FABRICATED PLASTICS LIMITED
Huge Capacity Armourplastics® (Dual Laminate)
Equipment Requires Extraordinary Abilities
F
abricated Plastics Limited
(Fabco) of Maple Ontario,
just north of Toronto, enjoys
a well earned international
reputation for high quality
fabrication and an attitude to
engineering challenges that
keeps driving them until the
optimum solution is achieved.
A recent example of this is a
project that called for very large
capacity processing equipment.
The equipment, because of
its
large
dimensions
and
manufacturing
requirements,
had to be produced under
factory controlled conditions.
But no facilities for this size
existed. The suppliers of some of
the raw materials used in
the manufacturing of various
elements required in this
production stated that it could not
be done. The majority of plastics
manufacturers would not have
attempted to satisfy these unusual
requirements. When finished, the
equipment had to be transported
half way round the world - a
logistical nightmare. Additionally,
the time frame for completing this
project was very tight.
THE PROJECT
Four Chlorine Gas Absorbers
The
world’s
leading
manufacturer
of
Polyvinyl
Chloride (PVC), contracted
Fabco a few years ago to
engineer, manufacture, ship and
install over 30 miles of custom
made plastic (FRP) piping, lined
plastic and thermoplastic for the
expansion of its plastics resin
plant in the United States. It
was the largest pipe contract
ever awarded in the world.
THE EQUIPMENT
A) 14 Vessels in Armourplastic
Construction (PVC lined
and FRP over wrapped)
4 Sodium Hypochlorite Vessels
6.8 meters (22.3 feet) in diameter.
9.0 meters (30 feet) in height.
327 cubic meters (86,400 US gallon) capacity.
4 Sodium Hypochlorite Vessels
8.7 meters (28.5 feet) in diameter.
4.5 meters (14.8 feet) in height.
286 cubic meters (70,800 US gallon) capacity.
2 Sulphuric Acid Vessels
4.28 meters (14 feet) in diameter.
6.05 meters (19.9 feet) in height.
89 cubic meters (23,500 US gallon) capacity.
2 Sulphuric Acid Horizontal Vessels
1.83 meters (6 feet) in diameter.
2.5 meters (8.2 feet) in length.
6.1 cubic meters (1,600 US gallon) capacity.
2 Sulphuric Acid Vessels
1.83 meters (6 feet) in diameter.
2.40 meters (7.9 feet) in height.
6.1 cubic meters (1,600 US gallon) capacity.
B) 14 Towers/Absorbers in
Armourplastic Construction
(PVC lined and FRP armoured)
4 Chlorine Gas Absorbers
4.2 meters (14 feet) in diameter.
12.5 meters (41 feet) in height
with multiple reaction stages.
4 Chlorine Gas Drying Towers
2.4 meters (8 feet ) in diameter.
11.0 meters (37 feet) in height
with multiple reaction stages.
2 Waste Gas Washing Towers
1.0 meters (3.3 feet) in diameter.
7.9 meters (26 feet ) in height.
with multiple reaction stages.
2 Hypo Reaction Towers
1.0 meters (3.3 feet) in diameter.
5.0 meters (16.4 feet) in height.
Based on Fabco’s successful
completion of that unusually
difficult project, Fabco was
invited, along with other plastics
manufacturers, worldwide, to
tender for another high profile,
highly problematic project.
Vessels and Towers, 14 of each,
were destined for the chlor-alkali
supply plant, specifically for the
Ion Exchange Membrane system
(IEM). The IEM plant produces
liquid chlorine, a key ingredient
of PVC plastic resin.
This project was located in the
Far East, and consisted of a
Petrochemical Complex as one of
32 plants being built on a huge
12,000 acre site. The required
Above: PVC/FRP Sodium Hypochlorite Tanks
Opposite: Sodium Hypochlorite Vessels (Insulated at site) near the
Chlorine Gas Absorber
1 Sulphuric Acid Aeration Tower
1.5 meters (4.9 feet) in diameter.
5.4 meters (17.8 feet) in height.
1 Hydrochloric Acid Scrubber Tower
0.6 meters (2.0 feet) in diameter.
4.0 meters (13.1 feet) in height.
THE CHALLENGE
The Plant Site is situated in a very
high seismic zone so that any
construction, and particularly a
plant
handling
hazardous
chemicals, had to be able to
withstand earthquakes. The
hydrostatic loads this equipment
had to accommodate were
particularly high too, so that great
strength and integrity were
imperative. The challenge then,
was to maximize the amount of
fusion machine welding of
thermoplastic lining and to
armour the equipment by the
filament winding process.
Many material suppliers received on-site visits from Fabco
personnel in an effort to identify
the very best materials available. While cost is always a
consideration, the elimination of
risk and potential failure is
well served by selecting superior
products to start the manufacturing process.
The thermoplastic itself was
the easiest choice to make.
ARMOURPLASTICS, the registered
trade name for Fabco’s construction
of
thermoplastic
armoured with Fiberglass, is
judged to be one of the finest
products of its type.
Vessels of these dimensions
would normally be built and
erected right on the job site as
such a procedure would simplify
logistics. But because of the
hydrostatic loads and the seismic
activity in the area, the
resultant need for top quality
manufacturing predicated that
the entire list of equipment
be built in totally controlled
factory conditions.
THE PROBLEM
A crack team of Fabco engineers, manufacturing managers
and installation experts was
assembled, and with a precision
reminiscent of military planning, a
logically ordered plan was created.
The problems to be solved
were placed into three categories; Engineering and Design,
Manufacturing, and Logistics.
ENGINEERING AND DESIGN
No project ever before had
included this number of oversize vessels, these super-strength
specifications, or this total
poundage of material.
The details of the engineering
necessitated exploring hitherto
uncharted territory including
calculations, computer aided
laminate design and stress
analysis of laminate layers.
ASME RTP-1 design methods
were followed.
MANUFACTURING
Engineers and designers do not
work in isolation. Whatever they
create as a blueprint for
production has to be achievable.
On this project, once the
engineering and design problems
were solved, the manufacturing
phase faced formidable obstacles.
As the huge tank lids would retain
greater structural integrity if
vacuum formed as opposed to
being hand welded in modular
sections it was essential that they
be produced that way. However,
there was no vacuum forming
equipment of the required size in
existence.
LOGISTICS
Once
the
engineers
and
designers followed by the
manufacturers
had
found
optimum solutions to their
problems, the pieces of the
puzzle had to finally come
together. Massive equipment had
to be transported literally half
way round the world, but the size
was such that it could not be
moved from factory to dock.
Sodium Hypocholrite Tanks
being loaded
4 Chlorine Gas Drying Towers
Assembly of PVC/FRP
Tank Sections
THE SOLUTION
A special permit was sought and
granted by the Department of
Transport to truck the finished
materials to a shipyard on the St.
Lawrence Seaway. In Ontario,
December temperatures can
easily drop into the minus
twenties Celsius, hardly the best
conditions for the final assembly
of the equipment.
on the St. Lawrence Seaway. In
fact, the loading was completed
and the ship set sail just beating
the Seaway’s seasonal closing
on December 22nd.
Solutions to many engineering and manufacturing challenges
are usually found through
a combination of searching
through data and methodology
of previously executed projects,
and the adaptation of new
technology. In this case the
traditional method was not
possible as nothing on this scale
had ever been attempted before.
Therefore, Fabco started from
zero without the security of
earlier demonstrated viability.
The first step required a hefty
dollar investment in plant
modification and machinery,
namely an enormous vacuum
form. This form was capable of
producing the tank tops and
bottoms without any hand
welded seams. The oversize
sheets of PVC plastic, machine
fused and set in the gigantic vacuum forms, were
perfectly produced in spite of
the manufacturer’s doubts. The
identical process was used to
make the seamless tank linings in
order to avoid hand welding.The
tanks were fabricated and
filament wound in large pieces.
Therefore, temporary buildings
were erected that allowed
a system of heat control. Inside
these buildings the tanks were
assembled and made ready
for loading onto the ship.
This required using a massive
construction crane to lift the
tops onto the centre sections.
Continuous welding sealed the
PVC liner, followed by a
complete fiberglass seam to
seal the exterior armour
coating. These two sections,
now joined, then underwent
the same procedure to seal
them to the bottom piece.
The completed tanks then had
their ladders and safety rails
attached.A stevedore crew then
quickly but very carefully
loaded the tanks into the ship’s
hold. Quickly because there is a
time limit imposed by weather
FABRICATED PLASTICS LIMITED
Once the ship arrived in the
Far East, many of the tanks
could be lowered directly into
their final positions. The rest
were transported and lowered
into position by construction
cranes. During the rest of the
winter, the final pieces were
fabricated and shipped out
on the first ship leaving the
Seaway the following Spring.
Subsequently, Fabco installation
experts completed their task
and the entire plant, virtually
a turn key operation, was
successfully test run. Our
Customer gained superior
equipment that can be counted
on for years to come with low
maintenance costs.
Fabco had the satisfaction of
witnessing their vast experience
and engineering innovation come
to fruition in the successful
completion of a seemingly
impossible task. But Fabco will
not rest on its laurels. They will
ask “What’s next?”
2175 Teston Road, Maple (Toronto), Ontario Canada L6A 1T3
Telephone: (905) 832-8161 Fax: (905) 832-2111
Web: www.fabricatedplastics.com E-Mail: [email protected]