It is our privilege to introduce our company as a leading company in the field of petroleum services, especially in CRUDE OIL SLUDGE handling as a Technical, Economical and Environmental Problem.

T.T.S Company has started its activity in the year 1993 at both of the domestic and regional levels with the biggest petroleum companies inside and outside Egypt.

Crude oil and their heavy fractions tend to deposit the so-called sludge. This sludge causes many troubles in handling of the crude oil whether in pipelines, storage tanks, or in the refinery towers. It leads to blockage of the pipelines especially in cold weather during transferring the crude oil through them, also causes blocking o the nozzles of burners in refineries and increasing  the dead volume of storage oil tanks.

Also sludge precipitation interferes with accurate measurement of crude quantity, leading to serious problems in custody transfer.

Petroleum sludge consists of heavy organic materials such as paraffin waxes, Asphaltenes, resinous materials and other extraneous materials such as cotton pieces. Besides the organic materials, there is an inorganic substance as dust, scales and water.

There are many factors controlling the sludge formation in tanks of petroleum. The most important one is the oxidation of organic materials present in the crude.  The oxidation process occurs due to the change in the atmospheric temperature or due to the heating of the crude oils during pumping them in pipelines especially in winter. Also due to the effect of some oxidizing fungi on the organic petroleum compounds, In addition it may be due to the electrostatic charge formed on pumping the products. These electrical charges tend to oxidize the petroleum components.

Coagulation of heavy petroleum components with water is another factor leading to sludge formation.

This factor is demonstrated by the presence of water in emulsion state with sludge in high percentage.

Sediments Sand Dust and Scales also are other factors encouraging the precipitation of the sludge and these shows in their high percentage in the sludge on analysis.

The precipitation of paraffin wax is also one of the most important factors that cause sludge formation. It is well known that the precipitated waxes are very difficult to re-dissolve in the liquid crude oil. Precipitation of waxes may be due to the difference in temperature between day and night which leads to separation of waxes in a sludge-form.

The variation of temperature between summer and winter also has the same effect on precipitation of waxes

The interruption in the material balance due to the losses in the volatile components is another factor leading to the formation of sludge.

Some of the heavy components present in the crude oils such as asphaltenes resins and polymeric compounds tend to precipitate thus disturb the material balance again.

Conventional sludge cleaning methods generally require that tank is taken out of service for three to four months. Sludge removal is usually difficult. The sludge disposal also causes many environmental problems. 

These considerations along with the amount of labor required to carry-out the cleaning of the tank are the primary reasons why routine tank cleaning programs have never widely accepted by the industry.

TTS established a novel thermo-chemical process this process can de-sludge a crude oil storage tank in 4-5 weeks depending on the size of the tank and the sludge quantity. 

In emergency case during the de-sludging process the tank can be put back to operation within 10 minutes upon client request because the process is carried out while the tank is closed.

Gas separators can also be de-sludge within 72 hours using the same process.

Even sludge accumulated in dumping pits can be converted to salable crude oil by using TTS method.

TTS enjoys a unique advantage which is noncompetitive with the similar companies because TTS invented and developed in-house a unique chemical substance TTS-750  so it possesses the patent right for of the chemical substance which is used through the thermo-chemical treatment operations for each of the following; Storage tanks Condensate tanks Gas/oil separation vessels and open pits.

The method proposed by TTS can be described in general as Thermo-Chemical method.

CHEMICAL because the chemical TTS-750 is introduced in the sludge to break the sludge into three components (hydrocarbon water and inorganic sediments) in addition all the hydrocarbon contents of sludge will be provided with a permanent floating ability for dissolving into crude oil.

THERMAL in order to achieve the optimum working of the chemical in the sludge within an acceptable time the sludge is stirred and warmed up for this purpose mixing pump and heat exchangers are temporarily piped to storage tanks so by elevating the temperature of the mixture the sludge will be easy pumped and liquefied then at 50-55 0C the chemical will start to act as a surfactant.

The TTS method is based upon recovering hydrocarbons from the sludge into crude oil. Once the hydrocarbons which existing in the sludge was mixed with crude oil they remain in suspension permanently. 

Since this is done in closed circuit system there is no wastage to pollute the environment. Beside the fact that the environment is not polluted the main advantage is that the recovered hydrocarbons represent saleable crude oil.

 As such every barrel is a sheer profit at market price level compared to any other system that turns the sludge into an environmental problem by dumping it.

The used TTS chemical TTS-750 is a mixture of petroleum based products. 

There are many companies inside and outside Egypt gained the profit of our method as (PETROBEL WEPCO and ESH-ELMALLAHA)

ADVANTAGES OF USING TTS PROCESS

• Time saving

• Economical and optimal

• No crude losses

• Closed circuit system

• No pollution

• No danger or damage to downstream system 

• No toxic reactants products or fumes

• Guaranteed success

Working conditions 

• Flammability level is zero.

• Static electricity is not recognized

• Safety level meets the high standards

• Working will be around the clock 24 hrs/day (2 shifts)

• 5% of the legs have to be used at the same time and will not affect the balance of the roof.

Scope of work for tank/vessel cleaning (De-sludging)

1. Connect TTS connections and equipment to the tank/vessel 

2. Transfer the light crude oil to another tank by TTS pump (if need).

3. Dip the level of sludge from different points and through some roof legs to calculate the quantity of sludge.

4. Remove the sludge and other heavy material from the tank bottom using TTS pump (air pump or EX electric pump).

5. Open the manholes for ventilation (install air blower if needed).

6. CLIENT HSEQ representative will carry out the required measurements for H2S and NORM level inside the tanks bases on the results special precaution will take place before the tank entry and during the cleaning procedures.

7. Transfer the sludge and heavy material to client disposal area.

8. Cleaning the bottom plates and shell plates up to 2 meter height to the original metal.

9. Hand over the tank after final cleaning to CLIENT inspection department.