When we take on jobs that other industrial cleaning companies turn down, our “can do anything mindset” takes over because of the confidence we have in our associates, our resourcefulness, and our equipment.
An estimated 30,000 lb. solid mass
Solidified polymer mass inside reactor tank
Such was the case when a tank full of a heated polymer mixture suddenly and unexpectedly solidified, leaving an estimated 30,000 lb. solid mass in a manufacturer’s chemical reactor tank.
The manufacturing plant’s maintenance manager’s job is hard enough with all the responsibility that comes with the job and the number one job is to keep the machinery working. Something like this is a nightmare for the manager.
Things can unexpectedly happen
Even with good planning for equipment maintenance, things can unexpectedly happen that shut down production lines. The unexpected reaction creating this solid 30,000 lb. polymer blob inside the confined space of a10,000-gallon reactor tank could have shut down the production line, but other reactors were able to keep production going for this manufacturer.
How to remove the solid mass
Breaking up the polymer mass
The challenge for us was how to remove the solid mass from the tank. Air chisels and jack hammers did very little. Increasing the temperature inside the tank to melt the mass had no effect. Neither did the attempt to dissolve it with acids.
Failing to remove the blob from the tank would leave the manufacturing facility with the only other solution for them. And that was to use a heavy carry deck crane to remove the entire tank, with the mass still inside, from the facility. And to do that would require removing a section of the second floor and a section of the facility’s roof.
Failure would cost the manufacturing facility an estimated $500-$750 K.
The cost to remove the reactor tank, replace it with a new one, and to repair the floor and roof, would cost the manufacturing facility an estimated $500-$750 K.
We began to think, as an industrial cleaning company, we might be “in over our heads” on this emergency cleaning job!
T.S. Eliot, one of the 20th century’s greatest poets is quoted as saying “If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”
We had one more idea that might work.
A cleaned and functional reactor tank
Even though air chisels and jack hammers did very little to break up the mass, we discovered that by spacing drill holes, at certain distances apart, the jack hammers could break off chunks of the material. After eleven days, we had the reactor tank clean.
Not only did we save the industrial manufacturer a huge expense, but considering T.S Eliot’s quote, we must stand a little taller as an industrial cleaning company.
