Mammoet completes lift of major refinery components
Published by Tom Mostyn,
Editorial Assistant
Hydrocarbon Engineering,
Mammoet has contributed to the Visakh Refinery Modernisation Project by safely and successfully completing lifting of five major components at three lifting positions at the refinery on-time.
Owned by a state-owned company Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), the project entails modernisation and enhancement of its refining capacity from 8.33 million tpy to 15 million tpy at a new process area on the east of its original plant. L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, the biggest engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor in India as well as Mammoet’s long-time customer, had undertaken the EPC task and engaged Mammoet’s MSG80 Ring Crane, our module sliding gantry with a 3000 t lifting capacity.
What makes this project unique is that the close coordination and carefully engineered lifting operation among HPCL, L&T and Mammoet made it possible to overcome logistical and operational challenges without compromising safety and schedule.
The components were lifted at three different lifting positions: two columns at the crude distillation unit (CDU) and vacuum distillation unit (VDU), followed by three reactors and other lighter columns at the full-conversion hydrocracker unit (FCHCU). The stage 1 reactor in the FCHCU area weighs 1646 t, being the heaviest reactor ever installed in India. Relocation of a 3000 t class crane is already a big operation by itself. With support from L&T, Mammoet took the modularised transport approach by moving the crane in big blocks to expedite the two relocation activities.
Another solution was a 2000 t capacity tailing frame, mounted on a self-propelled module transporter (SPMT). For lifting of the stage 1 reactor, none of the cranes on site had a sufficient lifting capacity to function as a tailing crane for MSG80. Bringing in a heavy-duty crane just for one lift was not an economical solution on top of the fact that the site was a highly congested area with no practical space to place such a large tailing crane.
“Mammoet provided good mix of the solution with a main crane strong enough to lift all the heavy items for the project, and the in-house designed tailing frame on SPMT that eliminated the need of a heavy-duty tailing crane and saved its space. This significantly improved our overall cost efficiency and productivity of the surrounding construction activity” said V. Muthuraman, Deputy General Manager of Plant and Machinery, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/04112019/mammoet-completes-lift-of-major-refinery-components/
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