The name of Endecon has long been associated with unique, environmentally safe systems for the decontamination of oil refinery and petrochemical systems. Today Endecon is part of the Cape DBI, ensuring an even better service built on a team of highly experienced professionals and drawing on the Group’s huge resources to offer cost-effective alternatives to environmentally unfriendly chemicals, prolonged steaming and hazardous man-entry options.

Environmental Decontamination

The removal of benzene and the minimisation of heavy sludges and deposits in process towers and vessels during plant shutdowns can provide significant safety and productivity benefits. Historically, refineries and petrochemical plants have relied on environmentally unfriendly chemicals, or prolonged steaming to remove these hazardous deposits. Cape DBI provide a fresh solution, an answer that is conceptively priced, highly effective and environmentally responsible.

Now incorporating the respected specialist expertise of Endecon, Cape DBI’s well- proven, environmentally-safe systems provide decontamination of hydrocarbon processing plants and equipment ranging from complete units to individual towers and vessels, heat exchangers and tanks. This customised approach combines mechanical engineering capability with innovative biodegradable chemistry and the industry's most experienced team of application specialists.

Safety Benefits
The prime safety objectives of decontamination reduce benzene to less than 1.0ppm and, as a consequence, produce gas free conditions that meet safe entry LEL and PEL permit levels, protecting the operatives scheduled to enter the vessels and towers for inspection and maintenance purposes.

Cape DBI’s decontamination system can deliver LEL and PEL permissable working conditions in significantly less time than traditional steaming-out procedures, offering clients both safety and preparation benefits.

Exceptionally hazardous H2S and pyrophoprics deposits can also be minimised or even elimiated using Cape DBI decontamination, greatly improving safety standards. Reducing H2S which can be lethal even at low levels is especially crucial, whilst the presence ofpyrophorics can lead to spontaneous fires in towers and vessels; even many hours after an apparently safe opening.

Increasing Productivity through Environmental Decontamination

Whilst the prime objective of decontamination is to deliver the safest possible working conditions for operatives, the proess can also significantly improve shutdown productivity.

Reaching gas-free conditions in a shorter timescale speeds up time to entry and can eliminate the need for self-contained breathing apparatus; with its numerous drawbacks and safety issues. In addition, hot work can often be undertaken immediately, whilst removal of heavy, and often hazardous sludges, makes mechanical dismantling and repairs considerably easier.

Cape DBI’s long experience confirms that effective decontamination ALWAYS offers productivity improvements. In the case of a typical full crude unit, clients benefit from 3 or 4 day reduction in shutdown time, with comparable savings in other areas.

Efficient Decontamination
Cape DBI decontamination systems are applicable to a broad spectrum of process situations. The Company has developed highly effective chemistry for Crude Units, Vacuum Units, FCCUs, Hydrotreaters, Hydrocrackers, Visbreakers, Cokers and a wide range of light-end distillation units, as well as Quench Water and Quench Oil systems on Olefins plants.

Cape DBI provide chemical products, with technical planning and on-site support, up to a full turnkey package extending to comprise pumping capability, temporary pipework, mechanical tie-ins. The most cost-effective decontamination solution is evaluated with the client from an early stage, with the development of outline procedures that ensure the process integrates efficently with the overall shutdown plan. Set-up logistics, time-lines and waste disposal are all thoroughly discussed beforehand, to minimise both on-site time and disruption to the plant during execution.

Typical Decontamination process

No two systems are ever exactly the same but, in a wide variety of process equipment, between 0.5 to 2.0% decontaminant by weight dissoved in water can deliver exceptional results on heavy sludges, distillates, PAHs or Benzene. In most applications Cape DBI’s water-based solution, heated to between 85 and 90oC, is circulated from 4 to 8 hours, with sampling to track the oil and solids content in solution being made throughout the period. Finally the solution is drained off, and the entire system flushed with clean water.

In some situations, a second chemical circulation stage may be needed to achieve the required level of decontamination. Cape DBI can also provide in-line treatment of decontamination effluent using its unique, Mobile Waste Water Treatment Unit; minimising or completely eliminating disposal issues.

Cape DBI’s chemistry itself is environmentally safe, non-corrosive AND biodegradable, placing it at the cutting edge of environmentally reponsible technology.

Hydrocarbon Sludge Processing

Cape DBI’s hold the exclusive UK license for revolutionary hydrocarbon sludge processing that meets the stringent standards of the latest legislation that has made traditional techniques largely unacceptable.