International Matex Tank Terminals (IMTT; www.imtt.com) in St. Rose, Louisiana has selected Therminol 55 synthetic heat transfer fluid from Solutia Inc. (St. Louis, Mo.; www.therminol.com) for use in a major expansion project where indirect heat will be applied to 58 very large storage tanks containing materials such as asphalt, diesel fuel and other high-melting-point compounds that need to be kept warm in order to prevent them from solidifying. Premature or unplanned failures of the heat transfer fluid system in these terminals is not an option since doing so can result in long outages, costly downtime and unreliable operation.
“The synthetic chemistry of Therminol 55 gives it an advantage over other fluids such as conventional mineral oils since it is much more resistant to the effects of oxidation and has outstanding thermal stability,” says Mr. James Fordonski, Global Asphalt Market Lead for Therminol heat transfer fluids. Meanwhile, other key selling points are the no-cost value-added services that the Therminol technical service team provides such as on-site technical training, design assistance, system troubleshooting, sample analysis services, 24/7 toll-free technical and customer service hotlines and a fluid trade-in program (available to North American customers only).
Therminol has been used at this plant for over 30 years with the first system installed in the early 1970’s. Over the last 30 years, the site has gone through numerous expansions, but this is the largest expansion project so far. IMTT is a 50 year old privately held company that is a world-class provider of bulk liquid handling services.