The plant

The refinery, located in Spergau near Leuna, is one of Europe‘s most modern refineries, with a processing capacity of approximately 12 million t/year. It belongs to a leading multinational energy company and crude oil from Russia is processed there.

The service agreement

Initial talks with the planning companies were held as far back as 1993 in cooperation with EagleBurgmann France, and a service agreement was ultimately concluded with the refinery in 1997. This agreement provides for the exclusive performance of repairs of all mechanical seals in operation at the plant. It was extended in 2005 for five more years.

Service Center Halle-Leipzig

For the purposes of ensuring optimal plant availability in terms of the contractual arrangement, EagleBurgmann opened up a fully equipped Service Center in April 1997 with a workshop area of 140 m² not far from the refinery. This Service Center was subsequently relocated in 1997 to a new building with a floor area of 750 m² at which a staff of 6 is currently active.

The modern machinery enables the following types of work – among others – to be performed to the highest standard of quality:

• grinding, lapping, polishing 
• flatness testing
• Roughness Me
• measurement of wear and tolerances
• measurement of spring force and leakage 
• pressure tests

This enables fast response to the requirements of the refinery but also to those of other companies in the region as well.

This enables fast response to the requirements of the refinery but also to those of other companies in the region as well.

EagleBurgmann mechanical seals type H75 and MFL85 according to API 682 were installed.

At this refinery the SC Halle-Leipzig is responsible for handling the following activities:

• Repair of all mechanical seals employed by the company at the refinery, irrespective of manufacturer
• Stocking of the necessary quantities of spare parts
• Analysis and documentation of failure 
• Documentation of service lives
• Solving technical problems 
• Consultancy on and control of the installation and operation of mechanical seals 
• Provision of assembly personnel 
• Training of refinery personnel
• Standardization of mechanical seals

EagleBurgmann seals in use

Right from the start of the project, EagleBurgmann put the focus on standardization, based on a case of the company’s “SPIR” (Spare Parts Interchangeability Record) software – which has already proven itself in the offshore industry –being used to advantage. The philosophy of the API 682 standard in its first edition provided the basis for the selection and design of the seals to be used, and type H75 O-ring and MFL metal bellows seals in cartridge design were the main types installed.

Competitors’ seals in use

Besides those from EagleBurgmann, the refinery also uses seals from competing manufacturers. The service agreement provides for the maintenance and repair at the EagleBurgmann Service Center Halle-Leipzig of all the seals in use at the refinery that were provided by these companies.

Results of the cooperation

The intensive cooperation between this major energy company and EagleBurgmann led to a reduction of 41% in the number of repairs and roughly 54% in the costs arising from “Bad Actors” in the period from commencement of the service agreement 1997 up until 2005. 

The advantages of EagleBurgmann TotalSealCare™ 

The refinery’s operator has just one contact person for all mechanical seals in use there. This concept makes for enhanced availability of the plant, and its advantages are obvious: shorter response and repair times, less seals and spare parts to be kept on stock, as well as the complete documentation of all activities with regular meetings including the analysis and evaluation of “bad actors” and the MTBR factor.

From initial equipment supply and installation right through to repairs, EagleBurgmann is able to offer our customers the entire spectrum of service capability and has repeatedly demonstrated ourselves as  a competent and reliable partner.

For more information please contact Tilo Scheck, Head of Global Key Account Management at ebnow@eagleburgmannseals.com.