STORY 1: In a natural gas recovery plant in a country in South America a Thomassen reciprocating compressor wrecked three times its pistons because the new piping installed upstream had not been cleaned before start up.

STORY 2: Some of the reciprocating compressors installed in an off-shore field had apparently been assembled on a beach as sand and brackish water was found in them at start up. There was so much dirt (and not only from the compressor itself) that the temporary strainer (large holes) in the suction piping got blocked, blew to pieces causing all the dirt to land on top of the valves. The operator decided to remove the strainer permanently as: "That darn strainer plugged up so quickly". Needles to say that he was released from the job.

STORY 3: In a Middle Eastern and South American country, dirt in the glycol caused the glycol drying facilities to fail. In both cases the glycol filters were completely out of order and/or not cleaned for a long time. In one case it was decided by the local "expert" to order a complete new glycol plant and in the other case the day-foreman had no idea how to handle the problem because he did not know he had one. Beside the ignorance of the day foreman the maintenance man did not know how to open the filter

STORY 4: Dirt plugged up a drain valve of a propane tank in a refinery causing a serious fire when suddenly the plug came loose. The plugged valve problem is a tricky one that has caused several deaths.

STORY 5: Damaged valves and/or valve seats due to dirt is, I am sorry to say, nearly standard procedure and there are many examples of serious delays in start up and considerable extra cost and loss of income.

There is NO EXCUSE for having dirt in those facilities that can be kept clean or can be cleaned relatively easy by normal good housekeeping measures. YOU as responsible project engineer have the OBLIGATION to inspect the vessel before it is closed, inspect the lubricating system before the lubricant is put in, check short plant piping for dirt etc.

There are facilities that are impossible to clean to a level that is required for proper operation of downstream facilities. Long pipelines are the example. In such cases proper dirt removal facilities (say filters) must be installed at the right place. A simple calculation shows that 1/10th of a mm of overall corrosion in a 140 km long pipeline of 24" diameter is equivalent to 200 tonne of steel and, in case it is bound with sulphur to FeS it would be 300 tonne. Not a small quantity for only little corrosion!!!

Fouling of equipment during operation is normal, therefore take account of reduced efficiencies due to fouling during design and take measures to deal with the dirt.

REMEMBER: "NATURAL GAS" consists of much more than hydrocarbons.

Reading this you may wonder what the Engineers worst enemy is.

It is personal, it may be your boss, your wife, alcohol, cigarettes, drug, your belly, or else.