SmartSignal return of experience

at BP Castellon refinery

Jorge Sos
Rotating Equipment Reliability Engineer
Agenda of presentation

Introduction to the Castellon refinery

SmartSignal project history
Main findings
Conclusions / Lessons learnt

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Introduction to the BP Castellon refinery
 BP Castellón refinery

• 110 kbb/day of crude oil

• Complexity (Vacuum/ FCC/ Alky/ Coker)
• Main production Diesel / Gasoline
• Aggresive market
• Focused on safety / enviroment
• High availability results (98% +)

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Challenges in our business
- Safety / Enviromental
- Tough, competitive market
- Maintain high availability numbers
- Continuous operation - Turnaround every 5 years,
long maintenance cycles
- Restarting a process may take several hours / days
- Variable equipment operation conditions due to
variable crude compositions and coker cycles

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SmartSignal project history
Milestones of the project

2008 – Project start; sponsored by BP’s Refinery of

the Future organization (BP Central Team)
2010 – Financing passed directly to the refinery
2011 – Scope reduced to high priority equipment
only: from 36 to 17 lineups
2013 – Upgrade to Shield
2014 – Sentinel use at the refinery
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Current Project Scope
Unit Process Qty Driver Size Driven

FCC Main Air Blower 1 Motor 5,1 Mw Centrifugal Compressor

FCC Wet Gas Compressor 1 Motor 2 Mw Centrifugal Compressor

Utilities Instrument Air & FCC 2 Motor 0,6 & 1 Mw Package Geared Compressors

Utilities Refinery Fuel Gas 1 Motor 1,5 Mw Screw Compressor

Utilities Cogeneration 2 Gas Turbine 22 & 25 Mw Electrical Generator

Makfiner Recycle Gas 3 Motor 1,3 Mw each Reciprocating Compressor

Makfiner H2 Compression 1 Motor 1 Mw Centrifugal Compressor
Scanfiner Recycle Gas 2 Motor 1,25 Mw each Reciprocating Compressor
Coker Coker gas Compression 1 Motor 3 Mw Centrifugal Compressor
Coker Coker Naphta gas Treatment 2 Motor 0,7 Mw Reciprocating Compressor
Coker Cutting Water 1 Motor 3 Mw Centrifugal Pump
Total 17

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Collaboration process with the IPRC
IPRC Monitoring -
Data Infrastructure Criticality Assessment Communication

Rapid Response
Y
email
European SmartSignal High
Mega Data @ GE IP in
Center
Priority?
Lisle

Castellon N Monthly Report

Refinery

Monthly Call

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Main results and findings
Ratio of notification “actionability”
Ratio of actionable notification over total IPRC notifications improving over years.
Due to many reasons:
- IPRC team understands our needs better
- We have improved our tracking mechanisms; more resources
- Model maturity and quality, also possibly due to Shield upgrade
57%
50%

37%

Years 2011+2012 Year 2013 Year 2014*

*first 5 months
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Monitoring has helped improve the
quality of the plant instrumentation
Equipment
44% Instrumentation
Instrumentation Equipment
16%
38% 50%

Performance
Performance 34%
18%

Years 2011 & 2012 Years 2013 & 2014*

*first 12
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Findings across the various equipment
types

• Wet Gas Compressor

• Coker Cutting Pump
• Air Compressor
• Fuel Gas Compressor
• Gas Turbine

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FCC Wet Gas Compressor – Varnishing
on gearbox bearing
What was found: The Gearbox LSS DE
bearing temperature gradually increased
from 72 deg C to ~83 deg C over 2 months.
Then it suddenly returned to normal level,
with a small jump in vibrations.

What happened: Suspecting varnish build-

up on the bearing, that liberated.

Why it is important: Target is to operate

until 2017 without trips. Lube oil analysis is
not sufficient to detect this issue. Important
to maintain close monitoring. We will
evaluate option to switch to synthetic oil in
the future.

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Coker Cutting Pump – Incorrectly
mounted strainer
What was found: Over several weeks we
have observed the suction pressure
dropping on a single run

How it was addressed: Suction strainer was

removed for cleaning. It was mounted in
the reverse position and had debris on the
back side.

Why it is important: Strainer could foul

rapidly and cause a NPSH drop. This would
lead to pump wear and possible loss of
pump operation. Issue triggered discussion
with contractors about maintenance best
practices.
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Air Compressor – Inlet valve and filter

What was found: Inlet Valve position

spiking up to 100% for several hours at a
time.

What happened: Inlet filter was fouling, and

valve is opening to recompensate need for
suction pressure. Filter will be changed and
filter DP alarm will be modified.

Why it is important: Tripping the

compressor reduces the FCC production by
7%. SmartSignal improved our visibility in
the equipment operation, and helps us
make improvements.

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Air Compressor – Motor coupling and oil
pump damage
What was found: A rapid increase on the
vibration of NDE motor bearing from ~10
microns to ~30.

How it was addressed: A rigid coupling

connects the motor with a positive
displacement oil pump. The unit was
stopped and it was found that the coupling
and pump were damaged and were
replaced.

Why it is important: Problem could

eventually damage the motor bearings.
Timely action protected further damage
from happening.
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Fuel Gas Compressor – DCS alarm out of
service
What was found: Lube oil filter DP
increased above DCS alarm levels.

How it was addressed: It was found that

the DCS Alarm on this DP was broken. Filter
was changed and alarm repaired.

Why it was important: This could have led

to an unplanned outage, just because the
protection system was not working as it was
supposed to.

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Gas Turbine – Bleed valve temperature

What was found: Bleed Valve temperature

has increased with successive step changes
from ~50 deg C to 191 deg C.

How it is addressed: The issue has been

discussed with the OEM RMD service after
each step change. There is no clear answer
to what this problem could be. The OEM
has asked to be informed for subsequent
changes.

Why it is important: Improved visibility on

equipment condition. Supporting material
for discussions with OEM.

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Return of experience
Benefits for the refinery
Close monitoring of equipment condition

Prevent unplanned outages

- One trip on FCC unit means some days production loss for close
to half of the refinery capacity

Reduced maintenance costs

- Better planning
- Partial repair instead of complete repair

Helps make technical and design improvements

Facilitates oversight of 3rd party works

- Contractor maintenance execution
- Discussions with OEM
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Lessons learnt
- Focus on critical equipment
- Make the right sensors available
- Better to have more ‘possible’ than miss a real one
- Management support
- Integrated with on site Predictive / Preventive Maintenance
Strategy
- Implementation challenges: IT support,…
- Good variable definition is key (and warning / shutdown
levels…)
- Need to dedicate time from the refinery
(understand / act/ follow up)
- Visit to Lisle facilities in Chicago 22
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Thoughts for further improvement

- Adding new equipment

- Use of Sentinel at the refinery as well
- Already implementing it – review 2x/day
- Easy to use interface
- Implement Extended Vibration Monitoring for
improved diagnostics

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Thank you
Questions?