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Piping
Definition
In every processing facility, you have feedstock and product that need to get from point A to point B. Piping is the vehicle that moves these liquids and gasses through a refinery or chemical processing plant. They can be made of steel, cast iron, copper, plastic, or other materials depending on the environment and materials being transported. Segments of pipe are often joined together using either bolted flanges or by welding pipes together. The major difference between piping and pipelines is that pipelines transport materials long distances between separate facilities or for distribution. Piping on the other hand is made to transport gasses and fluids, such as water or chemicals, within a single facility.[1]
There are several standards and recommended practices that apply to piping systems, including but not limited to:
- API 570, Piping Inspection Code - Inspection, Repair, Alteration and Rerating of In-Service Piping Systems, which provides guidance on how to determine which piping systems are most susceptible to CUI.
- API RP 574, Inspection Practices for Piping System Components, which discusses inspection practices for piping, tubing, valves, and fittings.
- API RP 578 - Material Verification for New and Existing Alloy Piping, which provides guidelines for a material and quality assurance system to verify that the composition of the alloy components of a piping system are consistent with the specified construction materials.
- API RP 583, Corrosion Under Insulation and Fireproofing, which covers the design, maintenance, inspection, and mitigation practices to address external CUI as it applies to pressure vessels, piping, storage tanks, and spheres.
- ASME PCC-2 - Repair of Pressure Equipment and Piping, which provides methods for repairing equipment and piping within the scope of ASME Pressure Technology Codes and Standards after it has been placed into service.
- ASTM STP 880, Corrosion of Metals Under Thermal Insulation, which provides information on corrosion problems that can occur on thermally insulated plant equipment and piping components if the insulation becomes wet.
References
Related Topics
Aboveground Storage Tanks (ASTs) Boiler Tubes Boilers Bolts Bull Plugs Coker Units Cooling Towers Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) Deaerators Fin Fan Coolers Fired Heaters Fixed Equipment Flanges Flare Systems Furnace Tubes Glass-lined Equipment Heat Exchangers HF Alkylation Units Hydrocracking Unit Hydrotreater Pipelines Pressure Relieving Devices (PRDs) Pressure Vessels Rotating Equipment Turbines ValvesSTAY INFORMED WITH RELEVANT INDUSTRY CONTENT
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Articles
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May/June 2017 Inspectioneering JournalBy Ryan Myers at PinnacleART, and Brian Marino at PinnacleART
Effective condition monitoring location selection is a key component of a best-in-class mechanical integrity program. Learn how moving beyond traditional qualitative approaches to optimized CML selection can reduce risk and maximize the value of each inspection.
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March/April 2017 Inspectioneering JournalBy Vibha Zaman, P.E. at Asset Optimization Consultants, and Leomar Penuela at Asset Optimization Consultants
This article discusses the use of the RBI methodology supplemented by a well-designed IOW program to assess and manage aging in fixed equipment and piping in hydrogen generation units.
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January/February 2017 Inspectioneering JournalBy Israel D. Martinez at ORPIC
Evaluating remaining wall thickness of an asset is not enough to ensure its continued safe operation. Proactive strategies should be implemented to assess the entire environment affecting an asset’s condition, including the development of more effective inspection plans.
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November/December 2016 Inspectioneering JournalBy Adam Gardner at PinnacleART
Beyond the financial hits, undetected degradation from corrosion can also lead to critical safety risks. To effectively manage mechanical integrity, organizations need reliable methods of identifying the current states of corrosion occurring within their assets.
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November/December 2016 Inspectioneering JournalBy Mohamed Amer at TUV Rheinland
This article describes a high-level dead leg integrity management program overview and is based on experience, knowledge, and adaptation of inspection management philosophies currently being implemented within the Oil & Gas and the petrochemical industry.
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November/December 2016 Inspectioneering JournalBy Nolan L. Miller at SASOL North America
This article will go through the methodology of each process that could be used in determining the structural component for the required pipe wall thickness, but will focus on the use of Beam Flexural Stress calculations and Beam Deflection calculations to determine the structural component of the required pipe wall thickness calculation.
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November/December 2016 Inspectioneering JournalBy Michael Turnquist at Quest Integrity Group
This article exhibits how modern inspection methodologies combined with innovative computational analysis practices demonstrate the value of conducting fitness-for-service (FFS) assessments on sectional piping.
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July/August 2016 Inspectioneering JournalBy Mark Geisenhoff at Flint Hills Resources, Jonathan D. Dobis at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc., Phillip E. Prueter at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc., and Dr. Michael S. Cayard at Flint Hills Resources
This article summarizes a recent finite element analysis (FEA)-based study that employs creep simulation techniques to investigate the elevated temperature response of piping with peaked longitudinal weld seams.
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July/August 2016 Inspectioneering JournalBy Ralph E. King P.E. at Stress Engineering Services, Inc., and Jacob Manuel, P.E. at Stress Engineering Services, Inc.
An overview of process piping vibration and evaluating piping systems in vibration service to reduce harmful vibrations.
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Online Article
Updated editions of both API 570 and API RP 580 were recently released by the American Petroleum Institute.
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Insights Into Fixed Equipment Vibration – How a Piping System Was Affected by Flow-Induced VibrationNovember/December 2015 Inspectioneering JournalBy Paolo Torrado at Engineering and Inspection Services, LLC., and Dr. Reza Azizian at Engineering & Inspection Services, LLC
Excessive vibration is a problem frequently encountered in industrial plants and their peripheral equipment, including piping systems, pressure vessels, and steel structures. Long term excessive vibration can lead to fatigue crack propagation and consequently, may cause system failure.
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May/June 2003 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
Next year, the API Inspector Recertification Program (ICP) will be recertifying inspectors who have held their API certifications for more than 6 years. Things have changed this time though, and inspectors will be required to pass a short exam covering material that has changed in the past 6 years.
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September/October 2015 Inspectioneering JournalBy Harold Marburger at Dunn Heat Exchangers
This article is Part II of a three-part series that explores the various methods, benefits, challenges and solutions to efficiently and effectively clean heat exchangers, both onsite and offsite.
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July/August 2015 Inspectioneering JournalBy Joe Frey, PE at Stress Engineering, Inc., Lange Kimball at Stress Engineering Services, and Britt Bettell at Stress Engineering Services
This article introduces portions of a “Best-In-Class” Fitness-for-Service (FFS) program that includes the performance of regular visual inspections of pipe supports and hangers, coupled with in-situ load testing of suspect supports. This program can give the plant engineer the knowledge he needs to make sound operational and maintenance decisions.
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May/June 2015 Inspectioneering JournalBy David A. Hunter at Neptune Research, Inc.
In recent years, the growing use of composite repair systems for the rehabilitation of piping systems in the refining and chemical industries has increased the need for associated technologies for their manufacturing, installation, and inspection. One critical aspect of these repair systems is how to inspect and validate them for fitness for service. This article covers the testing completed for fiberglass and carbon fiber composite repair systems with specialty epoxy for full inspection capabilities.
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January/February 2015 Inspectioneering JournalBy Pamela Hamblin at Thielsch Engineering, Inc.
Avoiding cracking under pressure when managing high-energy piping systems is common subject matter in the power industry. Just as high-energy piping can give way to pressure, stress and fatigue, so can the people in charge of operating them when trying to determine what to inspect, where to inspect, and what to do with those inspection results once they have them.
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November/December 2014 Inspectioneering JournalBy Rajesh Bose at BP, and Terry M. Webb at BP
The introduction of PAUT is a challenging effort initially, but can have a very positive impact on your first TAR and become a routine inspection for future TARs. When fully implemented, radiation safety boundaries can be reduced significantly or eliminated altogether.
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BlogDecember 8, 2014 By Nick Schmoyer at Inspectioneering
Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) is an insidious damage mechanism that, despite being incredibly well-known and understood, still makes up an inordinately large percentage of global maintenance expenditures. CUI has been extensively researched and studied and because of that, there exist several good resources on it, and we at Inspectioneering are dedicated to bringing those resources to you.
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September/October 2014 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
Based on my 45+ years of experience working with fixed equipment mechanical integrity (FEMI) issues in the refining and petrochemical processing industry, this article summarizes what I believe are the top 10 reasons why pressure vessels and piping systems continue to fail, thus causing significant process safety events (e.g. explosions, fires, toxic releases, environmental damage, etc.).
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Partner Content
InVista is a lightweight, hand-held ultrasonic in-line inspection tool (intelligent pig) capable of detecting pipeline wall loss and corrosion in unpiggable or difficult-to-inspect pipelines. The pipeline geometry inspection data captured by the InVista tool is exceptionally powerful when combined with the LifeQuest™ Pipeline fitness-for-service capabilities, providing an integrated solution set for the pipeline industry.
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BlogJuly 28, 2014 By John Reynolds at Intertek
Fixed equipment mechanical integrity (FEMI) failures are not caused by damage mechanisms; rather, they're caused due to failure to create, implement, and maintain adequate management systems to avoid failures. Nearly all failures that have occurred in our industry could have been avoided if these human systems were more robust and sustainable in providing the primary layers of protection for FEMI.
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May/June 2014 Inspectioneering JournalBy Fernando Vicente at ABB
Ensuring the integrity of process piping systems in the Oil & Gas industry (specifically those related to the ASME Code B31.3) is a key issue with respect to the process, business, safety, and the environment. However, in the current cost reduction environment, some companies are adopting a very risky strategy for piping systems where maintenance and inspection tasks are reduced and eliminated indiscriminately, without considering the relative importance of piping for the process.
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BlogJanuary 6, 2014 By Nick Schmoyer at Inspectioneering
In 2013 Inspectioneering published content covering a wide array of topics, from risk-based inspection, to advanced nondestructive testing methods, to pipeline integrity management systems. Last year, we published more content than any year prior; we expect the same trend to continue into 2014.
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November/December 2013 Inspectioneering JournalBy Anthony J. Rutkowski at A.J. Rutkowski, LLC, and Anthony M. Damron at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
Small bore piping is present in many variations throughout numerous industries. This article will address an incident involving a small bore piping failure that occurred on a 140,000 BPD crude distillation unit in the refining industry.
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September/October 2013 Inspectioneering JournalBy Matthew Green at Neptune Research, Inc.
Composite repair systems can be a great option for owner/ operators to extend the life of their assets without disrupting operations.
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Partner Content
LOTIS utilizes laser profilometry to conduct internal steam reformer tube inspections. The data captured by LOTIS is exceptionally powerful when combined with our LifeQuest™ remaining life assessment capabilities, providing an integrated solution set for the process and syngas industries.
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September/October 2013 Inspectioneering JournalBy A.C. Gysbers at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
This article is the fifth of a series of articles that will focus on one critical sub process within a PEIP that is key in managing the integrity of process piping; Thickness Monitoring Programs for Internal Corrosion.
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July/August 2013 Inspectioneering JournalBy James Widrig at Quest Integrity Group
Inspection and fitness-for-service assessments of critical in-plant piping systems are a concern for the chemical industry. This presents a potentially insurmountable task and discovery of a number of areas where the condition is at risk.
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May/June 2013 Inspectioneering JournalBy A.C. Gysbers at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
Piping failures still represent a frustrating and ongoing problem for processing plants. Failures are still commonly reported and contribute to large losses. In the author’s experience, piping represents the highest percentage of fixed equipment failures in petroleum refining.
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January/February 2013 Inspectioneering JournalBy A.C. Gysbers at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
This article is the third of a series of articles that will focus on one critical sub process within a PEIP that is key in managing the integrity of process piping: thickness monitoring programs for internal corrosion. These articles will discuss what constitutes an effective piping thickness monitoring process and will present several practices that may be new to some readers, but these practices have produced beneficial results in other major piping reliability programs.
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November/December 2012 Inspectioneering JournalBy A.C. Gysbers at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
Piping failures still represent a frustrating and ongoing problem for processing plants. Failures are still commonly reported and contribute to large losses. In the author’s experience, piping represents the highest percentage of fixed equipment failures in petroleum refining.
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Partner Content
Industrial Rope Access is a proven method of achieving a safe work position at elevated heights or areas that are difficult to access. When combined with advanced NDE technologies, rope access technicians can substantially reduce the cost of inspections and maintenance activities by virtually eliminating the need for fixed scaffolding.
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September/October 2012 Inspectioneering JournalBy Peter Carter, PhD, PE at Stress Engineering, Inc., Joe Frey, PE at Stress Engineering, Inc., and Mike Guillot, PhD, PE at Stress Engineering, Inc.
An all too familiar scenario in power plants is one in which an inspection finding occurs late in an outage and consequently, the return to service date may need to be postponed to allow time for corrective action. Historically, cracks or thinned spots were typically repaired without question.
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September/October 2012 Inspectioneering JournalBy A.C. Gysbers at The Equity Engineering Group, Inc.
Piping failures still represent a frustrating and ongoing problem for processing plants (example in Figure 1). Failures are commonly reported and contribute to large losses. As well per the author’s experience, piping still represents the highest percentage of the number of fixed equipment failures in petroleum refining.
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September/October 2012 Inspectioneering JournalBy Richard D. Roberts at Quest Integrity Group
The refining industry has applied ultrasonic-based intelligent pigging to inspect serpentine coils in fired heaters since the 1990s. Today, thousands of serpentine coils in fired heaters are inspected annually at process facilities around the globe.
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May/June 2012 Inspectioneering JournalBy Clay Goudy at GE Industrial Solutions
A self-propelled in-line inspection tool tested at Electric Power Research Institute and utilized in Europe can traverse a complex piping configuration and discriminate areas of metal loss. This tool is becoming available to inspect traditionally unpiggable piping such as: buried piping at nuclear plants, oil and gas terminals, refineries, industrial sites, cased pipeline crossings and distribution pipelines.
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May/June 2012 Inspectioneering JournalBy Clay Goudy at GE Industrial Solutions
A self-propelled in-line inspection tool tested at Electric Power Research Institute and utilized in Europe can traverse a complex piping configuration and discriminate areas of metal loss. This tool is becoming available to inspect traditionally unpiggable piping such as: buried piping at nuclear plants, oil and gas terminals, refineries, industrial sites, cased pipeline crossings and distribution pipelines.
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September/October 2011 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal
Leaks or spills over the life of nuclear power plant operation can lead to undesirable consequences. The nuclear industry’s GroundwaterProtectionInitiativeandthelessonslearnedand experiences gained from implementing groundwater protection programs have led to the development of another voluntary industry initiative, the Underground Piping and Tank Integrity Initiative, which aims to better understand the conditions of and mitigate leaks from these components.
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July/August 2010 Inspectioneering JournalBy Craig Emslie BSc at Sonomatic Ltd., and Karen Gibson at Sonomatic Ltd.
Inspection intervals for equipment have in the past been defined in a prescriptive manner. However, industry is now embracing the Risk Based Inspection (RBI) approach which in contrast prioritises inspections based on an assessment of the risk to each individual item.
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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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March/April 2005 Inspectioneering JournalBy Bob Stakenborghs, P.E. at Evisive Inc.
Once the microwave inspection method was determined to be capable of providing reliable and meaningful inspection results for defects located on the exterior, interior, and interior surfaces of non-metallic components, potential industry applications were identified. Upon investigation, these applications were identified. Upon investigation, these applications proved to be numerous and varied in nature. This is the result of an apparent lack of reliable inspection techniques for many non-metallic components that are rapidly becoming materials of choice in many industries.
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September/October 2004 Inspectioneering JournalBy Julian Speck at TWI Ltd., and Peter Mudge at Pi Ltd.
The impetus for the development of LRUT is that ultrasonic thickness checks for corrosion, erosion, etc. are localised, in that they only measure the thickness of the area under the UT transducer.
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March/April 2003 Inspectioneering JournalBy Dr. Nand K. Gupta at Omega International Technology, Inc.
During the past two years, a new High Resolution Gamma Ray Detector Array System to detect and measure small corrosion pits in real-time in the inservice piping in process industries, has been in development. This High Resolution Gamma Ray Detector Array can be substituted in place of the standard detector array in our ThruVU (TVU) system. The first High Resolution detector array has a total width of 1.00" and consists of 76 channels with 0.013" detector pitch. On the other hand, the detector pitch is 0.130" in the standard TVU detector array. So, the new High Resolution detector array can potentially provide a 10x better spatial resolution compared to the TVU standard detector array.
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January/February 2003 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
This failure mechanism is unfortunately all too common in our industry. It's also known as stress rupture, and it is usually entirely preventable by proper maintenance and operating procedures. It occurs when equipment, piping or furnace tubes that are designed to operate safely and reliably in one temperature range are suddenly (and sometimes not so suddenly) exposed to higher temperatures.
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January/February 2001 Inspectioneering JournalBy Paul K. Davidson at WIS, Inc., David Silverling at Tubular Ultrasound, L.P., and Jason Hicks at Tubular Ultrasound, L.P.
This article describes a new inspection technology for rapid, on-stream,quantitative examinations of piping under support areas. This portable production system has been in commercial operation in the major U.S. Gulf Coast refineries for the past two years.
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January/February 2001 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
Part 5 of this article continues to outline the 101 essential elements that need to be in place, and functioning well, to effectively and efficiently, preserve and protect the reliability and integrity of pressure equipment (vessels, exchangers, furnaces, boilers, piping, tanks, relief systems) in the refining, gas processing and petrochemical industry.
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July/August 2000 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
This paper outlines the 101 essential elements that need to be in place, and functioning well, to effectively and efficiently, preserve and protect the reliability and integrity of pressure equipment (vessels, exchangers, furnaces, boilers, piping, tanks, relief systems) in the refining and petrochemical industry.
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May/June 1999 Inspectioneering JournalBy Paul K. Davidson at WIS, Inc.
EMATs (Electromagnetic Acoustic Transducers) have been used for over six years for field service inspection of in-service piping. Recent advances in technology have allowed us to inspect new types of on-stream piping.
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January/February 1999 Inspectioneering JournalBy Joseph E. Pascente at Lixi, Inc.
One of the greatest challenges facing many of refining, fossil power, and pulp and paper industries is: How to effectively examine their insulated piping?
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November/December 1998 Inspectioneering JournalBy Michael Twomey at CONAM Inspection Inc., and Jay N. Rothbart at Conam Inspection Inc.
We have been asked many times by existing and prospective users of PCMS (a computerized, inspection database management system), how many TMLs (Thickness Management Locations) should be installed per piping circuit. These inquiries must be addressed indirectly, because each specific site differs in its operation, mission and objectives. We firmly believe it is up to each site to make choices based upon their own circumstances. When pressed on the issue we have pointed toward a couple of papers published or generated within our User Community. While these provide cookbook methods, they do not encompass all the issues facing the User Group. Based upon the continuing questions in this area we decided to provide a review of the issues.
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September/October 1997 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
This is the fourth in a series of articles on piping inspection that I'm writing for the Journal. One of the previous ones dealt with improving thickness data taking accuracy with digital ultrasonic methods. This article is a "sister article" that deals with improving the accuracy of profile radiographic inspection techniques, also called isotope radiography, wall shots, or tangential radiographic inspection.
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May/June 1997 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
In the Jan/Feb issue of the IJ, I mentioned how important the Management of Change (MOC) process is when it comes to maintaining safe, leak-free piping systems; stating that we in the inspection business cannot do it alone; that is, we taint the integrity of piping systems without a lot of help from operating personnel and operations support engineers.
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March/April 1997 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
This is the second in a series of articles on piping inspection. In the last article, I enumerated four inspection issues that I believe contribute to inadequate piping mechanical integrity in the hydrocarbon process industry.
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January/February 1997 Inspectioneering JournalBy John Reynolds at Intertek
It's probably more important to those of us who don't have a brain tumor. Unfortunately, it's precisely because piping inspection is not neurosurgery that it's often done poorly, which can lead to significant impacts on process unit reliability, or worse, a catastrophic event, where people can get hurt.
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November/December 1996 Inspectioneering JournalBy Greg Alvarado at Inspectioneering Journal
The API-570 Piping Inspector Certification Program is nearing the end of the grandfather period. Five hundred thirty-one (531) inspectors have been certified to date under this provision, which will remain in effect through November 15, 1996.
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May/June 1995 Inspectioneering JournalBy Bob Browne at ERA Technology
For reason of economy, the hot reheat pipework in many US power plants is fabricated from seam-welded low chrome-moly carbon steel spools. Unlike girth butt welds, where the critical weldment microstructures can off-load stress to the stronger parent material, seam welds are subject to the full pressure hoop stress. A number of failures have occurred, some of which have been evidenced by fast fracture over extended lengths of the seam weld with a massive and violent steam release.
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March/April 1995 Inspectioneering JournalBy Charles L. Foster at Pacific Gas & Electric
High energy piping (HEP) systems, main steam lines and hot reheat lines (typically low chrome molydbdenum steels), are susceptible to creep damage. Such damage can lead to leaks, and in extreme cases, catastrophic failure.
Videos
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Published on April 19, 2013The U.S. Chemical Safety Board releases an animation of the August, 2012 incident at Chevron's Richmond, CA refinery.
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October 23 - 26 2017Location: Seattle, Washington, United States
Hosted By: American Petroleum Institute
Dates: October 23, 2017 - October 26, 2017
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Press ReleasePress Release, July 11, 2013
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