Demineralization System Re-Bed at Canadian Oil Refinery

During the fall shutdown period, a prominent oil refinery in New Brunswick, Canada was preparing for a complete demineralization system re-bed. The system consists of three ion exchange resin trains for water demineralization for boiler feed. Demineralization removes all inorganic salts from a liquid stream to produce the high purity water needed for industrial operations.

The existing system design and additional considerations:

• (3) 400 cubic foot strong acid cation exchange vessels
• (3) dual compartment weak base anion and strong base anion packed bed vessels with false bottom divider
• The vessels are located outside where freezing and winter maintenance are a concern
• The feed water has very high organics at certain times throughout the year, where the feed organics can be as high as 20ppm of TOC (Total Organic Carbon)

The plant was using a competing resin at the time of the bid, so Purolite quoted equivalent products Puropack® PPA100Plus, Puropack® PPA500Plus and Purolite® C100H. Purolite also provided premium resin options Puropack® PPA870 and Shallow Shell™ SSTC60H.

Purolite was invited for a site visit to inspect the vessels, provide technical support and offered information on tanker delivery service. At the end of the visit, the plant’s Engineering Manager decided to go with Purolite for the fall re-bed.  Purolite was the only resin supplier that visited the site and provided direct technical support which were deciding factors in resin supplier selection.

Purolite installed SSTC60H in one train and they were able to lower the acid dosage by 20% while maintaining the same throughput.  

Due to the success of the SSTC60H, the oil refinery switched to Puropack® PPA870 in the weak base and strong base anion compartments. PPA870 is a dual function resin, allowing double the bed depth, which helped increase throughput by 30% with the same regeneration parameters. To note, maximum regen temperature dropped from 45°C to 35°C.

Purolite exceeds customer expectations by providing comprehensive technical support and service. From resin selection to installation, we are here to meet your needs.