Foster Wheeler Ltd. has announced that its subsidiary, Foster Wheeler Italiana S.p.A., has been awarded a contract by JSC Mozyr Oil Refinery for engineering services and the supply of critical equipment at the refinery in Mozyr, Belarus. FPT has been commissioned by Foster Wheeler as a subcontractor to oversee the lifting and relocation of the Vacuum P-101M refinery furnace. The requirement is to move the original 350-ton furnace and dismantle it quickly to allow the new unit to be installed on the existing foundations.
The special hydraulic equipment, designed and manufactured by FPT for the operations, consists of:
– 8 high-tonnage 120-ton cylinders for lifting the furnace
– 8 continuous roller carriages
– 4 cylinders for translation
– 1 ISO FLOW control unit with independent outputs, featuring a manually operated valve for synchronized cylinder control
By the end of September 2005, Foster Wheeler completed the new furnace adjacent to the previous unit. At the same time, FPT designed and manufactured the hydraulic equipment, and all details pertaining to the furnace’s handling were finalized, with the refinery ready to begin the shutdown process.
On October 15, 2005, the furnace was lifted using 120-ton jacks. The following day, the module was moved horizontally at a speed of approximately 5 meters per day and was finally pushed forward.
The sequence of steps for moving the module can be summarized as follows:
- Insertion of 8 hydraulic jacks to lift the furnace, positioned at designated points beneath the furnace’s main beam
- Lifting the furnace approximately 100 millimeters and positioning the 8 heavy-duty
rollers - The furnace is placed on the 8 rollers
- Positioning of 4 hydraulic jacks to enable the furnace to be moved
- Transporting the furnace in successive steps, moving it along the 0.5-meter track until it reaches the foundation plinths
- Lifting the furnace and removing the rollers
- The furnace is then lowered using the lifting cylinders and positioned on the foundation plinths.
- The furnace is then connected and put into operation (piping, flue gas exhaust pipe).
This operation made it possible to build the new furnace next to the existing one, which was subsequently demolished, resulting in a production shutdown of only 6 days.
The furnace startup was carried out successfully without significant issues, and the furnace immediately reached 100% capacity.
