LSPI is well versed in technical support, but understands that our customer’s drag reducing agent (DRA) needs are unique. Our in-house engineers not only bring a wealth of experience, but also the flexibility and creativity to innovate new solutions to challenging situations.
Situation: During the planning phase to place a 40-foot skid, our customer indicated that their desired placement of the skid would be outside of their station for easy delivery access. This location required the injection point to be underground, which would require a long nozzle to inject for their proposed connection.
Solution: Understanding that a traditional approach would not work in this particular scenario, LSPI worked to adapt our traditional 2” nozzle. Elongating the billet length, the nozzle would be flush with the pipeline walls. However, the challenge of this design was in the nozzle weight limitation by the equipment needed to install the nozzle.
Our Approach: The first idea was to have the customer install their TOR connection underground, which would allow for a traditional 2-inch injection nozzle. This was not a good solution, as the client’s company policy dictated that the TOR connection must be above ground, as part of safety protocol.
By opting to change the nozzle’s material to aluminum rather than brass, the nozzle was lightened without compromising the integrity of the equipment. To further reduce the weight, the ID of the billet was increased until the last 2 inches of the billet (1/8”). Overall, the weight was reduced by 8.7 lbs through the modification of material and dimension, making it compliant with installation needs. The nozzle was installed and the skid was commissioned successfully.
Value Provided: LSPI’s technical support and equipment team facilitated the resolution of the issue to enable the customer to lay out their site as desired.