PROJECT OF THE YEAR: Industrial Category

DELAYED COKING UNIT TURNAROUND

Southwestern United States

Submitted by Structural Preservation Systems, Inc.

A short duration plant outage or turnaround (T/A) can stretch the limits of a contractor’s ability to physically perform repairs within a limited time frame. Add to the mix a generally hostile environment involving multiple trades sharing essentially the same workspace and conditions can form that may adversely affect the long-term durability of an implemented repair program. Civil infrastructure, when included as part of the T/A “package,” must incorporate innovative approaches and technologies to address time and environmental concerns so the civil works don’t end up affecting the T/A’ s Critical Path Schedule.

Recently, three major, high priority civil infrastructure projects were scheduled concurrently for a Delayed Coking Unit Turnaround (T/A) at a major southwestern U.S. Refinery. Successful implementation of sophisticated construction concepts/processes can only occur when facility owners, engineers, and contractors agree, commit, and execute the vision laid out during original concept, design, review, and construction execution phases of a project. Using advanced engineering, preplanning techniques, and employing sophisticated construction processes, the project was completed on-time and under-budget. The overall approach incorporated innovative project construction phasing, precast, cast-in-place, and post-tensioned concrete element construction technology as well as incorporating extremely durable materials of construction developing a process coined the “T/A Civil Approach” (TCA).

Owner
requests confidentiality

Project Engineer/
Designer
STS Consultants, Ltd.
Green Bay, Wisconsin

Repair Contractor
Structural Preservation Systems, Inc.
Gilberts, Illinois

Material Suppliers/
Manufacturers
Eagle Precast, Inc.
Tulsa, Oklahoma

LaFarge Aluminates
Chesapeake, Virginia