Failure Investigation

Determining the root causes of failure to prevent additional lost opportunity costs

The absence of a root cause investigation and implementation of corrective action dramatically increases the risk of a future failure of the replacement component! Our investigation includes a review of historical operating data, review of the metallurgical analyses and discussions with operating personnel and the chemical supplier service representative. Our report identifies the root causes of the failure and prioritizes recommendations for corrective actions.

Examples of our failure investigations

  • Cat Cooler (waste heat boiler) failure due to under-deposit corrosion caused by a lack of conformance to specifications for boiler water chemistry. – download PDF case history
  • Debutanizer failure due to under-deposit corrosion caused by poor control of chemical treatment program and subsequent deactivation of copper corrosion inhibitor. – download PDF case history
  • Flakt dryer due to poorly managed transition from filming amine to neutralizing amine condensate treatment.