Solutions Ahead Blog

If you are in the pharmaceutical or fine chemical industry, cleaning issues are probably one of your major priorities.  Product contamination can be detrimental to your business, so every step must be taken to ensure your system is thoroughly cleaned between batches.  By taking a systematic cleaning approach and creating a standard operating procedure, you can maintain the integrity of your product and ensure superior cleanability.  But how do you validate this?

Whether you are a first-time handler or an expert one, care and consideration must be taken when handling glass components.  Following a glass care regime will help to keep a clean and well-maintained plant as well as ensure there will not be any surprises while the reaction is happening inside.  Here are some general guidelines you should follow when servicing your glass equipment:

Aftermarket sales play a huge role in the life of your chemical process equipment.  When you spend the time and money to purchase a solution from a systems provider such as DDPS, there is a level of service and support that you come to expect when making an investment of this magnitude.  We're here to help you extend the life of your equipment and keep your system running safely and efficiently.  

The rigorous operations that most of your equipment undergoes makes it essential to keep spare parts on hand to help minimize downtime when service has to be interrupted for routine maintenance or part replacement.  In part 1 of this series, we talked about how to determine what spare parts you should have on hand.  In part 2, we discussed how to go about ordering a part and tips for identifying the part number of a QVF glass component.  In this third and final post, we'll tell you a little about our stocking programs and how you can benefit from enrolling your equipment. 

Companies are constantly faced with budgets cuts and figuring out more cost-effective ways to operate.  In searching for new ways to spend less, it’s helpful to analyze all aspects of your equipment expenses throughout their lifecycles, from procurement to maintenance and repair.  You might find that there are a number of protocols that are in place not because they make the most economical sense but because that’s how they’ve always been done. 

At some point, the addition of more plugs, patches or sleeves to your glass-lined vessel becomes uneconomical, or results in a repair of questionable integrity.  When you’ve reached this stage in the lifecycle of your equipment it’s time to consider replacement or refurbishment.  In last week’s post, we talked about reglassing – what it is, the advantages it offers over buying new equipment, and how it is performed.  (If you are unfamiliar with reglassing, we suggest you read that article first to get up to speed on this service and how it could apply to your equipment.)  All glass-lined reactors, tanks, columns, and accessories such as covers, agitators and baffles, can be reglassed if the steel substrate is in good or repairable condition.  Once you’ve decided that your equipment is a candidate for reglassing these are the steps you should following for preparing your equipment to send in for service:

There are many things in life that are just not worth fixing.  Your old or damaged glass-lined reactor doesn’t have to be one of them.  Depending on the service conditions, some vessels can last for years and years without any issues of erosion to the glass lining.  Other, more corrosive services can erode their way through a reactor’s glass-lining in six months while others can destroy the glass lining in a year or two, leaving a virtually new vessel unusable. Mechanical and thermal shock can also account for damage that could render a vessel unusable.

There are certain areas in a chemical manufacturing facility, such as a reactor, storage tank, or other large vessel, that are not designed for people but are sizable enough for employees to enter to carry out maintenance work and other housekeeping tasks.   Defined as “confined spaces” by OSHA, these areas usually have limited access due the equipment’s physical arrangement as well as its potentially harmful contents that personnel try to avoid contact with under normal circumstances.   Despite the restricted space and potential hazards, it becomes necessary for a worker to enter a vessel from time to time.  Care should always be taken during any type of entry primarily for the safety of the worker, but also for the well-being of the equipment.  Glass-lined steel vessels present some additional precautionary steps that need to be taken into account to ensure the safety of both the worker and the equipment.

Glass-lined steel provides a tried and true, rugged design that has proven its value in countless applications across various industries that require a high level of corrosion resistance and durability in their process equipment.  Nonetheless, people hear the term “glass” and often develop a negative perception of glass-lined steel, associating the material of construction with terms like “fragile”, “maintenance hassle”, and “costly”.  But by familiarizing yourself with the unique properties and advantages of glass-lined steel you can dismiss these misconceptions.  Additionally, by following the operating guidelines (specifically the temperature and pressure limitations) and performing routine vessel inspections and preventative maintenance services you can ensure your equipment will live a long, healthy life as well as optimize your process performance. 

Note: This blog post is designed to provide a general overview of the procedures used to inspect glass-lined equipment.  Its contents should only be used as a guideline; specific instructions from the vessel supplier should always be followed.  Only well-qualified technicians should carry out these inspections. Damage to the glass lining can occur during some inspection techniques if they are not done properly.   

If you work in pharmaceutical or fine chemical production you are probably well aware of the corrosion resistance, cleanability, and other qualities of glass-lined reactors that make them a necessity in your manufacturing facility.  There are many other applications that involve aggressive reaction environments, not limited to these industries, which require the unique traits of glass lining to effectively carry out their processes in order to not compromise product purity through the exposure to metal.