Ask any reliability engineer or maintenance manager at a major refinery about their key priorities, and it’s likely that safety, minimizing downtime costs and safeguarding the environment will be high on the list. Shortfalls in any of these areas can have major human, financial and environmental impacts. Out of the many, two references re-iterate the value of safety and cost savings:
– In its 2021 safety report, the International Organization of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) reported increases in both fatalities and injuries from 2020 levels, with 20 fatalities.
– According to a 2022 uptake.com article, “the average facility in oil and gas loses 32 hours of productivity each month to unplanned downtime, at a cost of $220,000 per hour.”
A single failure in a critical component can lead to a major incident. Even with fail-safes and redundancy built in, multiple simultaneous failures can still trigger an incident.
Industrial pumps perform a core role in oil, gas and chemical production. They have many moving parts that are subject to the stresses and environmental factors that can lead to wear or corrosion-related failures.
Refineries and plants are growing larger and more complex. At the same time, environmental, regulatory, and business pressures are continually increasing. In this environment, maintaining a safe, economical, and sustainable operation becomes ever more challenging and critical. Preventing and managing wear and corrosion in pumps is a key element of this challenge.
This article looks at how LOCTITE® solutions help reliability engineers and maintenance managers minimize the risk of pump failures and reduce unplanned downtime, improve safety, reduce costs and avoid environmental impacts.
LOCTITE® offers a comprehensive range of maintenance products for the oil, gas and chemical industry, backed by our market leading training capability, technical expertise and a collaborative approach that delivers robust and sustainable end-to-end solutions for our clients’ needs.
How LOCTITE® solutions deliver safer, more sustainable and cost-effective pump operations
The effects of internal and external pump corrosion can create safety issues, increase repair costs and downtime across the whole operation, and have major environmental impacts from leaks and spills.
Tackling pump corrosion
The critical role that industrial pumps play in oil, gas and chemical production, along with their susceptibility to corrosion-based issues, makes pump corrosion prevention and repair a key priority.
The effects of internal and external pump corrosion can create safety issues, increase repair costs and downtime across the whole operation, and have major environmental impacts from leaks and spills.
LOCTITE® pump and under-pump corrosion prevention and management solutions are designed to meet the demanding needs of today’s petrochemical industry – the challenges of operating hundreds or thousands of pumps, each with a large number of moving parts, in major refinery environments, often in a coastal or seaborne location where sea air and saltwater present an additional layer of challenge.
The LOCTITE® pump corrosion management portfolio includes:
- Metal Repair Compounds that repair, rebuild and restore worn or corroded metal parts without the need of heat or welding; cracks in housings; worn keyways in shafts and collars; worn cylindrical shafts, etc.
- Concrete Repair Solutions that can be easily mixed and applied – and quickly cure to repair damage from events such as under-pump corrosion.
- Coatings that are easy to mix and apply, durable, flexible, and resistant to chemicals, abrasion, erosion, ultraviolet and seawater environments, with long life and reduced coating frequency.
- Cleaning and surface preparation products that prevent corrosion between parts and coatings, improve adhesion and ensure the effectiveness of coating solutions.
Other key LOCTITE® Solutions for repair and maintenance
Whatever repair or maintenance task you are facing, LOCTITE® helps you to accomplish it with a product portfolio that provides all relevant technologies from one source, encompassing:
- Machinery Adhesives – threadlocking adhesives, thread sealants, gasketing products and retaining compounds
- Bonding and Sealing – epoxies, polyurethanes, instant adhesives and industrial sealants
- Supplementary Maintenance Products – such as anti-seize and lubricant
These LOCTITE® solutions prolong the life of pumps and other key components, reducing unplanned maintenance and promoting speedy repairs.