Figure 4 Advanced control and monitoring
The RPS software utilises advanced algorithms, developed based on actual pipeline events, to provide operators and maintenance personnel with pending threats such as the formation of hot and cold spots, time-to-freeze prediction, and location of pipeline plugs. This unprecedented access to pipeline performance trends provides rich, actionable data so that maintenance staff can keep pipelines operating safely and efficiently. Case study and real-world application Gulf Coast US refinery conversion to renewable diesel requires 1.6 km (1 mile) underground feedstock pipeline In this unique refinery conversion challenge, chicken fat and oil are feedstocks delivered by rail car to the refinery at a rail unloading terminal that is 1.6 km away from the refinery. Routing of the heated transfer pipeline required most of the line to be underground at depths ranging from 3m to 30m. The owners of this project had significant civil and mechanical challenges designing and
planning for the construction of an underground heated line to deliver chicken fat from the rail terminal to the refinery. The chicken fat and oil must be maintained at a process temperature of 120°F (50°C) to keep them in liquid form. The customer’s mission-critical objective for the heat management solution included finding the optimal heated pipeline system design for this project that would keep critical processes running under all scenarios. Additionally, engineering solutions were provided in response to contractor challenges for construction and the future reliable operation of this underground heated line. Raychem engineers specialise in longline heated pipeline applications that address solutions where power distribution is limited in supply. These experts determined that a STS was the ideal solution for this project (see Figure 5 ) because they could bundle several adjacent technologies for optimum heat management system performance, such as: • STS heating with a single power connection at one end of the pipeline.
Figure 5 STS longline heated pipeline
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