The Problem With Hydroblasting
Hydroblasting and other mechanical cleaning methods have been the global standard for heat exchanger cleaning for almost a century. It's time for a change.
Problems That Compound
Low Performance
Schedule Risk
Incomplete cleaning leaves efficiency on the table. Heat exchangers never return to design capacity, forcing your plant to work harder.
Turnaround delays cost millions in lost production. When cleaning takes longer than planned, every hour compounds across your operation.
Environmental Impact
Safety Risk
Over a million gallons per exchanger. Massive wastewater treatment. Energy waste. Your washpad could be your biggest sustainability liability.
High-pressure equipment. Heavy bundle handling. Workers near dangerous jets. Every turnaround puts your team at risk.
"Like never before, cleaning performance is critical to reducing costs and improving profits." According to Dan Coombs, the former executive vice president of global manufacturing for LyondellBasell, and a member of our advisory board: "A refinery or chemical plant relies on three major transport phenomena: momentum transfer, mass transfer, and heat transfer. The failure of momentum or mass transfer becomes evident through immediate operational disruptions requiring plant shutdown and repair. The failure of heat transfer is an insidious process, happening slowly over time and robbing your operation of efficiency and profitability. Historically, for the most badly fouled exchangers, the prospect of perfect cleaning results was not a possibility and the focus in maintenance was to get as clean as possible within the available time window. Up until now, heat exchanger cleaning has been done mostly during shutdowns in the window of time that appears during the gap between disassembly and reassembly. Up until now, cleaning efficacy has been largely ignored as a key performance indicator in washpad cleaning, or as a factor in Risk Based Work Selection."
Old Method. New Costs.
Hydroblasting has been the standard for nearly a century because it was the best option available. But "best available" doesn't mean effective.
This method leaves behind what matters most: hardened scale, baked-on fouling, and deposits in areas high-pressure jets cannot reach. Every turnaround, these limitations cost you performance, time, safety, and environmental impact.
Carbon Intensity
The traditional hydroblasting washpad is carbon intensive, running large diesel pumps around the clock for the duration of a turnaround. A moderately-sized washpad, fully equipped for a three-week turnaround, can be expected to emit between 500 and 1000 tons of greenhouse gas.
That's the equivalent of over 100 years of driving for a typical pickup truck
