Chevron’s refinery in Milnerton, Cape Town, underwent its annual shutdown during February and March this year, during which all critical path production equipment is maintained. High pressure industrial cleaning of the plant and equipment was conducted using equipment from South Africa’s leading water jetting solutions company, Total Blasting.

The refinery’s annual shutdown is scheduled for routine cleaning, maintenance and any necessary mechanical repairs and this year, took place over three to four weeks during the month of February, reaching completion within the expected time frame.

Total Blasting Director, Bradley Storer, remarks, “Our client, who was commissioned to oversee the industrial cleaning of the Chevron refinery plant and equipment, needed reliable rental pumps for the job, because the bandwidth of their own equipment would not suffice for the scope of such a project.”

T3 & T4 Series built tough

Equipment supplied to the project by Total Blasting to clean heat exchangers, pipe lines and process tanks included their T3 and T4 Series units, working at 1000 bar at 50-100 litres per minute and 2800 bar at 19 litres per minute respectively.

Both the T3 and T4 Series units are suitable for the most demanding of applications and for single or twin-gun operations. Most common applications include cleaning, descaling, coating removal, pipe cleaning, marine growth removal, floor cleaning and heat exchange cleaning.

Units come complete with a starter panel including Murphy control panel, push button start and emergency stop, and the inlet water filtration system comes with dual filtration on 2800 bar unit being a 1 micron cartridge with a 50 micron bag filter.

Safety features include over pressure protection with primary rupture disc at 1.2 times w/p, secondary rupture disc at 1.4 times w/p as well as a pressure gauge mounted to the pump head. In addition, the unit comes with a stainless steel spark arrestor. 

Optional extras include skid or trailer mounted set ups as well as a 3meter container mounted set up either DNV offshore rated or a standard container.

Differences between the T3 and T4 Series are the size, weight and the trailer type. The T3’s dimensions are 2.3 m (h) x 1.75 m (w) x 4 m (l), it weighs in at 2 tons and comes with single axle trailer. The T4, however, measures 2.4 m (h) x 2 m (w) x 4.5 m (l), weighs 3.5 tons and comes with double axle trailer.

“Of paramount importance for a project of this size and measure is both the supply and quality of equipment, which in this case, included high pressure pumps and associated tooling. It is essential that all of the equipment supplied runs without any breakdown to ensure maximum uptime during this short window for maintenance,” remarks Storer, who goes on to say, “At Total Blasting, we ensure the highest possible rates of uptime by supplying the best and most suitable equipment we have to offer along with excellent technical support to back it.”

“Supplying equipment to the Chevron refinery maintenance project affirms our serious commitment to the industry and in supporting our valued client who is a supplier of choice for their high quality equipment and service to the petrochemical sector, with a specific focus on plant shutdowns,” comments Storer, concluding, “We look forward to a repeat partnership in the near future, when our rental fleet and technical team will be commissioned to support both the Sasol Secunda and Natref refinery shutdowns later this year.”

Total Blasting boasts more than three decades’ experience in supplying equipment to demanding industrial cleaning projects and is well positioned to offer expert advice on all aspects related to industrial cleaning and surface preparation, in particular, Ultra High Pressure (UHP) water blasting services and solutions