REINFORCEKiT® PATCH, Pressure vessel repair – South America
Long-term composite repair solution for tank and pressure vessel reinforcement
Overview
The objective of the job performed in July 2024 by 3X ENGINEERING (3X), and its local distributor was to reinforce a 30" propanol pressure vessel suffering from external corrosion and through-wall defect (3 areas with external corrosion defects and 1 area with hole defect). This job was performed using our composite solution dedicated to pressure vessel reinforcement called REINFORCEKIT® PATCH (combination of several Kevlar® patches and bi-component epoxy resin).
Results
Samples of filler and resin were taken during the different steps of the repair for hardness and quality control to certify the success of the pressure vessel reinforcement using REINFORCEKIT® PATCH product. Total length of the repair: 1400mm.
 Defect type |
External corrosion & through-wall defect |
Details |
30" propanol pressure vessel |
Location |
South America |
3X Product type |
REINFORCEKiT® PATCH |
SCOPE OF WORK
The repair design was performed according to ISO 24.817 standard. Defected areas (3 areas suffering from external corrosion and 1 area with leak) were treated using a combination of composite patching (Kevlar® patches + resin) and composite wrapping (circumferential layers of Kevlar® + resin).
The pressure vessel reinforcement was performed following 5 main steps:
- Hygrometry test and surface preparation: Hygrometric conditions were checked before surface preparation. Then surface preparation was performed with sandblasting to get a good surface roughness (average roughness 76µm). The through-wall defect appeared during this surface preparation stage. After surface preparation the defected areas were cleaned with acetone.
- FIXOKiT® leak sealing system (only for through-wall defect) and filler application: FIXOKiT® system (made of specific filler and steel plate) was firstly applied on the through-wall defect to stop the leak. Then 3X filler was applied on all the defects to reshape the surface and improve the bonding with composite patching.
- Composite patching reinforcement: All the defected areas were repaired applying 14 patches of Kevlar® tape recovered with epoxy resin.
- Composite wrapping reinforcement: Then 4 layers of composite were wrapped circumferentially to reinforce the patchings.
- Composite repair finalization: To complete the repair, an anti-uv protective coating was applied to protect the repair from deterioration and an id plate was installed for traceability.
