ONE Copper Sulphate (CuS) Thickener Feed Tank

LOCATION

Kwinana, WA

INDUSTRY

Mining - Refining

Scope of Work

The CuS Thickener Feed Tank was required by our client to replace an existing tank that had reached the end of it’s working life. The tank is used to supply a consistent, metered flow of copper sulphate solution to a thickener unit during a separation process. The installation of the tank took place during a critical shutdown.

This project involved the procurement of materials, manufacture, NDT, hydrotesting, preparation of full traceability quality documentation, loadout, delivery to site and installation. The tank was 6.5m diameter x 7.5m high and weighed 13.5 tonnes. The material of construction was SAF2205 Duplex stainless steel. Fabrication occurred over a period of 10 weeks, from receipt of purchase order to onsite delivery.

Project Resourcing

The project team included:

Project Management
Quality Management
Project Supervision
Boilermaking and Coded Welding Personnel
Machining, non-destructive testing (NDT), hydrotesting, rigging, scaffolding, cranage and transport logistics subcontracts

Fabrication

Fabrication of the CuS Thickener Feed Tank was in accordance with API 650 and welding was to ASME IX. All welds were subject to 10% RT and PT inspection and the completed tank was tested under static head pressure before delivery.

Project Achievements

Approx. 3,000 man-hours completed on workshop fabrication and site installation activities with zero recordable incidents or accidents.
Project was delivered on time and on budget.
The Tank achieved complete conformance with the technical and quality requirements of API 650.
Dayshift and nightshift rosters were implemented to achieve a challenging delivery date in order to meet the site installation window during a critical shutdown.
At 6.5m dia and 7.5m high the Tank was the largest structure fabricated by APMS in our Workshop facility.

Key Activities

The success of the project was dependant on the successful execution of the following activities:

Material procurement.
Design and build of temporary structural section base to ensure the correct alignment of the tank during fabrication and to dissipate the 250t hydrotest weight.
Coded Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) and Flux Cored Arc (FCAW) welding to ASME IX.
Fabrication in accordance with API 650.
Successful NDT (RT & PT) and hydrotesting.
Co-ordination of multiple sub-contractors including machining, non-destructive testing (NDT), hydrotesting, rigging, scaffolding, cranage and transport logistics subcontracts
Delivery to site.
Installation onto existing concrete plinth.
Production of Manufacturers Data Report (MDR) containing quality control documents, welding information, material and consumable certificates, testing reports, as built drawings and technical queries.
Detailed project planning and reporting due to criticality of the project to the operational shutdown – preparation of detailed and resourced schedules including identification of critical path activities. Weekly client progress reporting addressing safety and technical issues and providing progress and schedule updates.