MetalTek is a leading international provider of high performance products for Reformer, Ethylene Pyrolysis, DRI and other applications. MetalTek products are in more than 400 installations in 26 countries worldwide. Whether you need cast furnace tubes, static cast tube sheets, fittings, supports, or other furnace hardware from our premier sand cast foundry at Carondelet, or superior quality furnace tubes and fittings from Wisconsin Centrifugal, you are sourcing with the company that keenly understands these demanding environments.
The MetalTek Team provides the technical, manufacturing and sales know how to meet your needs:
Solution—Transfer Line Exchange Cone
In ethylene plants the hot ethylene/propylene mixture leaves the furnace and is carried to an exchanger to cool. One customer was using a solid Incoloy 800HT forging to carry the mixture. The forging was very expensive to manufacture and was experiencing field failures due to the material’s high temperature strength limitations. MetalTek devised a one-piece centrifugal casting, and the advanced machining technology to produce the double walled, small radius application. Failures dropped, and product cost was reduced.
Solution—International customer adopts new alloy
An international customer operating a furnace in Indonesia was experiencing premature failure of 347 stainless tubes due to metal dusting. MetalTek suggested a new alloy for the application, but the customer was reluctant to change. To facilitate the change and installation, MetalTek led the fabrication of the product in Indonesia. We cast tubes and fittings, hired and trained welders, finished coils and readied them for installation in the furnace. The launch and application continue to be a success.
Solution— Cast outlet manifolds
Outlet manifolds are used in petrochemical plants to collect the hot gases leaving the reaction tubes in reformer furnaces. Traditional designs call for forgings, extrusions, and considerable fabrication work contributing to long lead times for part delivery. Using progressive manufacturing techniques, MetalTek is able to offer fabricated centrifugally cast components that offer superior quality and can be delivered in half the time of a wrought alloy product.
Solution—Alloy strength
An international customer operating a 400-tube ammonia reformer desired improved heat transfer and increased catalyst capacity without changing the original design’s tube outside diameter. MetalTek’s industry-leading 2535 Microalloyed material permitted the thinnest wall possible while meeting the 100,000-hour design life requirement. Better heat transfer and greater catalyst volume were achieved. These and other efficiency improvements on a per-tube basis add up to a significant production improvement when multiplied by 400 or more tubes in the typical reformer furnace.
