NDTMA 2015 Annual Conference

IMPROVING RETURNS UTILIZING NEW TECHNOLOGY“MANAGING THE FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN”

Jim Treat – Chairman Bruce Pellegrino – V.P. Marketing

Sensor Networks, Inc.Boalsburg, PA

February 12, 2015

Golden Nugget Hotel, Las Vegas, NV February 10-13, 2015

Agenda:

1. The Global NDT Product & Services Market

2. Historical Perspective & Project Motivation

3. Inspection vs. Monitoring: The value of continuous monitoring

4. Applications

5. Conclusion

Getting calibrated: Globally NDT Products and Services is a very fragmented ~ $10 Billion / Year Market

CAGR of ~6 %

Ex: Factory In-house

Oil & Gas is 65% of Services

NDT Services $ ≈ LV Gaming $ Source: Frost & Sullivan – Various Reports

UT$480

RT$525

MT/ET$225

VT$195

PT $75

UT RT MT/ET VT PT

Products$1,500

Services$7,900

Training$250

Products Services Training

“Products & Services

An implicit partnership”

Corrosion Damage Accounts for the Cost of one Major Facility Annually

Refining & Petrochemical $1.7 B

Pipeline , Oil/Gas Production $8 B

Source: NACE Cost of Corrosion Study

What Asset Managers Want?

• New technology which will provide them with more current data regarding the condition of their assets.

• They do not want to wait for annual inspections or shutdowns to get this data.

• They want on-line monitoring versus periodic data collection.

• They say “we want more and quicker data”

“INDUSTRIAL CLIENTS ARE INTERESTED IN COLLECTING MORE CURRENT AND MEANINGFUL DATA ABOUT THE CONDITION OF THEIR ASSETS”

Inaccessible Equipment is a Challenge

• In plant environments, some equipment cannot be accessed even during shutdowns.

• Data still must be obtained for these assets, which can be even more critical to overall plant integrity.

• Every plant manager interviewed is interested in knowing the condition of his plant every day, regardless of service or location of these assets.

Technology Investments to Improve Information

• Most end users are interested in investing in new technology to overcome these concerns.

• In the process side of the business, all critical processes are measured in real time.

• Obtaining information on flow, temperature, Pressure, PH, equipment upsets or unusual conditions are monitored and reported on a continuing basis: KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators)

• Plant Manager feels he is in control!

Fear of the Unknown• Not knowing for extended periods of time the condition of your asset,

can cause an unexpected failure or require an unscheduled shutdown.

• The inability to establish corrosion or erosion rates due to lack of information can be problematic for capital planning.

• Not having data due to not being able to access the assets can create significant issues.

On-Line Monitoring

• The use of newly developed technology for on-line monitoring has received a lot of attention, but the equipment provided to date is limited in its ability to provide significant amounts of data.

• Its relative returns have been somewhat muted based upon the prohibitive costs to obtain the data.

Some Success to Date with Installed Data Collection

• There have been several companies that have provided some early solutions to collect data on a continuous basis.

• The early systems have been very expensive and have limited capabilities, but have provided very useful data.

• However, the concept of having installed sensors is very exciting to the end users and the market is ready for a robust solution.

Some drivers toward installed corrosion/erosion monitoring:

• Safety / Loss prevention – loss of assets, loss of life, lost production, environmental damage / fines, damage to company image.

• Cost of access – scaffolding cost, lagging /delagging, offshore access, personnel costs. (Over time, inspection costs will be increasing, monitoring costs decreasing)

• Corrosion management – trending, verification of corrosion mitigation strategies (<5MPY), feedback for chemical inhibitors, planned maintenance.

• High integrity data – to enhance RBI and mechanical integrity programs.

• Code compliance

The power of (higher-frequency) data…….

• Sufficient for inspection

• Gross corrosion rate – cannot calculate uncertainty

9.60

9.70

9.80

9.90

10.00

10.10

1/1/20131/31/20133/2/20134/1/20135/2/20136/1/20137/1/20138/1/20138/31/20139/30/201310/31/201311/30/201312/30/2013

W.T

. (m

m)

Wall Thickness Data (1 msmt per year)

9.60

9.70

9.80

9.90

10.00

10.10

1/1/20131/31/20133/2/20134/1/20135/2/20136/1/20137/1/20138/1/20138/31/20139/30/201310/31/201311/30/201312/30/2013

W.T

. (m

m)

Wall Thickness Data (1 msmt per month)

• Various corrosion rates evident

• Trends evident but still large uncertainty due to measurement precision

9.60

9.70

9.80

9.90

10.00

10.10

1/1/20131/31/20133/2/20134/1/20135/2/20136/1/20137/1/20138/1/20138/31/20139/30/201310/31/201311/30/201312/30/2013

W.T

. (m

m)

Wall Thickness Data (1 msmt per week)

• Various corrosion rates evident

• Regression can be used to obtain accurate corrosion rates over medium time scales.

9.6

9.7

9.8

9.9

10

10.1

1/1/20131/31/20133/2/20134/1/20135/2/20136/1/20137/1/20138/1/20138/31/20139/30/201310/31/201311/30/201312/30/2013

W.T

. (m

m)

Wall Thickness Data (1 msmt per day)

• Various corrosion rates evident

• Regression can be used to remove measurement noise and produce very accurate corrosion rate data.

Some Applications

Injection/Mix Point Corrosion Monitoring

• Injection/Mix point corrosion has been responsible formany serious refinery incidents

• API 570 specifies inspection guidelines and NACE IP34101 provides specific process guidelines to minimizeinjection point damage

• Spot UT and RT provide static monitoring of potentialdamage areas

• Installed UT Array can provide dynamic monitoring ofsuspected injection point damage locations withoutrepeated access mobilizations

Crude Overhead Corrosion Monitoring• Crude Unit Overhead with Chemical Injection and/or Water Washes are subject

to periodic inspections per API 570• Many overhead lines have no platform access making these inspections difficult

and costly• UT and RT can provide useful inspection data, but costly to obtained if crane

access / scaffolding required• Installed UT Array can be installed and accessed on a continuous basis to improve

operational knowledge

Reactor Effluent Air Cooler Piping Erosion

• Reactor Effluent Air Coolers have suffered numerous Erosion - Corrosion incidents due to ammonium Bi-sulfide and Ammonium Chloride Erosion

• Rigorous monitoring of operating conditions must be followed by extensive UT and RT surveys

• On-line Mat UT Array installed sensors allow continuous or intermittent monitoring of suspect areas

Sand Erosion Offshore Risers Monitoring

• Sand Erosion can occur at change in direction/diameter in offshore production risers due to solids ingestion. This erosion is typified by a smooth surface with a sand dune pattern

• Riser locations where sand erosion may occur are difficult to access and inspect with conventional UT or RT

• UT array permanent mounted sensors can be applied to suspect areas for accurate monitoring without the need for manual access

1. Permanently-installed ultrasonic sensor solutions can provide significant benefits (technical & commercial) to both asset owners and service providers.

2. Technology developed from rugged & reliable solid-state circuits, software, wireless and the internet are converging at a rapid pace.

3. This is being embraced by plant management as a way to increase reliability at lower costs.

CONCLUSIONS: