Furmanite designs for Japanese refinery
Posted: 15 July 2003
Five bespoke Furmaseal clamps have been specially designed by Furmanite,
and installed at a refinery in Japan, without compromising production
efficiency — thus making significant time and money savings
by avoiding shutdown — and safeguarding the pipelines against
leaks for the next 20 years.
Concerns had been raised over the integrity of the socket connections
to 24-inch oil transportation lines.
Failure and/or leakage would mean immediate shutdown leading to
lost production and revenue, not to mention the clean up operation
that would have to be undertaken if there was spillage, the environmental
issues and potential bad publicity.
A leak-sealing solution was required, but situated in up to 20
metres of tidal water and entrenched in mud and silt, access and
monitoring of the line and sockets was awkward.
An off-the-shelf product or service was not an option.
Furmanite was approached to design, engineer, manufacture and deliver
a bespoke on-line leak-sealing solution to the problem at hand.
Extensive surveys were carried out to find out more about the problem,
the requirements and the environmental constraints.
Once this was completed and technicians had a thorough understanding
the solution was evident — each of the five flanges needed
to be completely encapsulated using bespoke clamp technology.
A self-sealing, flange-encapsulating clamp was designed to the
tolerances of the pipeline and to the smallest possible overall
size to withstand the conditions. 24-inches in diameter (to fit
around the pipeline) with a half metre section in the centre clearing
42-inches in diameter (to encapsulate the flange), the clamps are
engineered for a 20-year design life. Furthermore, they also feature
sacrificial anodes, to ensure that they do not significantly corrode
during this lifetime.
Designed and delivered from Furmanite’s UK head office in
Kendal, the clamps have now been successfully installed at the refinery.
Before shipping, all five clamps underwent rigorous, independently
verified and approved trials.
Furmanite delivers turnkey solutions that can keep customer assets
on-line and fully operational at all times – adding value
not cost.
For more information see http://www.furmanite.com/.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
Information supplied by companies
or PR agencies who are responsible for content. Send press releases
to info@pipelinedubai.com |
