Product Description
Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Universal Oil Products (UOP) licensed and supplied catalytic reforming units — including the Platforming and Rheniforming processes — with reactor vessels that carried asbestos-fabric shell lagging on the hot exterior and with asbestos-packed valve seats on catalyst charging and withdrawal valves at the reactor top and bottom heads. The asbestos-fabric lagging allegedly held skin temperatures down on the fixed-bed reformer reactor shells running at high hydrogen-partial-pressure service, and the asbestos-packed valves allegedly sealed against catalyst attrition dust during charging and withdrawal.
Plaintiffs alleged that UOP catalytic reforming reactors remained in service across U.S. refineries from the late 1940s through the 1980s and required periodic catalyst change-out, hot-work tie-ins, and turnaround re-lagging.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allegedly exposed to UOP catalytic reforming reactor asbestos-containing components include:
- Refinery insulators stripping and re-lagging asbestos-fabric on Platforming and Rheniforming reactor shells
- Refinery pipefitters and steamfitters tying in reactor inlet and outlet transfer lines
- Refinery boilermakers and vessel welders performing reactor internals hot-work
- Refinery turnaround (TAR) contractors and shutdown crews during catalyst change-outs
- Refinery outside operators and process operators charging and withdrawing catalyst
- Refinery instrumentation and electrical (E&I) technicians on reactor thermocouple and skin-temperature TC work
- Refinery millwrights and mechanical maintenance