Importance of Data Management and Availability to Produce an Effective Inspection Program
Information- Gathering Session on SP0169 (formerly RP0169)
North Sea Accident - Workers in an Enclosed Space
Risk Based Inspection - The Regulatory Acceptance Process
Update on the New API/ASME In-Service Inspection Joint Code Committee (ISIJC)
Detection of Small Leaks in Liquid Pipelines: Gap Study Analysis of Available Methods
New Joint Standard API 579-1/ASME FFS-1 Now Available
What's new with API/ASME In-Service Inspection Standard
Assessment of Pipe Wall Thickness Radiation Technique
The New Age of Pipeline Inspection - Long Range Ultrasonic Testing (LRUT) Update
Inspection of Heat Exchanger, Condenser & Fin Fan Coolers Tubes - An Update
Risk-Based Inspection: Utilizing Metrics, Maximizing the Value
2007 Inspectioneering Journal Article Index
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January/February 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at IntertekIn previous parts of this series, I have covered many corrosion and degradation issues, some environmental cracking diseases, metallurgical degradation mechanisms, issues associated with welding and some external corrosion problems. In part 14, I’m going to cover one of the most insidious “diseases” associated with process equipment that can and does cause catastrophic pressure equipment failures: brittle fracture.
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March/April 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
When we talk about welding QA/QC we typically focus on the technical requirements and what QA/QC is needed to assure that the technical requirements are met. Examples include the preheat, interpass, and PWHT temperatures and how to assure that the correct temperatures and hold times are used.
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March/April 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
In the welded condition many stainless steels are susceptible to rapid intergranular corrosion or stress corrosion cracking. This is because the heat from welding sensitizes the base metal heat affected zone (HAZ) and the weld.
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March/April 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
A myriad of issues need to be considered before welding to or repairing weld overlayed or clad equipment. (By clad we mean roll-bonded or explosion bonded, i.e. basically 100% metallurgically bonded, and not a loose or seam-welded liner, e.g., not strip lining.)
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May/June 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
The American Petroleum Institute (API) is issuing this publication's announcement to inform companies involved in the distribution, transportation, storage, and blending of denatured fuel ethanol of a potential for metal cracking and product leakage from carbon steel equipment in certain portions of the fuel ethanol distribution system. API, with assistance from the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), has published Technical Report 939-D, Second Edition, that describes cracking events and associated ethanol leaks, the results of related research and field studies, and preliminary guidelines for mitigation and prevention.
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July/August 2007 Inspectioneering JournalDegradation of materials with time during service is a common phenomenon for all engineering components. Hence periodic inspection is required to ensure structural integrity and availability for service. During in-service inspection (ISI), wall thickness measurement of insulated and non-insulated pipe is a typical non-destructive evaluation technique in the oil & gas, chemical, petrochemical and nuclear industries. Ultrasonic testing is available for wall thickness measurement, but in some cases, it may not be the preferred technique. For ultrasonic testing, accuracy is dependent on the temperature of pipe, which may carry fluid at high temperature. Hence shutdown of the installation is required. Moreover for insulated pipe, insulation has to be removed before ultrasonic testing. The radiation technique is a complementary testing method which can be carried out without disturbing the installation. In this technique electromagnetic radiation passes through the object of inspection and is finally recorded in a recording medium. The recording medium is either an industrial X-ray film or a radiation detector. This paper is devoted to detection of pipe wall thinning by the radiation technique. Two different methods i.e. radiography and radiometry, are discussed with their relative merits and demerits.
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March/April 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
Sunray,Texas, March 9, 2007 - The U.S. Chemical Safety Board today announced it is conducting a full investigation of the propane fire that occurred February 16 at the Valero McKee Refinery here, seriously burning three workers and forcing the shutdown of the facility.
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September/October 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
Interested in a review of liquid pipeline leak detection technology focused on monitoring and detection of small leaks?
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November/December 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy Mark Vining at Sunoco Inc.
Facilities are often content in compiling event data, entering thickness measurements, assigning a system description, tracking work requests and recommendations in their databases. These are certainly valuable data points but using your database for performing just these tasks relegates a valuable resource to nothing more than a ledger of inspection events. The value of these systems becomes more apparent when they are utilized to show you where you should be inspecting.
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November/December 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
Because of widespread interest in the proposed revision in progress to NACE International standard SP0169 (formerly RP0169), "Control of External Corrosion on Underground or Submerged Metallic Piping Systems," NACE is sponsoring an information-gathering session to explore opinions and technical data.
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May/June 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy Brian Beresford at TechCorr Inspection & Engineering
Tube Inspection is a vital tool for the refining and petrochemical industries. Heat exchangers and condensers are designed to sustain 100% separation between the products in the tube (tube side) and the products in the vessel (shell side). A leaking tube can cause not only a significant impact to production, it can cause major environmental issues and the potential for loss of life.
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January/February 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
Since the publication of NACE MR0175/ISO 15156, "Petroleum and natural gas industries- Materials for use in H2S-containing environments in oil and gas production," in December 2003, the ISO Maintenance Panel set up to maintain this widely used standard and the Oversight Committee, NACE Task Group (TG) 299, has reviewed and approved 15 proposals for change to the standard.
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January/February 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
NACE International has approved two highly anticipated standards dedicated to the control of internal pipeline corrosion.
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Partner ContentAuto-refrigeration can impose low temperatures onto process vessels and piping causing them to be at risk of brittle fracture, the sudden break-before leak phenomena that can result in catastrophic rupture of the equipment.
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September/October 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
The assessment procedures in this Standard can be used for Fitness-For-Service assessments and/or re-rating of equipment designed and constructed to recognized codes and standards, including international and internal corporate standards.
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November/December 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
The Inspectioneering Journal was unable to validate this report but it still serves well for all of us who enter equipment as an example not to take lightly, safety procedures that should not be ignored, side stepped nor steps skipped. Here is the purported account and lessons learned, that should be of little surprise to anyone with experience and training in enclosed space entry. Unfortunately, this same type of scenario has played itself out over the years. Don't let it happen to you or those for whose safety you are responsible........
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November/December 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal
Over the past 18 years of serious RBI involvement, it has become clear to me that there are certain hurdles, that when "cleared", have paved the way to jurisdictional acceptance of RBI (and fitness for service, for that matter). This article will cover many of these "steps", not all as they are numerous, that have lead to success in some of the "toughest" jurisdictions in the US and the world. On your marks, get set, here we go....
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March/April 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal
An earlier version of this updated article appeared in the January-February 1998 issue of the Inspectioneering Journal. It is hard to believe that nine years have passed so quickly. Fortunately the industry, as a whole, has learned much and technologies have advanced, in the interim. Unfortunately, in that time period plant infrastructures have aged and equipment has failed, sometimes with catastrophic results. Some failures were directly attributable to damage mechanisms and fixed equipment reliability program weaknesses. Often times related, we have seen, what appears to be breakdown in management systems, in refineries, chemical plants and exploration and production areas that lead or contributed to or enabled equipment failure 1, 2, 3 . On the other hand, organizations like the API (American Petroleum Institute) RBI User Group, API RP 579 Fitness for Service Committee, API Subcommittees on Inspection and Corrosion and Materials continue to move forward, desiring and acting to improve the effectiveness of fixed equipment reliability programs via implementation of sound risk based inspection technology and the creation of excellent supporting reference documents like API RP 571 on damage mechanisms. These committees continue to improve their codes and respective reference documents as do other organizations in various countries, such as NACE, EU CEN documents, the HSE, ABSA (the Alberta Boiler Safety Association), ASME, Australian authorities, the state of California and others too numerous to list.
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May/June 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal
This is part 2 in a multi-part series. Part 1 set the stage in explaining the basics of RBI. As I am most familiar with API Base Resource Document 581, I will continue to use this technical basis for this article.
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July/August 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy Paul Jackson at Plant Integrity Ltd., and Tat-Hean Gan at TWI Ltd.The integrity of pipelines is a natural concern for pipeline operators, and so the ability to detect corrosion, erosion and mechanical damage in pipes is therefore of significant interest. Traditional methods of detection, such as pigging and crawlers, have been used for many years to inspect pipelines with great success.
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United States Chemical Safety Board Releases Findings and Recommendations Related to Chlorine ReleaseJanuary/February 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
On July 20, 2003, a release of chlorine gas from the Honeywell International, Inc. (Honeywell) chemical plant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, resulted in injuries to seven plant workers and issuance of a shelter-in place advisory for residents within a 0.5-mile radius. On July 29, 2003, a 1-ton cylinder at the same plant released its contents to the atmosphere, fatally injuring a plant worker by exposing the worker to contaminated antimony pentachloride. On August 13, 2003, two workers at the plant were exposed to hydrogen fluoride requiring hospitalization for one of those workers.
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March/April 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
Washington, DC, March 22, 2007 - Carolyn W. Merritt, Chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), told a congressional committee today there should be increased oversight of the oil refining industry by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in order to prevent accidents such as the one that occurred at the BP refinery in Texas City,Texas, in 2005.
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November/December 2007 Inspectioneering Journal
The ASME/API Inservice Inspection Joint Committee is continuing with its charter to develop and maintain a standard addressing inspection, repair, alteration and rerating for pressure vessels and piping systems after they have been placed into service for the petroleum refining and chemical process industries. This article is an update on the progress toward that goal and an explanation of some of the issues surrounding the effort.
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September/October 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
In May of this year, a workshop was presented at the annual NPRA Reliability and Maintenance Conference at the George R. Brown CC in Houston. This article is a reader’s digest summary of what was presented at that workshop by the four panelists.
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September/October 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering JournalIn my travels around the world as one of the primary API RBI 580/581 training course instructors the question always comes up, “What risk threshold or tolerable risk should I be using?” and “If I do not have one, how can I implement RBI?”
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Partner ContentIt’s a scary thought to think that with all the new advancements in technology, some facilities still rely on traditional inspection contractors that perform out of date procedures. You rely on technology to keep your home and identity safe, so why run the risk of hiring inspection contractors without technological solutions to provide the vital information needed to keep your facility safe.
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May/June 2007 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
From time to time, I'm asked why some operating sites don't seem to pay adequate attention to the need to protect and preserve pressure equipment integrity (PEI). Too often a few sites don't seem to "get it" until they have a major process safety event associated with a failure of pressure equipment. And unfortunately when that happens, they are suddenly on board with PEI needs and don't seem to be able to apply their available resources fast enough. Fortunately, I see less and less of this type behavior as time passes and the word spreads throughout the industry about PEI catastrophes and how to avoid them.
