Eastham Refinery Limited

18th July 2018 — Eastham Refinery Limited

Babcock Wanson has supplied two high efficiency EPC 2500ES Thermal Fluid Heaters with advanced controls to Eastham Refinery Limited to heat the bitumen product storage tanks.

Boilers to Heat Bitumen Product Storage Tanks

The temperature of the storage tanks needs to be sufficiently high to ensure that the bitumen product can still be pumped when it reaches the customer. If the bitumen temperature drops too low it becomes difficult to pump. An accurate and reliable heat source is therefore essential.

Eastham Refinery Ltd is located on the Wirral, Merseyside and is the largest producer of bitumen in the United Kingdom with a capacity of 800,000 tonnes of bitumen per year. Eastham Refinery is a joint venture between Shell UK Limited and AB Nynas Petroleum.

Two Babcock Wanson EPC ES natural gas fired Thermal Fluid Heaters with control systems incorporating O2 and CO trim to further improve efficiency, have been installed at Eastham Refinery in an enclosure that they provided. They have replaced the existing direct oil fired furnaces on site which were old and inefficient. Douglas Watt, Senior Process Engineer and the Project Manager, explains the company’s decision: “ERL considered converting to gas firing on the original heaters. This would have required significant investment to update the equipment and to bring the control/instrumentation up to modern standards. A packaged heater solution was more cost effective.”

Using the Babcock Wanson Experience

The Babcock Wanson EPC ES is a fully automatic coil type, multi-pass Thermal Fluid Heater which provides a high efficiency solution to a very energy intensive process. It provides optimal distribution of the heat, high fluid velocity in the exchange tubes and continuous flow monitoring to ensure long fluid life and the highest level of safety. The EPC Heater precisely matches fuel input to plant energy requirements and incorporates an in-built exhaust gas to combustion air economiser for highest practicable operating efficiency. With lower energy input demand comes lower total exhaust emissions, so there are also environmental benefits.

Eastham Refinery Limited has been pleased with the results: “The heaters have met our expectation and are straightforward to operate. They have resulted in a significant reduction in fuel cost over our previous oil fired heaters” states Douglas. The service they have received from Babcock Wanson has also been positive: “The service has been good; the startup and commissioning engineer was very professional.”

Babcock Wanson has extensive experience of working with bulk liquid storage and logistics companies – including Nynas and Shell who operate Eastham Refinery as a joint venture - and has gained an excellent reputation in the industry for its reliable, cost-effective heaters and excellent service.

Customer Testimonials

 — Loucas Antoniou, Engineering Manager at Bakkavor Meals London

“The Thermal Oxidiser is the most efficient way of removing any smells and it’s also very straightforward to use. We have been a customer of Babcock Wanson for many years and have always enjoyed a good service.”

 — Carbon Trust Annual Report 2009/10

“A major carbon footprint reduction will be achieved when the scheme currently in progress to change the main boiler fuel from heating oil to gas is completed in summer 2010. This £900k project will reduce our carbon emissions via energy usage by around 15% by removing the need to use heavy fuel oil, as the new boiler plant will use natural gas as its main fuel source.”

 — Webster & Horsfall

“What we hadn’t expected initially though is the level of control the new system provides us with; it’s amazing. It alerts us to any potential issues, is easy to maintain (no annual statutory inspection is required) and is quick to respond. All that and it doesn’t take up much room.”

 — Peter Connolly, Production Engineer at Vacu-Lug

“The ESM 2000 installation, together with an ongoing programme of process plant lagging and steam trap maintenance, has enabled us to significantly reduce our gas usage and cushion the company against rising gas prices.”

 — Dave Scrivens, Facilities Manager at Plastic Omnium

“Babcock Wanson’s expertise and ability to provide a whole package made them the leading contender for this project. On further investigation, their proposal was also commercially viable, which sealed the deal.”

 — Denis Kelly, Engineering & Construction Manager at Stolthaven Dagenham

“The Thermal Fluid Heaters themselves were ideal for this project as they are based on mature technology and are well proven in the field. They are robust and also require very little maintenance.”

 — Ian McQuarrie, Engineering Manager at Puredrive

“During my three years here, the Steam Generators and Thermal Fluid Heaters have worked flawlessly. Babcock Wanson carries a good name in the business for both quality and equipment longevity. Their knowledge, company wide, is exceptional and the whole package from installation through to service is managed professionally.”

 — Jason Hall, J&A Young Engineering Manager

“We had estimated our steam requirements, but Babcock Wanson had the experience to understand that we had underestimated this. In fact, the erratic nature of the steam loads would have been impossible to meet under our existing spec. Babcock Wanson was able to identify this as well as provide a very energy efficient solution with a number of enhanced features”.

 — Lee Bullen, Corrugated Services Manager at Board24

“It’s running very well, both easy to use and efficient. The service from Babcock Wanson has also been very good.”

 — Peter Shrimpton, Engineering Projects Manager at Bridgnorth Aluminium Ltd

"We were unfamiliar with Babcock Wanson, but we’ve had no problems with it whatsoever; you simply switch it on and it works – simple as that! The service we have received from Babcock Wanson has also been great.”