Using Urea-Based SCRs, Package Boilers, and Rental Units to Complete a Refinery Expansion Project
The temporary boiler equipment supplied process steam to meet facility demand for more than three years and was also instrumental in returning this facility to an operable state after the “Big Texas Freeze of 2021.”
The Gulf Coast is home to the largest refining center in the U.S. and accounts for more than one-quarter of crude oil production in the country. In fact, the 10 refineries in the Houston metro area process more than 2.6 million barrels of crude oil per calendar day — that’s more than 45% of the state’s total production and nearly 15% of the nation’s production. These refineries require superheated steam for process heating, electric power generation, and pumping.
One of the major refineries in the Gulf Coast region began executing its plan to expand in the fall of 2017, addressing the need for two 300,000 lbs./hr. superheat package watertube boilers. New boilers of this size typically require a minimum of one-and-a-half years from the date of order to producing steam when considering all tasks associated with the purchase, design, construction, installation, and startup of the new equipment. Faced with an immediate need for steam production, the customer contacted Nationwide Boiler to provide temporary equipment that would fill the void during this lengthy process. With multiple obstacles to overcome, Nationwide designed a solution to meet the customer’s operating parameters, installation restrictions, and swift operational timeline.