2016 - Qatar Petroleum, Dukhan Acid Gas Removal Unit, Qatar
Summary
The Dukhan Acid Gas Removal Unit (AGRU) is an integral part of Qatar Petroleum’s gas processing operations, designed to remove hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide from natural gas streams. This process is critical for ensuring gas purity and meeting safety and environmental standards. Given the corrosive nature of acid gases, the AGRU required a well-structured reliability and maintenance program to minimize equipment degradation and maintain continuous operations.
Challanges
The key challenge was managing the integrity of process equipment exposed to high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, which are known to cause severe corrosion. Additionally, the unit needed to operate with minimal downtime to ensure steady gas production, making equipment reliability a top priority. The complexity of the system, which included absorbers, regenerators, heat exchangers, and pumps, required a structured approach to maintenance and reliability management.
Solution
Performed a comprehensive RAM study to assess the availability of the acid gas removal process and identify potential failure modes that could impact production efficiency.
Developed a Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) framework, helping prioritize maintenance actions for high-risk components such as amine absorbers and reboilers.
Designed a Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) strategy, focusing on corrosion monitoring and proactive maintenance of pressure vessels and pipelines, ensuring compliance with API 581 standards.
Optimized the maintenance strategy through Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM), balancing preventive and predictive maintenance activities based on asset criticality and historical failure data.
Conducted spare parts optimization, ensuring that critical spare parts for rotating equipment, such as pumps and compressors, were adequately stocked without excessive inventory costs.
Implemented root cause analysis (RCA) methodologies to investigate past failures, identifying underlying issues related to material selection, operating conditions, and maintenance practices.
