roofs leak to allow rain-
Measurement ranges cover <0.001 to today, at competitive prices. water leaks.
hundreds of ppm levels If contamination is unavoidable and
Major problem for batch measurements, Forestalling O2 problems the fouling problem is feared, strip dis-
“how to preserve integrity of
It is obvious from the previous discus- solved oxygen in a simple stripper
test samples from test to test”
sion that it is difficult to avoid oxy- tower. This can be readily achieved in a
Most reliable measurements by
gen/air ingress in feedstocks during simple tower with few theoretical trays
online techniques.
storage and transport in air breathing and minimum energy usage. Oxygen
tanks, marine or surface vessels (ships, can be completely removed and vented
tankers, barges, rail tank cars, trucks, overhead. Peroxides are also eliminated
Table 5
Nitrogen
How much oxygen? blanketing
Determination of the point at which system
there is excess oxygen is an important
N2
consideration within the context of
minimisation of the impact of oxygen- Tank floating
induced problems in processing units. on feed line
Anecdotally, it is apparent that even
the maximum amount of dissolved
oxygen (at solubility limit) in a hydro-
carbon feed may appear to be minis- Feed from Surge tank
cule. However, repeated experience upstream Typical
shows that concentration of dissolved unit hydrotreating
unit
oxygen in a unit feed, even as low as
0.5–5ppm oxygen content can cause Feed
serious fouling and other problems pre- pump
viously mentioned.
Generalised observations indicate
that a step change in the fouling pattern
occurs in a given unit with low contam- Figure 2 Typical piping scheme for floating tank on feed line

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at the same time. Many units have suc-

cessfully retrofitted strippers and elimi- 11
nated problems caused by oxygen Local and import feed runs
10 Before stripper: Average 02 10–15 ppm
contamination. Figure 3 shows a case
After stripper: Average 02 <0.1 ppm
history of an HDS unit for virgin naph-
tha before and after stripper retrofit. 9
The use of sacrificial guard reactors in
catalytic operations have successfully 8

Pressure drop, kg/sq cm

minimised damage to a reactor’s prima-
ry catalyst bed(s) from being disabled by 7 Before stripper
oxygen-induced fouling, plugging and
coking. Inert or “active” balls operating 6
under identical conditions (similar to
the reactor), are piped in to form a layer 5
or guard in front of the main reactor. • Virgin kerosene hydrotreater
• Local and imported feeds
The guard takes the brunt of the fouling. 4 • Severe fouling (dP) when imports injected
In some special cases, two guards • 30–40 days fouling free runs with imports
have been used with one in lead posi- 3
• Simple stripper added on import feed line in 1987
• Run lengths routinely improved to 12+ months
tion and the other on stand-by after
cleaning and repacking for next switch. 2
This configuration allows operation of
the main reactor for long uninterrupted After stripper
1
run lengths. However, use of guard beds,
in general, can be expensive to retrofit 0
and operate. Other approaches worth 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
considering are the use of chemical oxy- Days in oil
gen scavengers and antioxidants.
With chemical oxygen scavengers, a Figure 3 Case history, showing effectiveness of stripping against oxygen-induced fouling
speciality chemical additive is intro-
duced in the tanks of contaminated so preventing the onset of fouling prob- scavengers. The only notable exception
feed. In theory, the scavenger chemical- lems. However, as attractive and simple is hydrazine (and perhaps precious few
ly consumes dissolved oxygen and per- as the concept seems, few chemicals others). Hydrazine is sometimes used to
oxides prior to downstream processing, have been identified as true oxygen remove residual traces of oxygen from

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boiler feedwater. This chemical is expen- Pertinent data for oxygen stability or
sive, highly toxic, and more important- the lowest temperatures at which
ly, extremely unstable for normal hydrocarbons start to react with dis-
handling and plant use. Hydrazine has solved oxygen were previously dis-
been known to explode upon exposure cussed. It was shown in literature that
to air. In practice, no scavengers of these temperatures are much lower
practical use to the petroleum/process than typical process operating levels. It
industry are on the market for use in was shown that lower aromatics exhib-
this application. it relatively high stability followed by
Several antioxidants are on the mar- saturated or virgin cuts from crude oils.
ket and are in fact used extensively to Unsaturated species such as the
prevent peroxides and gum formation mono-olefins are much less stable
in storage tanks and in many product towards oxygen while the conjugated
formulations such as gasoline, FCC diolefins and polyolefins generally
middle distillate fuels, cracked naphtha possess the lowest stabilities. Thus,
etc. Antioxidants do not chemically one can surmise that the lower the sta-
consume oxygen but disrupt the chain bility of a given feed mix, the more
reactions by combining with peroxides rapid will such a unit suffer from oxy-
and free radicals in the liquids, thus gen problem.
neutralising their potential to initiate Chemical mechanisms of the com-
the chain reactions mentioned earlier. plex reactions involved in the hydro-
In fact, they are found to coexist in the carbons and oxygen were briefly
hydrocarbon phase along with dis- discussed. It has been proven conclu-
solved oxygen. sively that free radical chain reactions
Nonetheless, additive package ven- between hydrocarbon molecules and
dors often claim that the discrete spe- elemental oxygen lead to polymers and
cialty products they promote will tars, which eventually pyrolyse to coke
scavenge dissolved oxygen and elimi- at elevated operating temperatures in
nate the fouling problems. But there HDS/HDN and/or other process reac-
appears to be scant reproducible data tors, preheat exchanger etc. Deposition
from years of plant testing to prove of heavy polymers and/or coke can in
these claims unequivocally. the long run severely restrict operations
leading to unplanned shutdowns and
Recommendations the subsequent process interruptions,
Oxygen also produces organic acids in lost production and maintenance costs.
fractionating towers, solvent extraction Corrosive acids are also produced by
systems etc, which lower pH in water such reactions.
phase and lead to corrosion of carbon Methods for avoiding oxygen inclu-
steel and other metal surfaces. Corro- sion or ingress in the feed streams were
sion can lead to catastrophic failure of suggested.
equipment. The oxygen problem, if However, if oxygen ingress is
unchecked, can force frequent unavoidable or feeds are received with
unplanned shut downs in order to dissolved oxygen, simple stripping can
eliminate the plugging, coking etc, and be considered. Stripping was shown to
will necessitate repairs at enormous completely remove oxygen and destroy
cost and service factor deterioration. peroxides. This can be a low-cost
The routes by which oxygen can option in specific situations, especially
enter the feedstocks include air breath- when costs of fixing fouled reactor sys-
ing storage tanks and marine or surface tems, corroded towers, etc, are pro-
transport vessels, aspiration of air via hibitive.
leaks in the equipment pieces into Strippers can often be retrofitted in
units operating at sub-atmospheric existing equipment lineups, at reason-
pressures and/or faulty pump seals. ably low costs. Several successful case
Experienced operating personnel can histories are known. In addition, the
most likely cite many other opportuni- use of antioxidants to prevent gum for-
ties in which air (and the concomitant mation in stored feeds is imperative,
oxygen) can ingress into process sys- especially with cracked feeds. Antioxi-
tems. dants can benefit virgin feeds as well.
Solubility of molecular oxygen in
hydrocarbons or other non-aqueous
industrial process feeds were shown to
be far higher than that in fresh and sea M Vadekar works with Chem Tech
water systems. However, it was indicat- Consulting at Sarnia, Ontario, Canada,
ed that presence of dissolved oxygen, and has been engaged with USAID and
even in concentration far lower than its Canadian equivalent, CIDA, on
the maximum solubility limits under technical aid projects in Estonia, Poland,
normal operating conditions, was Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China. He
enough to cause severe fouling and holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the
other problems in process units. University of Alberta in Edmonton.

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