|
Mega-Project Home to Mega-Shop |
|
Mega-Project Home to Mega-Shop
A RECENT ARTICLE FROM SAUDI ARAMCO’S
ARABIAN SUN:
KHURSANIYAH
— Just as necessity is the mother of invention, challenge is the mother of
innovation. Al-Zamil Heavy Industries’ (ZHI) challenge at Saudi Aramco’s
Khursaniyah Gas Plant Project (KGP) is to build 39 pressure vessels all to be
delivered in only 21 months from the date of the purchase order, six of which
are the Khursaniyah Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) bullet storage vessels. These six vessels will weigh in at 1,050 metric
tons each, with a diameter of 6.6 meters, an overall length of 67.7 meters and
a wall thickness of 82 mm. Figuring
large in ZHI’s solution to the challenge is to build and heat-treat the vessels
on-site. This is no small feat and is the first time that kind of manufacturing
job has been performed at a Saudi Aramco site by a Saudi manufacturer.
KGP is faced with more than its fair share of
challenges, ranging from its strict schedule and a global shortage of steel, to
a scope of more than 400 pressure vessels of different sizes and wall
thicknesses. The first of these NGL
bullets is near completion, and ZHI has started to assemble a huge furnace on
site, which will be lifted in pieces and placed over the 68-meter vessel.
Electric and gas heaters will be used to raise the vessel temperature to 690
degrees Celsius to perform a seven-day thermal treatment process on the
vessel. The Saudi Aramco Project
Management Team (PMT) first explored the idea of on-site manufacturing with
local manufacturers during the program planning phase. ZHI was the one
manufacturer to step up to the challenge.
|
