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Soundproofing Solutions for Oil and Gas Industry

Tackling noise-related problems in the Oil and Gas industry

INTRODUCTION

Oil and gas acquisition, refinement, and distribution require the work of several complicated machine networks, some of which produce significant harmful noise. Not only do high decibel levels impact nearby neighbors, but prolonged exposure hurts workers who operate close to the noise sources. This exposure leads to unnecessary long-term health effects that degrade workers’ quality of life. While restricting your hours of operation for noisy blowdowns makes life easier for neighbors, you need further measures to protect your workers.

NOISE MEASUREMENTS: A QUICK UNDERSTANDING

Noise intensity is measured in decibel units (dBA). The dBA scale is logarithmic; each 10-dBA increase represents a tenfold increase in noise intensity. Human perception of loudness also conforms to a logarithmic scale; a 10-dBA increase is perceived as roughly a doubling of loudness.

Thus, 30 dBA is 10x more intense than 20 dBA and sounds twice as loud; 40 dBA is 100x more intense than 20 and sounds 4 times as loud; 80 dBA is 1 million times more intense than 20 and sounds 64 times as loud.

Distance from the source and duration of the exposure are also to take into account.

In general, we can say that, subjected to 45 dBA of noise, people cannot sleep. At 120 dBA the ear registers pain, but hearing damage begins at a much lower level, about 85 dBA.

WHAT ARE THE AVAILABLE SOLUTION?

​​With oil and gas operations producing so much noise, any noise control products have to be customized to each worksite to have their maximum effect.

Due to the various compressors, pumps, furnaces, blowers, extractors, and other equipment placed on this kind of complex, it comes as no surprise that the possible solutions are different according to what the project is trying to accomplish.

Here are some examples of soundproofing products:

  • Acoustic Cabins and Enclosures

Acoustic Enclosures are available for generator sets, pump sets, compressors, and other machines and installations, while Cabins are usually more suited for mud pump rooms, engine rooms, or complete driller cabins. Both can be designed for customers’ particular requirements so that it is a perfect fit for their plant.

  • Ventilation sets, silencers and acoustic louvres

A ventilation set includes an air inlet and air outlet system for the ventilation of heat radiation, air inlets for combustion air, and eventually a purge system. Possibly including Silencers, acoustic louvers, heat tracing, demister panels, filtration systems, dampers, anti-condensation heaters, and redundancy.

Stopson Italiana available silencers:

  1. Vent Silencers
  2. Engine Exhaust Silencers
  3. Intake & Stack Silencers
  4. Ventilation & Duct Silencers
  5. In-line Silencers
  • Sound insulating doors

Soundproofing doors with high sound insulation values and possibly fire resistance properties. With a clean design and fully customizable, they are therefore very appropriate to place anywhere where noise insulation is essential.

CONCLUSIONS

Following an initial consultation path with a leading industrial and environmental noise control manufacturer, is the quickest and most effective way to solve complex noise mitigation challenges like the ones faced by Oil and Gas professionals.

Stopson Italiana’s extensive knowledge and experience providing turnkey industrial noise control solutions to the Oil and Gas industry since 1965, ensure the supply of comprehensive acoustical solutions in support of meeting customer mandatory requirements and their soundproofing objectives.

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Stopson Ventilation Silencers to be installed at Gas Compression stations in Northern Italy

Completed delivery of 12+8 combined Ventilation System Building for Gas storage plant in Sergnano and Minerbio (Italy)

 

Stopson has successfully fulfilled the delivery of 12+8 Ventilation System Buildings for the natural gas Compression Stations in Sergnano and Minerbio (Italy).

Ventilation System Building for Industry
Section of combined Filtered-and-silenced Inlet System (Cremona – Italy)

The supply service entails a total of twenty ventilation systems, composed by 20 filtered-and-silenced Inlet System together with the same number of Soundproofed Outlet Systems with forced extraction and fireproof dumpers.

The acoustic warranty covers a noise level reduction of 30 dB(A) SPL at 1mt.The order has been completed and tested phase in these past days.

In general, the plant consists of implementation of 3 turbo-compressor to be set within the Sergnano gas infrastructure. The operations necessary for the installation of the station will be completed as a whole by mid 2018.

The total investment amount is 0.6 bln € (between 2017-2021), aimed to increase the general safety and flexibility of the area, bringing a resources’ capacity increment of 7% circa.

Thanks to a 50 years of experience in the field of industrial soundproofing, Stopson’ technical department is able to deeply analyze and propose the rightest solutions to control noise produced by the extraction systems.

Some possible applications are:

  • Soundproofing of compressors
  • Soundproofing of pumps
  • Silencers for industrial fans
  • Soundproofing air expulsion chimneys
  • Silencers for ATU/air treatment units
  • Silencers for extraction systems
  • Soundproofing engine testing room
  • Silencers for side channel blowers

The main solutions consists of rectangular or circular silencers, designed taking into account of the different noise sources and sound spectrum. The installation can be made along the piping or chimneys of emission into the atmosphere.

They can be designed and produced in standard dimensions, or in any size on request and are equipped for external air intake, in addition to return from the filter system.

C.O.R.U. Project Moscow

Stopson Italiana delivers Vent Silencers for Refinery and Petrochemical Projects in Russia

EAC certified vent silencers successfully supplied for Oil & Gas projects in Moscow and Kingisepp

Stopson Italiana has recently completed delivery of 10 silencers to be installed at Combined Oil Refinery Unit (CORU), in the Moscow Refinery and 9 vent silencers to be installed at the new Ammonia plant under construction in Kingisepp, Russia, according to the data below:

  • C.O.R.U. Project – no. 10 SPM and PSP vent silencers for the Combined Oil Refinery Unit, with flow rates from 0,4 to 46 t/h. Temperatures from 150 °C to 450 °C, noise levels 80 dB(A) @ 1 m.
  • Kingisepp Project – No. 9 SPM vent silencers for the Ammonia plant, i.e. Steam and CO2 with flow rates from 1 to 130 t/h. Temperatures from 110 °C to 515 °C, noise level 85-110 dB(A) @ 1 m.

9 SPM Vent Silencers Ammonia PlantAll silencers have engineered according to the highly demanding EPC and end user’s technical specifications. They have been manufactured in Italy in special materials, including stainless steel for internal components, and certified in accordance with EAC TR CU 010 standards for Russian market.

Stopson’s Vent Silencers can be installed downstream any device acting as a link between a container of pressurized gaseous fluid and the atmosphere. The vent silencer can also provide high or low back pressure relief for the system ensuring proper operation.

SPM Vent Silencers, used for higher flows and back pressure, are based on a combined reactive and absorptive principle for noise reduction. The gases expand to atmospheric pressure through a perforated diffuser, providing a first important step in attenuation. The flow evolves into a sound-absorbing lining section to further contribute to reach required noise residual level.

PSP Vent Silencers, used for lower flows and back-pressures, feature an expansion chamber upstream the final absorptive section with no diffuser at the inlet.

A special sound-proofed weather hood is finally heading flow and noise upward, while delivering an effective rain protection and drainage.

Vent silencers can be reactive, absorptive or combined type depending on applications and required attenuation, which can reach as much as 75 dB(A).

Typical Applications for vent silencers are:

  • Safety Valve (PSV)
  • Relief valve (PRV)
  • Control valve
  • Ejector
  • Start up valve
  • Snort-valve
  • Flash and Blow Down Tanks

How to Provide an Efficient Noise Propagation Control’s Infrastructure (ISO 11690-2)

The need for the companies to adopt a solid noise control policy has been widely covered in a recent article.

Regarding the control of the noise during its propagation – from the source to the receiver (generally the worker) – some or all of the following actions need to be considered meticulously, in order to set-up the most appropriate infrastructure within the plant:

  • Use of vent silencers (for valves and tanks), designed to reduce noise level of exhaust piping to the atmosphere for pressurized gaseous fluids.
  • Use of acoustic barriers (single walls), partial enclosures or full enclosure of the entire item of equipment.
  • Use of enclosures for noisy components on a machine.
  • Use of reactive or dissipative mufflers; the former for low frequency noise or small exhausts, the latter for high frequencies or large diameter exhaust outlets.
  • Use of in-line plenum chambers or lined ducts for air handling systems
  • Reverberation control – the addition of sound absorbing material to reverberant spaces to reduce reflected noise fields. Note that care should be taken when deciding upon this form of noise control, as direct sound arriving at the receiver will not be affected. Experience shows that it is extremely unusual to achieve noise reductions in excess of 3 or 4 dB(A) using this form of control which can be exorbitantly expensive when large spaces or factories are involved. In flat rooms the spatial sound distribution is of interest, see ISO 11690-1,-2.
  • Active noise control, which involves reflection, suppression or absorption of the noise radiated by an existing sound source by use of one or more secondary or control sources.

The commitment starts with a detailed analysis in order to ensure proper noise control measures for the facility design process. Three necessary steps in raw are accurately executed:

  • Field assessments Interpretation
  • Risks Mitigation
  • Reduction of noise control’s costs

All the analysis performed on noise and vibration problems are accomplished taking in account of noise control optimization’ costs, risk management from facility noise, complaints and regulatory compliance challenges.

The fully customized solutions realized by Stopson Italiana cover Oil and Gas, Power Generation, Marine and other industriesThe long-time maintenance assessments and long-term monitoring services are adopted to ensure full compliance over time.

Stopson Italiana is one of the Italian leading provider of innovative sound control solutions, noise impact model design and prediction.

In order to expand its staff, Stopson has recently open five new job positions in the following areas: Design Engineering, Project Engineering, Sales Engineer, and Quality Assurance-Control (QA-QC).
See more on Stopson Italiana CAREER Section.