THE ECHO - Ferrostaal

12 THE ECHO August 2007
13
NEWS
Construction of a compressor station in Thailand
Whenever a new source of fossil fuels is found, the question
arises of how to deliver the gas to consumers
quickly and in a form that meets their needs. It was against
this background that the partially state-run Thai oil and gas
utility PPT Public Company Ltd. commissioned MAN Ferrostaal
with the construction of a compressor station in Map
Tha Put. Gas turbine compressors are designed to prevent bottlenecks
in supply, and primarily have a storage function.
Timely completion of the compressor station in Map Tha Put
The new compressor station forms part of the Third Transmission
Pipeline Project. This entails linking two newlytapped
offshore gas fields located off the Thai coast with onshore
consumers by means of pipelines. The MAN Ferrostaal
specialists had a period of only 18 months between the date
the contract came into effect and the mechanical completion
of the plant in December 2006.
The scope of the contract encompassed engineering work and
the delivery of equipment. It also included technical documentation
as well as construction, assembly and commissioning
measures. Having established a “Bangkok Branch” especially
for this project, MAN Ferrostaal, in conjunction with
local building contractor IBC, operated as part of an open consortium.
In this regard, 85 per cent of the joint and several
liability was carried by MAN Ferrostaal and 15 per cent by IBC.
The contractual obligations of IBC, the consortium partner,
comprised construction and assembly work as well as customer
invoicing. The plant-specific engineering measures
were carried out by the Bangkok-based Worley Parsons Ltd.
under the project leadership of MAN Ferrostaal.
In order to ensure that the schedule proceeded smoothly,
the entire MAN Ferrostaal Project Task Force was based in
Thailand. They were always located at the relevant project
“hotspot”, that is, Bangkok and later Map Tha Put, thus enabling
the company and IBC to adhere precisely to the deadline
for mechanical completion. The customer assumed
complete control of the entire compressor station subsequent
to a 30-day performance test phase under continuous
operation.
On the basis of work done and the superior levels of constructive
cooperation achieved with our customer PPT, MAN
Ferrostaal is confident that the foundation has been set for
further common projects in Thailand.
Specifications
Flow rate: 1,200 MMSCFD
Gas inlet pressure/temperature: 42 bar (g) at +35 °C
Gas outlet
pressure/temperature: 86 bar (g) at < +52 °C
Turbines/compressors: 3 x 21 MW gas turbines RB211
6562 DLE (Rolls-Royce) with RB45
centrifugal compressors (MAN
TURBO); turbines are operated with
gas from import pipeline
Design: 3 compressors (2 in operation, 1 on
standby) with intake-side gas filters
and pressure-side gas coolers as
well as a separate flare system
Energy supply: Transformer in existing sub-station
plus diesel generator for emergency
power
Control system: Digital control system (DCS) and
electrostatic discharge (ESD) with
local operation and remote control
from the control room
Clean air for a radiation-free future
The decommissioning of nuclear
power stations means that we are
faced with a difficult long-term legacy.
After an operational life of 21 years, the
Jülich Experimental Reactor, one of
the first nuclear reactors in Germany,
was finally shut down in 1988. Since
then, the reactor site has gradually
been returned to a greenfield state. The
specially built material lock on the reactor
building plays a central role in
this process. It ensures the safe containment
of radioactively contaminated
reactor components which are
sealed in the lock. The lock’s ventilation
system must be steadily adapted
in keeping with the decommissioning
process.
At the end of 2004, MAN Ferrostaal
won the contract from the Jülich Experimental
Reactor Consortium to
build new ventilation systems and a
chimney flue with an activity monitoring
system. The contract was worth
around 2.5 million euros. The systems
were delivered to the operator on
schedule at the end of 2006.
The new ventilation systems were deployed
inside the material lock. To this
end, the waste air of the new ventilation
system has been merged with the
rest of the plant’s waste air via parallel
filtering units containing prefilters and
air filters. This is then discharged into
the atmosphere via a newly erected 65metre-high
chimney flue.
Bioshield and water tower; material lock with chimney flue
The chimney flue itself is equipped
with an integrated activity monitoring
system. This system allows isokinetic
samples to be taken and can also be
used to measure the volumetric flow
and continuously monitor and control
the waste air for radioactive particles
such as tritium or C14. MAN Ferrostaal
also installed all the new instrumenta-
tion and control equipment for the
ventilation systems. All the on-site
work was carried out exclusively by
personnel who had received special
training in radiation protection.