Petrochemical Value Chain Analysis

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The maintenance of engineering equipment in the petrochemical industry is a complex and challenging field. Under normal and adverse conditions, maintenance has to be performed as part of a daily routine. Irregular and unplanned maintenance can lead to unforeseen events and may have safety and environmental implications. The utility division of South Africa Synthetic Oil Liquid (SASOL) Chemical Industries (SCI) consists of three critical components in the petrochemical value chain; oxygen, water works and steam. This mini dissertation will primarily focus on the SASOL cold box in the oxygen environment Pure Gaseous Oxygen (GOX) is the core product produced in the Sasol Oxygen plant and is utilized in various processes. The key processing unit,…show more content…
Effectiveness of the derived maintenance strategies determines how well a department or function meets its goals. This will allow the organization to minimize the indirect costs, of maintenance associated with production losses (Crespo Ma´rquez, Ma'rques, De Leo, & Go' mez Ferna' ndes, 2009). If the maintenance strategies are followed correctly, the interval between breakdowns on the equipment will indicate when the equipment has reached its redundancy phase. There has been a strategic change in terms of maintaining the cold box in Sasol and this research will focus on the maintenance strategy to be followed to improve the current closed box maintenance approach. The high demand in oxygen in SCI processes made it beneficial to SASOL to investigate into new maintenance strategies. It is now evident that an alternative method needs to be tested, to ensure stable and reliable operations for SASOL, in order for it to be as efficient and effective as…show more content…
The traditional maintenance approach that is performed on the cold box is a black box approach. The strategy around this equipment need to change, it has to be maintained differently to maximize the value that the equipment adds to the SASOL process. The value of this research is the proposal of an alternative maintenance strategy to maintain the cold box and additional research on maintenance management to maximize the equipment’s value in the entire SASOL environment. This research will enable a new strategy to reduce the overhaul downtime, which can improve production output and assure that the cold box is more cost effective and

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