MISTRAS Group is the latest addition to Materials Technology Institute (MTI). MISTRAS Group is a leading “one source” multinational provider of integrated technology-enabled
asset protection solutions, helping to maximize the safety and operational uptime for civilization’s most critical industrial and civil assets. Founded in 1978 and headquartered in Princeton Junction, New Jersey, MISTRAS serves customers around the world with over 100 field services branches and laboratory testing locations across North America, Europe, and South America.
The company has grown into an industry leader on the strength of its non-destructive testing (NDT) portfolio, with a robust suite of available advanced and traditional NDT solutions. MISTRAS enhances value for its clients in the oil & gas, process, and other industries by integrating asset protection throughout supply chains and centralizing integrity data through a suite of Industrial IoT-connected digital software and monitoring solutions. The company’s core capabilities include field NDT and in-line inspections enhanced by advanced robotics, laboratory quality control and assurance testing, sensing technologies and NDT equipment, asset and mechanical integrity engineering services, and light mechanical maintenance and access services.
MISTRAS has a long history of partnership with many companies who are also MTI members, who have relied on MISTRAS’ expertise and innovative research and development to solve their most difficult asset protection challenges. Many of the company’s leading Acoustic Emission (AE) and Ultrasonic (UT) solutions were developed in collaboration with process industry owners and operators. Recently, the company introduced an Automated Radiography (ART) solution to detect corrosion under insulation (CUI) and localized corrosion in piping that was initially commissioned by a major oil & gas owner-operator.
Jim McVay — MISTRAS Group’s Principal Advisor for Mechanical Integrity, Metallurgy and Corrosion, and the company’s Designated Representative for MTI — said that the opportunity for additional collaboration with other MTI members is one of the reasons MISTRAS sought to join MTI.
“MISTRAS exists to help our clients operate more safely and effectively,” said McVay. “Our customers rely on us to find innovative solutions to their asset protection issues, and we are constantly seeking out ways to enhance and find new applications for our advanced inspection technologies and engineering services.”
McVay leads a team of MISTRAS engineering consultants that provides engineering and mechanical integrity (MI) consultation services to help process facilities optimize facility design and operations. To support these functions, MISTRAS offers corrosion and materials engineering support; inspection plan development and project engineering for facilities, assets, and turnarounds; mechanical integrity audit support services; and client-reactive support to consult on the root causes of identified issues and offer guidance on mitigation and repair action plans.
As an example of the type of materials engineering and selection support that MISTRAS provides its clients, MISTRAS recently worked with a client to inspect a steam methane reformer prior to restarting. After another company completed the inspections based on a damage mechanism review (DMR), the client submitted the report to MISTRAS for evaluation. MISTRAS’ engineering consultants determined the scope of the inspection needed to be expanded and supplied technicians to conduct a specific inspection technique – Phased Array (PAUT) and Total Focus Method (TFM).
Following the inspection and expert metallurgical consultation from MISTRAS, it was discovered that one vessel and two heat exchanger channels needed to be replaced due to severe High Temperature Hydrogen Attack (HTHA) damage, all of which were originally inspected and cleared by the initial third-party evaluation and inspection. The connecting piping between these vessels was also carbon steel and also had to be replaced. In total, MISTRAS’ intervention generated cost savings of nearly three million dollars for the client.
“It’s crucial for reliable and safe plant operation that process facilities get inspection, corrosion, and materials experts involved early, because not finding these issues prior to start-up could have resulted in significant financial, operational, and safety issues,” McVay notes. “Through our membership with MTI, we hope to support our fellow members to avoid these potential downfalls through our engineering expertise and advanced inspection technologies.”
Case studies like this one underscore the importance for process facilities to work with experts to support their mechanical integrity, metallurgy, and corrosion mitigation initiatives. Through collaboration with other MTI members, MISTRAS is looking forward to using its asset and mechanical integrity engineering consulting solutions, inspection expertise, and world-class R&D to help organizations in the oil & gas and process industries drive asset performance through asset protection.