Highly Durable Devcon Brushable Ceramic Coating Withstands Petrochemical Desalting Process

Problem

Prior to the refining process, a big crude oil refinery will desalt the oil to remove salt and other impurities.Electrostatic coalescence is used in this intense desalination procedure to dissolve the salt.This procedure takes place in a welded tank that is normally coated to prevent damage to the weld seams over a six-year maintenance cycle. A competing product that the customer was using to cover the tanks failed much sooner than the intended life cycle and timeline.The customer consequently experienced damage to the tank's weld seams.

*Internal coatings of Devcon Brushable Ceramic after 6 years

Process Conditions

• Temperature: 248° – 266°F (120° – 130°C)
• Pressure: 145 – 174 psi (10 – 12 bar)
• Electricity: 1,000 V/AC with changing polarity
• Life expectancy: 6 years
• Tank wall area: 1600 ft² (150 m²)

The tank was taken out of operation in 2015, the rival product was stripped out, sandblasted, and the weld seams were mended.

The tank was then returned to service after receiving two layers of 600 micron (0.6 mm) thick Devcon Brushable Ceramic Blue coating.

The tank was inspected in 2021, at the conclusion of the 6 yearlife cycle maintenance, and it was discovered that, despite the Brushable Ceramic's color changing to black, the coating was still in place and still protecting the tank and weld seams.

Minor coating damage was discovered after a thorough investigation, although it was in places that were challenging to access, such the manhole covers.

The failures discovered were significantly less than the customer's desired failure rate of 10%, therefore satisfying their expectations.

Devcon Brushable Ceramic coating after 6 years

After being recoated with Devcon Brushable Ceramic Blue