Rethinking turnarounds holds key to recapturing competitiveness, says Aggreko

Aggreko’s call to action follows an open letter from Chairman and CEO of INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, titled The European Chemical Industry is Becoming Extinct.¹ Within the letter, Sir Jim warns that rising operating costs and tax bills may soon force the closure of all petrochemical facilities in Europe.

The consequences of this economically challenging landscape have manifested in a number of recent permanent closures, including LyondellBasell and Covestro’s joint venture in Maasvlakte, Netherlands,² while Shell is weighing up the possibility of partial or total shutdowns in Europe.³

In light of these challenges, Aggreko is highlighting the role that effective turnarounds can play in maintaining healthy profit margins.

Chris Smith, PCR Turnaround and Utilities Manager for Aggreko Europe, said: “The European petrochemical industry is experiencing perhaps the most challenging period in its history. Rising operating costs, ageing infrastructure, and skill shortages are putting the squeeze on an industry that is already facing increasing competition from around the world.

“Though many of these challenges are out of the hands of plant and turnaround managers, turnarounds are one area that remains entirely in their control. Every day a plant is offline, it’s missing out on millions in potential profits, so ensuring the fastest, most effective turnarounds possible is critical. Here, there is scope to challenge existing turnaround cycles and tread an entirely new path.”

Here, Chris is encouraging plant and turnaround managers to approach the process even further in advance and engage directly with its supply chain, allowing the necessary personnel and assets to be procured in good time.

The Aggreko Process Services (APS) team, for instance, works with plant and turnaround managers from the planning stage all the way through to installation and post-project review.

This holistic, end-to-end approach allows the APS team to identify and implement proactive opportunities for savings at all stages of the turnaround process. For instance, when planning how to power critical equipment, the APS team can identify opportunities to use transformers rather than generators, allowing voltage to be increased or decreased in line with system requirements.

For applications involving significantly high temperatures, such as the refining production phase, the team can provide rundown cooling solutions in the form of temporary cooling tower systems. This can ensure environmental compliance and avoid production losses during the turnaround process.

Choices such as these can add up to reduce the turnaround process by multiple days, offering significant savings over the course of a standard 30 – 45-day turnaround.

Aggreko’s patented Hydrotreater Catalyst Cooldown Method can also be implemented to accelerate the turnaround schedule of reactors, shortening the cooldown time by up to 75% in the process.

Chris concluded: “The European petrochemical must adapt to survive, and turnarounds are as good a point as any to challenge entrenched practices and find better ways of working. While this will not solve the wider challenges that the sector is facing, the revenue that these extra days of uptime provides may prove crucial to the industry’s survival in the long run.”

¹ https://www.ineos.com/news/ineos-group/open-letter-from-jim-ratcliffe/

² https://www.covestro.com/press/lyondellbasell-and-covestro-announce-permanent-closure-of-po11-unit-at-maasvlakte-netherlands

³ https://nos.nl/artikel/2561036-shell-kijkt-naar-gedeeltelijke-sluiting-van-chemie-onderdelen

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/petrochemicals/24042025/rethinking-turnarounds-holds-key-to-recapturing-competitiveness-says-aggreko/