Universal Industrial Gases, Inc. ... Merchant Plant Relocation

Turnkey Dismantle, Refurbish and Relocate

Onsite Oxygen + 200 STPD LOX, LIN, LAR Merchant Plant; Southeast USA

UIG relocated and upgraded a merchant liquid plant from a site in the Western United States to the Southeast US under very tight schedule constraints (16 weeks). The relocation project included upgrading the instrumentation and control system and refurbishing and replacing mechanical equipment as required.

The plant was delivered to a regional industrial gas company under a turnkey sale of plant agreement. At the new site, the plant is operated in a "piggyback" configuration - serving an onsite pipeline oxygen customer in addition to making LOX, LIN and LAR as bulk liquid products.

UIG supplied project management, process and detailed design engineering, construction labor and field supervision. The original rotating equipment was refurbished prior to delivery to the new site. UIG supplied several pieces of new equipment, including a RIX compressor which boosts the oxygen gas product to pipeline distribution pressure, a Siemens DCS system to replace the outdated system and a Marley cooling water tower.

Plant compressors and electrical switchgear are housed in a metal building which also contains the control room and maintenance shop area.

The cold box measures 14’ x 13.5’ x 116’ and weighs 167,000 pounds. Removing it from its original site was a challenge - since after installation of the ASU at iits original site, a freeway ramp had been built which encircled one side of the plant site and crossed over the only exit road. As a result of careful planning of the dismantlement process, and equipment loading, all aspects of dismantlement, loading and transportation went smoothly.


Lifting cold box at new site. Platforms were reattached while horizontal	Cold box erected at new site	Installing the refurbished molecular sieve Pre-Purification Unit

The original PPU system was controlled by an obsolete timer system. The most cost-effective upgrade involved replacing the PPU valve skid and control system while re-using the original PPU vessels. A new valve skid was fabricated by the original PPU manufacturer which duplicated the interconnecting nozzle orientations and line sizes. Molecular sieve adsorbent loadings were adjusted to accommodate greater air feed at the new location.


The relocated and upgraded plant: Visible components include the Cold Box, Argon tank, PPU Skid, Cooling Tower and Compression Building	Loading liquid trailers at sunrise