Houston is home to one of the most densely populated landscapes of petrochemical processing facilities, including Flint Hills Resources, which operates the world's largest dehydrogenation facilities. In February 2017, Flint Hills began turnaround operations on its 340-foot-tall C3 Splitter tower.
Koch Specialty Plant Services was awarded this turnaround project and tasked with overseeing the entire project. Koch was directed to provide a safe work environment, efficient work schedule and necessary logistics, and manage the hundreds of workers needed to meet the demanding challenges of the turn-around of the C3 Splitter.
The Brock Group was tasked with constructing a 340-foot-tall scaffolding structure composed of 25,000-plus parts to help facilitate the turnaround on this superstructure. The scaffolding adhered fully to OSHA's 1926 subpart L for scaffolding, including toe boards, mid-rails, top rails and netting to provide a safe work environment for all parties. The scaffold was engineered to include five work-deck areas, which allowed access to man-ways on the structure, material staging areas and constant overhead protection from cranes flying materials over, drastically reducing the number of vertical trips during the project. The other purpose of the work decks was to provide tie-back locations and landing levels for two temporary elevators.
Century Elevators, located in Webster, Texas, installed a dual-car 6,000-pound-capacity elevator system tasked with transporting personnel and materials up and down the tower around the clock for the duration of the turnaround. Century Elevator's Model CE-6000-XP dual-car elevator system, attached directly to Brock's engineered scaffold structure using custom wall ties evenly spaced at 30-foot intervals, distributed the loads evenly through the structure. Due to the hazardous environment at the process unit, Century Elevators provided an elevator system that complied with Class 1 Division 2 Groups C/D requirements while adhering to the ANSI A10.4-2016 code.
The dual-car system helped meet the stringent scheduling demands because of the 24/7 simultaneous dual-car operation.
Century Elevators also provided on-site elevator operators and technicians 24 hours a day for the duration of the work. The operators performed a pre-start inspection at shift change to ensure the elevator car, mast, wall-tie assemblies, and all other components operated in a safe and accurate manner per Century Elevators' standard procedures. The dual-car elevator system helped meet the stringent scheduling demands because of the 24/7 simultaneous dual-car operation. A project of this scale requires adequate means to move a large amount of material and personnel continuously on multiple levels. Other major benefits of installing such an elevator system include decreased worker fatigue, decreased crane usage, increased morale, increased productivity and increased worker readiness.
Century Elevators and The Brock Group teamed up to provide the comprehensive solution to Flint Hills Resources and Koch Specialty Plant Services during the planning and execution of this critical turnaround. The collaboration and communication of the aforementioned organizations enabled this project to be completed on time and within budget.
For more information, visit www.cen turyelevators.com or call (281) 667-3000.