Chemical Engineering June 2022 - 24

Tower Doctor
Can Trash Interfere With a Cure?
Henry Kister shares lessons learned from troubleshooting distillation towers
C
onstruction of new production
units has an undesirable
byproduct: trash.
Sometimes the hard question
is - Who will clean? The author
was the startup superintendent on a
new unit in an olefins plant in Australia
that produced polymer-grade propylene.
Terry was the foreman working
for him and Stan was the project
engineer taking care of mechanical
issues. Terry worked closely with the
shift team, but they directly reported
to their shift foreman.
At this point in the startup, the auxiliary
units were commissioned, operating
and tested. Everyone was preparing
for the exciting moment of hydrocarbon
introduction that was scheduled
for Friday night, with production of onspecification
polymer-grade propylene
by Monday morning. For months, everyone
had been working tirelessly to
meet the target startup date. The climax
drew near, right on schedule.
Early that week, an inspection by
the production manager found unlevel
ground, wide patches of dirt,
missing pavement, piles of sand
and rocks, chunks of metal, debris
and trash. " Get Engineering to have
these improved before we start, " he
instructed us. The engineering project
manager replied, " This work is
outside of our scope. If Production
requires these improvements, they
can do them themselves. "
In response, and regarding this as a
safety issue, Production put a " hold "
on the startup until the improvements
were made by Engineering.
But Engineering stayed defiant and
a stalemate resulted. After months
of working day and night to meet the
tight schedule, the scheduled startup
was threatened because the players
could not come to agreement
on who should clear the ground. A
cloud of gloom came over the team's
faces, replacing the enthusiasm of
engineers and operators.
Suddenly, early Friday morning, bulldozers,
earth-moving equipment, and
large crews arrived and diligently started
leveling the ground, clearing it, paving
it, and removing the trash and de24
bris.
Our team breathed a sigh of relief.
Mid-morning, a call came from the
production manager. " Please thank
Engineering for coming good at the
right time. " The engineering manager
was out, but an hour later he stopped
by our trailer, face shining and said,
" Please thank the production manager
for clearing the ground. We are so glad
that the startup will not be delayed. "
" He is thanking you for this. It was
not you? " we asked. " No, he replied. I
thought it was the production manager. "
This made no sense. Stan, the engineering
manager and I walked up to the
work crews, asked their supervisors,
but they had no idea who ordered the
work. Terry was not around, and was
presumably with the operators. We returned
to the trailer empty-handed.
By about 3:00 p.m. the ground
was level and clear. The trash had
been removed, everything looked
beautiful and the bulldozers and
earth-moving equipment were heading
out of the gate. Terry walked into
the trailer. " G'day Terry. Any idea
who ordered this earthwork? " A big
grin appeared on Terry's face. " You? "
Stan and I yelled out.
" For months the operation teams
were working [hard] to beat the
deadline. Management was telling
them that delays cost $200,000 a
day (1970s dollars). Operators and
foremen as well as we worked extra
hours, sometimes with no extra pay,
and kept on schedule. And after this,
Production and Engineering act as if
this deadline means nothing and are
making a joke out of the whole crew.
How would you feel if you were part
of the crew? "
Stan and I looked at each other,
then at Terry. " Terry, you are our hero.
We endorse your action and will take
responsibility. Thanks for saving the
startup. " Then we added " That is
why you made yourself scarce until
now. " Another grin on Terry's face.
" Thanks for your support. "
An hour later the crews were done.
We contacted Engineering and Production
and told them what happened.
With the startup being so
close, the production manager was
FIGURE 1. This is a front view of the propylene
purification column
glad that it was proceeding and decided
to go easy on us. " We'll discuss
it further on Monday. " The engineering
manager was supportive.
" I used to work in a plant and know
where you are coming from. Let
me talk to some people next week,
maybe I can sway them to chip in to
some of the costs. "
The startup went ahead. Polymergrade
propylene was produced by
mid-day Sunday thanks to a very enthusiastic
operations team gleaming
at Terry's success to avert the stalemate.
This was 18 hours ahead of
schedule, saving $150,000 - more
than the cleanup costs.
Word of the startup success
spread fast. Monday morning, a team
of engineering top management flew
in from Melbourne to get first-hand
sight of the wonder. After they left, the
engineering manager stopped by.
" Did you already tell the production
manager that it was not us that ordered
the cleanup? "
" Sure, we told both him and you
last Friday. "
" Can you tell him that this was a
mistake and that it was indeed us
that cleaned up? And please make
sure that all the bills are forwarded to
us. We will pay. "
" I am sure he will be glad to hear.
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Chemical Engineering June 2022

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