Kleinfelder was contracted to assume operation, maintenance, and monitoring (OMM) responsibilities for nine hydraulic control systems at an active petroleum refinery. The systems are intended to be protective of adjacent water bodies, and collectively include nearly 150 groundwater extraction points and more than six miles of conveyance piping.

Infrastructure and Water Quality 

On average, 40 million gallons of groundwater are recovered and pretreated each year prior to discharge to the refinery’s on-site wastewater treatment plant. Pretreatment requirements vary by system, with methods including equalization, oil/water separation, filtration, and contact adsorption.

The refinery facility presented multiple challenges to the project team, including aging equipment, ranging from two to 30 years in age, with designs that were not conducive to preventative maintenance, contributing to an ecosystem of reactive maintenance. Water quality at the site also resulted in widespread fouling issues. Inconsistent system uptime and recovery well operations contributed to site complications. Finally, the inability of the refinery to demonstrate hydraulic control and regulatory compliance was the overreaching challenge to operation of the site.

Effective Operations to Maintain Facility Compliance

Kleinfelder’s optimization plan included the development of a site-specific data collection process, which utilized electronic forms and an online dashboard to help track and record completed and upcoming maintenance tasks.

Kleinfelder’s team also designed and executed multiple system upgrades to help facilitate long-term operations and maintenance processes, including pipeline replacements and upgrades, clean-out installation, and component upgrades.

To help with documentation for regulatory compliance, Kleinfelder performed various hydraulic evaluations involving piezometer installation, transducer studies, tidal influence studies, and groundwater modeling, which helped to minimize the volume of water processed to maintain facility compliance.

Project Results

Compared to previous costs, the client realized approximately $2 million in annual savings following the implementation of Kleinfelder’s optimization recommendations. Upgrade and optimization efforts have resulted in increased system runtime and recovery rates (typically >95% runtime). Kleinfelder was also able to demonstrate regulatory compliance and identify areas of further evaluation.

Project Details

Location:
Confidential
Owner:
Confidential