Good move for Australia

Australian distributor for Alocit and Enviropeel products, A&E Systems PTY Ltd, has moved to spacious new facilities in order to develop its engineering and material processing divisions which have transferred to Australia from Malaysia.

The new offices are in Pinjarra, a fast-growing town approximately one hour south of Perth, the capital of Western Australia and centre of Australia’s extensive mining and resources industries. Servicing all of Australia through a network of approved dealers and service organisations, the office has ambitious plans for an Alocit training centre as well as a new media and communications hub.

For more information on Alocit and Enviropeel in Australia contact General Manager, Chris Harrey. A&E Systems PTY LTD, 36 Harries Way, Pinjarra, WA 6208, Australia. Phone: +61 (08) 9418 3688 Email: chrisharrey@ae-sys.com

Big Foot spotted in the Gulf

Chevron’s Big Foot development, located 225 miles (360 km) south of New Orleans in 5,200 feet (1,585 m) of water, will have the deepest Tension Leg Platform in the world. The platform supports a full-capacity onboard drilling rig for well development and its production wells will use electric submersible pumps at a depth of 16,000 feet (4,876 m). The Big Foot Field is estimated to hold recoverable resources in excess of 200 million oil-equivalent barrels and the production facilities are designed for a capacity of 75,000 barrels of oil and 25 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.

2H Offshore, a company working with Chevron on the project, contacted Enviropeel USA through one of its consultants, to talk about the possibility of using Enviropeel to preserve riser splash zone joints for Big Foot. At the time, Enviropeel USA was working with other Enviropeel colleagues in the UK and Malaysia to develop a riser joint protection system for Maersk in Europe. After a number of demonstrations and consultations with 2H and Chevron, a splash-zone riser protection system was proposed that included EMCT, an external impact resistant wrap for Enviropeel that was compatible with the TSA coated risers.

Chevron/2H specified Enviropeel with EMCT to be used on 24 production risers in the Gulf of Mexico beginning in 2014. Corrosion Coatings Systems (CCS), our distribution partners in the region, entered into an MDA with Chevron for this project, acquiring machinery and material on their behalf.

In the event, the riser protection project was postponed until 2018 due to malfunction of tendon legs anchoring Big Foot.

During the Chevron Big Foot Riser specification, 2H Offshore also proposed to the use of Enviropeel and ECMT to another of their clients, TOTAL, for protection of new drilling and production risers on the Delta TLP located in the Moho Nord Field off the cost of the Republic of Congo.

Total and 2H met numerous times with CCS to work out appropriate scope of work based on previous specifications for Chevron Big Foot. Eventually Enviropeel & EMCT was specified to protect 18 drilling and production riser splash zone joints.

Due to the location of the project it was originally agreed that Enviropeel would train TOTAL platform personnel to install Enviropeel and the EMCT system as part of the mobilisation to protect the first drilling and production risers. However, during the first training mobilisation with an Enviropeel team from the UK and the USA, TOTAL decided that it would be preferable for Enviropeel personnel to mobilize for each riser installation to ensure a quality installation.

Currently 1 drilling riser and 5 production risers have been installed successfully, including Enviropeel and EMCT protection. Enviropeel personnel mobilize approximately every 3 months to perform these applications as each drilling riser is installed. This project is slated to finish in 2021.

Enviropeel Holdings, EUSA’s parent company and owner of the Enviropeel brand internationally, has a patent pending for its offshore riser system as well as existing patents for key elements of its application equipment.

The Enviropeel MAEx-25

Riser installation is a key element in offshore critical-path planning. To ensure continuity for their installations both Chevron and TOTAL have now mandated that a spare equipment and parts be present during applications to ensure equipment redundancy. As Enviropeel is specified for splash-zone risers, its equipment is an essential component in the installation critical path and spare equipment must be available at all times.

Most recently ordered for use through 2H Offshore is the MAEx-25 unit which is rated for hazardous location use and was chosen by the client because of its reduced footprint on the drilling floor, along with increased production capacity and user-friendly controls.

The MAEx-25 is available to suit a range of international electrical supply standards and can be equipped with 30 to 60 foot hose lengths allowing it to cover an area of over 11,000 ft2 without changing location. Outfitted with a gas-detection safety shut-down system and explosion proof electrical containment, these units are independently certified for use in hazardous locations by DNV-GL. Contact Enviropeel USA for more information.

TRUE GRIT!

The Stone Slinger's Chorus
(to the tune of Home on the Range)

"Oh give me a home where they need lots of stone
Where John Deere and the Cat cannot play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
and the guys spray quite proudly all day"

Maybe you haven't heard of the 'Stone Slinger' ... I certainly hadn't ... but, now that I have, I want one. Take a big shiny Mack, put a projectile launcher on the back and you have a big boy's toy that can do more than the Ancient Greeks thought possible when they designed the first stone catapaults. This machine shoots tons of stone with such accuracy that it can be used in all kinds of ways to make light work of what would previously have been back-breaking labor ... now it's fun! Have a look at this video ...

Achilles Heel?

However, the Stone Slinger, like all conveyor systems, relies on bearings to keep its belts turning. Spraying tons of aggregate all day means a lot of grit and dust - and this can lead to accelerated wear for bearings caused by ingress of contamination. As we know, prevention is better than cure, so the savvy stone slingers called in Enviropeel to protect the main drive bearing on one of their systems destined for the 'World of Concrete' show in Las Vegas this year. 

High Noon for True Grit!

A 'HARDIE' LIFE FOR BEARINGS

James Hardie Inc. is a fiber-cement business employing more than 2,500 people, generating a revenue of more than $1.5 billion a year.

The James Hardie plant in Pulaski, Virginia produces 1.5 million square feet of fiber board products per day, more than enough for 750 average size US homes. The Company's products are a byword around the world for cost-effective, high quality building products and it has plants in Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.

The cement slurry used for the fiber board wreaks havoc on the thousands of bearings which the Company uses in the manufacturing process. With some bearings experiencing failure in as little as 2 weeks, it is not surprising that Hardie engineers were seeking to find a solution to this expensive problem. As well as the slurry, epoxy paint sprayed onto the fiber board as part of the manufacturing process also contaminates hundreds of bearings.

After contacting Enviropeel USA, a full scale trial application took place in January which we are confident will deliver the results the James Hardie reliability engineers are expecting. Enviropeel has shown a greater than 500% increase in bearing lifetimes in other similar plants and we expect the same for James Hardie.

The picture top left shows the build up of contamination on production equipment. On the right and below left, examples are shown of the Enviropeel applications that will provide long-term protection for the bearings.

It's that time of year ...

Although one half of the world is enjoying its summer, up here in the northern hemisphere it's still pretty cold and most people are planning what they will be doing once the weather improves. At Enviropeel, the approach of spring means looking forward to the conference season which almost always means a visit to NACE. This year it also means a return to Noria's 'Reliable Plant' Exhibition, which Ivan attended last year, with great success.

As luck, or Murphy's law would have it, both exhibitions are in the same month and on the same dates, so, while it makes the dates easy to remember, it makes the logistics much harder. NACE is slightly longer, starting on the 15th April, Reliable Plant starts on the 17th but they both finish on the 19th. If you would like to visit us, you would be very welcome either in Phoenix for NACE or Indianapolis for Reliable Plant.

Look forward to seeing you!

Many mickles make a muckle ...

Historians will know that when George Washington introduced the concept that 'many mickles make a muckle', he was referring to the old Scottish saying, 'mony a mickle maks a muckle' which essentially means that many small things add up to one big thing. For the Scots, they were talking about taking care of the pennies and the pounds would take care of themselves, but it is a saying that resonates in many areas, including modern industrial infrastructure. It is all constructed from many small things, creating machinery and plant that depends on the proper function of its smallest component.

A wind turbine, for example, is a collection of 'mickles' all of which make a pretty large 'muckle' ... stuck in the middle of nowhere and specifically designed to be exposed to the worst weather on the planet. 

A lot is written about the design and maintenance of turbine components ... products to reduce wear and tear in the gears, how to control the atmosphere in the nacelle and tower to minimize corrosion, coating systems for the structure and blades ... the list of ASTM and ISO standards that apply to the design and manufacture of these complex structures is much longer than my arm. 

But one thing appears to be missing ...

... anchor bolt maintenance standards and recommendations ... see if you can find any.

Turbine foundations are a big deal. A standard 1.5 megawatt wind turbine tower is well over 200 feet high (with its blades making it more than 320 feet), supporting a combined weight of 56 tons for the nacelle and 36 tons for the blade assembly. The tower itself weighs around 70 tons. All of this is anchored to its foundation by a series of bolts set in concrete ... quite a lot of concrete. Have a look at this video of a foundation being constructed in Oregon. You can see the ring of anchor bolts being embedded in the enormous circle of concrete. Once the foundation is complete, the first section of the tower is lowered on to the bolts and secured, then the rest of the turbine is assembled above.

The bolts have to be tensioned accurately to prevent any movement on the base when the tower flexes in the strong winds it is designed for, but still allow some stretch to reduce foundation deflections from the high wind loadings. So the condition of the bolts and nuts is critical to the long-term survival of the tower. Bolt tension issues have been identified as a cause for failure in turbine collapses as have bolt failures from the effects of corrosion.

Yet many bolts are left exposed to the elements, with the result that corrosion rapidly occurs. Proprietary solutions exist for post-construction remediation of corrosion damage to exposed bolts ... these include tape wraps, grease and bolt caps ... but all suffer from limitations that require frequent maintenance or replacement to prevent corrosion damage to the turbine anchors. If the nuts and threads corrode, they cannot be retensioned properly.

So the entire turbine structure relies on a few relatively small nuts to ensure it is firmly fixed to the anchor bolts, yet it is left to the operator to ensure they get the protection they need.

We think protection of these nuts is pretty important. Turbine towers do not collapse very frequently and, because they tend to be off the beaten track, injuries from such collapses are rare but the cost of replacement runs into millions and the constant vigilance that is required to maintain the bolts is wasteful and unnecessary.

The Enviropeel solution is simple. Anchor bolts can vary in length but the exposed threads are always several inches long, so providing the correct size of bolt cap can be a problem. Because Enviropeel bolt applications will fit any size or shape of bolt, it provides a straightforward, one-size fits all solution ... but this is not its only advantage over bolt caps. Bolt caps have to stay in position to work, they usually have some kind of friction fit mechanism to maintain their seal with the base but this is not always effective. Because Enviropeel is spray applied, it moulds itself around every thread making it impossible to dislodge yet easy to remove, if required, by simply screwing it off.

And, of course, Enviropeel contains its own active inhibitors so, if corrosion is already present in the bolts, it not only prevents further deterioration but it will also condition the nuts and threads so that they can easily be adjusted for maintenance. Compare this with protection using a wrapping system ... as long as the wrap stays intact, it will provide a barrier to water ingress but nothing else. And, it cannot be removed for inspection without having to be completely replaced whereas, with Enviropeel, it can be removed and replaced.

Contact Enviropeel for information on how we can design the best possible corrosion protection system for your specific application. We would love to hear from you.

A short video of an Enviropeel wind turbine application can be viewed below.