Cryogenic Plant & ASU Troubleshooting
When an air separation unit, liquefier, or cold box develops a purity problem, loses production, or will not stabilize after a restart, we review the operating record with your team. Both founders work on the diagnosis. On-site support is scoped when the available trends and records are not enough.
inquiries@cryobrothers.com. Thirty minutes, no charge. You leave knowing whether we can help and what a scoped engagement would look like.
Read about our cryogenic operating experience or discuss your plant and the scope of a review.
We get called when
- Oxygen or nitrogen purity excursion with no obvious cause
- Production rate remains below normal after the usual checks
- Repeat trips with no established cause
- A facility that will not stabilize after a restart
- Main air compressor surge events on an air separation unit with no established trigger
What you get
- Initial assessment and working explanations, with both founders on the call
- Written findings with the supporting trends
- Prioritized actions with owners and dates
- Follow-up review after your team implements the agreed actions
Engagement details
How the review works
Narrow the cause before changing operation.
Talk to the shift
We start with the operators, process leads, and controls leads who know the event history: what changed, what they observed, and what they have already checked.
Review the event history
We review historian trends, loop history, logs, and lab results around the event, using comparable stable periods where the records support them.
Recommend a focused check
We recommend checks that can distinguish the possible causes, with the evidence needed to evaluate each. Your team decides and carries out any operating changes through the plant's procedures.
Where this comes up
Related industries and processes.
How the work is measured
Measures used to assess the work.
Spec held across a shift change, without intervention, over an agreed observation window.
The trend that flagged the problem, tracked back toward its pre-event shape.
Whether the signature is documented well enough for your shift to name it next time.
Why consider a review
An unresolved upset can keep costing production and operator attention.
Off-spec production, reduced rate, and repeated interventions can continue while the cause remains uncertain. A focused review gives your team a documented basis for deciding what to check next.
Your team may already have the experience to investigate. We add dedicated review time and a second assessment of the evidence, working with the people who know the plant.
inquiries@cryobrothers.com. Thirty minutes, no charge. You leave knowing whether we can help and what a scoped engagement would look like.
Common questions
Questions we get before the first call.
Not on the list? Email inquiries@cryobrothers.com and ask it directly.
We already have a theory. Is that a problem?
No. We compare your working explanation with the operating record, identify what supports it, and record what still needs to be checked.
Do you need to be on site?
Not always. We can begin with trends, logs, and a discussion with your team. A visit may be useful when the available records cannot resolve a physical or operating question, including decisions before a derime.
What if you cannot find it?
You receive the findings and limits of the review in writing: explanations the evidence supports or rules out, unresolved questions, and the next checks we recommend.
Will this turn into a long engagement?
Not by default. Troubleshooting is scoped to the problem in front of you. If we think it needs more, we say so before you are committed to anything.
Can you run a root-cause investigation on a trip?
Yes. A trip investigation starts with the historian trends, alarm and event logs, and shift notes around the event. We identify the sequence of events the records support, separate established causes from suspected ones, and state in writing where the root cause cannot be confirmed from the data available.
Our main air compressor keeps surging. Is that in scope?
Yes, on an air separation unit. We review the compressor's operating records around each surge event, including flow, discharge pressure, inlet conditions, and antisurge valve position, alongside what the front-end purification and cold box were drawing at the time. We identify which events share a pattern and record what the data cannot resolve. Any change to antisurge settings or machine protection goes through your plant's management of change.