Demineralization System Performance Issues in Petrochemical Plant solved with Shallow Shell Technology

A petrochemical company in Mexico uses ion exchange and other resins to treat their influent boiler feedwater as well as within some of their production processes. Purolite was in touch with the company for over four years, yet the company purchased resins from another producer.

In time, however, they became increasingly dissatisfied with their current supplier due to:

• Inadequate customer service
• Limited ability to help troubleshoot their systems

The team felt like they had nowhere to turn to help them improve their ion exchange systems. Furthermore, their internal teams were not supportive of making improvements that could not show a financial benefit.

Over the years, Purolite learned about their processes and saw opportunity to help optimize their demineralization systems. We initially recommended some basic changes, that brought about some improvement. Eventually, they felt comfortable asking us for help with some of their larger system challenges, such as:

• Low throughput
• Poor regeneration performance

The boiler process team outlined how Purolite benefitted the company over the years and advocated using our high-performance Shallow Shell Technology™ resins (also known as SST® resins).

Purolite did a comprehensive technical presentation on Shallow Shell technology that reviewed what it is, how it works and why it is superior to standard grade resins. After learning about the resins—and reviewing a cost analysis for performance and return on investment (ROI)—the Plant Manager supported the idea of switching to the new resins.

The Plant Manager was so interested in the technology that promised better regeneration efficiency and savings in regenerant chemicals and water, he agreed to take the idea to the General Manager for approvals.

The proposed financial savings and performance improvements were enough to convince management to replace resins in one of ther demineralization lines. After the installation, and following a strict regeneration procedure, system monitoring revealed that they achieved their performance goals with increased throughput and extended regeneration cycles (from 2 days to 4 days).

Additionally, because of the successful outcome, communication and trust between the plant operators, management and purchasing has increased, enabling better involvement in decisions for updating the other resin lines to Shallow Shell Technology.

Why Purolite?

• Innovative thinking for plant improvements
• Results that exceed expectations
• Technical expertise
• Treat customers as industry partners
• Successfully solve problems