Swagelok & the Chemical & Refining Industry
Swagelok has been supporting the downstream Chemical & Refining sector in the South West since 1982. Swagelok Bristol is an integral partner of two of the largest petrochemical plants in the UK and are critical in their day to day operation & ongoing continuous improvement. Swagelok interfaces with every part of the fluid process; from maintaining product quality with analytical instrumentation systems, giving operators information & control with hydraulic and pneumatic systems; and providing engineering support to improve the reliability of rotating equipment.
Every drop counts…
Analytical systems are the core of any chemical refining plant, they maintain product quality ensuring high yield rates and operational excellence across the plant. Swagelok is synonymous with analytical systems providing a leak tight, cold work solutions for complex aggressive fluid applications with the Swagelok tube fitting. Swagelok has a long history of manufacturing sample conditioning systems, sample probe assemblies as well as a full range of liquid and gas grab sample panels and sample cylinders.
Onsite knowledge of analytical systems is reducing as years go by, Swagelok Bristol can empower engineer and analytical chemists with industry leading technical and practical courses. From the tube fitting and bending course ensuring maintenance excellence and ensure leak tight safe systems are installed on the plant; to the Process Analyser Sampling System course allowing engineers to stay at the cutting edge of the field and learn from industry experts.
Keeping things turning…
A Chemical Refinery’s product is a fluid; fluids need to be transported through the plant and we use pumps, compressors and other varieties of rotating equipment to drive this process. As a result rotating equipment can be considered the single most important asset of these sites. The reliability and effectiveness of these assets is closely monitored using Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics. The main cause of rotating equipment failure is due to the shaft mechanical seals. Many of these failures are around the supporting system around the seal. Swagelok Bristol manufactures flushing, barrier/buffer and quench support systems to keep sealing faces cool and free of particulate to extend the life of the asset and improve performance.
As a local expert in fluid systems each support system can be aligned specifically to the asset on site & validated against API standards for proven performance. Systems are fabricated locally at Bristol allowing Swagelok to best serve the South West UK and better meet the needs of this highly demanding application.
Knowledge is power
Studies such as such as H. Paul Barringer’s Reliability Engineering Principles cite the need for reliability:
‘Few engineers receive university level training in the use of reliability tools for solving practical problems. The new reliability engineering tools require educating management and training engineers in their use to reduce risk, reduce cost and improve operations.’
Ultimately the pressure to maintain plant up time by ensuring accurate pressure, temperature, flow and analytical measurement to improving up time and emissions monitoring systems, is on-going.
In a chemical process plant, operators need to know live data on process fluid parameters to maintain system effectiveness and maximise yield through the plant. Modern instrumentation technology for pressure, temperature, level and flow measurement has made major advances in the last few years as well as the way that data is communicated. However throughout all industry connecting these instruments into a system to provide the most representative data is still largely overlooked.
At Swagelok Bristol our local engineering team provide on-site support services to this sector ensuring instruments are properly selected and installed with the correct practice to give the plant back control. With these engagements Swagelok Bristol can drive continuous improvement helping engineers justify new equipment and sharing over 70 years of knowledge in this field to develop the skills of engineers at every level.
Products we supply;
Popular Products supplied into the chemical and petrochemical industry by Swagelok Bristol include:
- Grab Sample Panels
- Hose Assemblies with end connections
- T and X Series PTFE Hose
- Swagelok tube fittings
- Regulator Assemblies
- Isolation Valves
Services Used by our chemical and petrochemical customers include:
