On Time, All the Time
ACS (Belgium) is a manufacturer of large diameter tanks and pipes for industrial applications. In 2013 and 2014, ACS worked at the Prunerov power plant site in the Czech Republic, building a large duct system that connects the exhaust of the coal-fired burner with the cooling tower. Project manager Quentin Piscart explains the challenges the ACS team faced and how AOC has helped to get things to work in a smooth way.
The Czech power company CEZ had been operating the Prunerov power plant for many years. It was decided that in 2013-2014 this plant should be completely renovated so it could continue to operate reliably in line with new and higher environmental standards. ACS was contracted to supply a new exhaust system to convey the gases from the scrubber through the cooling tower.
Tough Environment
In this coal-fired plant the exhaust gases pass through a scrubber catching the majority of sulfuric and nitrous gases. However, the resulting air stream can still contain traces of corrosive chemicals. In combination with the 80 °C temperature this environment will corrode steel and concrete, so composite is the material of choice.
For CEZ it will not be acceptable to interrupt power plant operation because of cracks in the exhaust duct system. Therefore it was important to make sure that the end-product was based on the right materials, and had the appropriate laminate build-up. It was decided to use AOC Atlac® 430 formulation because of its great track record in power plant applications with regard to durability and mechanical strength retention.
On-site Manufacturing
Working for Engineering company Andritz as sub-contractor, ACS set up a local production on the site of the Prunerov plant. In a covered area (enabling temperature control) pipe segments of 8 m length were made with a mobile filament winding machine (vertical operation). These segments were combined outside in 50-70 m pipe assemblies. With the help of cranes these were moved to the cooling tower and installed at their final position.
Quentin mentions “It was a very nice experience to be responsible for such a large project. For me the size of the parts, the magnitude of the production and installation equipment, and the need to work in very tight time window gave some good adrenaline. We did the job with a combined crew from Belgium and Rumania. I am very proud that this project was completed in time, safe and in line with our customer’s expectations.”
Seamless logistics, optimized operations
AOC has helped ACS with on-time delivery of quality resins, provided heated resin storage facilities on-site, and was able to optimize logistics in line with changing volume requirements. “ACS was able to show to CEZ that it could deliver as promised under tough time pressure and in adverse weather conditions, which helped a lot to build credibility”, says Quentin. “This allowed our customer to continue part of the Prunerov power plant during the installation project. It also made them decide to install a critical pipe section through the top of the cooling tower and shorten the tower downtime. Without the great support of AOC we could never have done that.”