PROJECT – Deconstruction of a Cryogenic Air Separation Unit
LOCATION – Carrington, Manchester
DATE – December 2016 to June 2017
PROJECT VALUE – £400,000
PROJECT DESCRIPTION – BDB Dismantling have successfully completed the deconstruction of the 35meter tall coldbox and heater exchanger structures, key components in the manufacturer of Oxygen, Nitrogen & Argon for use in the North and Midlands.
The work was undertaken within an operational ASU manufacturing facility, the newly constructed coldbox having been recently commissioned by Air Products to improve efficiency and environmental performance. A full time, HSE advisor and permit document controller were on site throughout.
A full access scaffold was constructed around the perimeter of the structure as part of our enabling work on site. Fire retardant monoflex sheeting was clad onto the outside of the scaffold so to prevent spark showers spaying outside the periphery of the scaffold and protect existing site works. The BDB site management team worked closely with the site based scaffold team to ensure that the scaffold was adapted/altered when needed.
The removal of the rockwool insulation was the initial work to be carried out. This was agitated & removed by high suction vacuum hose that were attached directly to tanker. The rockwool was compacted tightly into the structures. We have removed 150ton of rockwool from the structures.
The deconstruction of the coldbox was done using controlled hot work, lifting structures down in manageable pieces using mobile crane. A stringent permit system was implemented, which involved “drilling & sniffing” each pipe line during the dismantling phase to ensure there was no surplus gas pockets present in the system.
A demolition machine with a variety of attachments was used to dismantle and process the main heat exchanger and other low level structures once the height had been reduced. Fire blankets were used to protect live services whilst hot methods, from within a MEWP, was employed to cut the heat exchanger into itself.
