This year the first week of August was hectic time at Forchem’s tall oil distillationplant. It was the time for the general maintenance which covered implementationof new, improved production systems and equipment as well as the annuallyrequired check-ups. The operations were carried out in cooperation with YITIndustrial and Network Services Ltd, who was responsible for the planning andscheduling of the maintenance project.
The priority tasks during the service break were the modification of the coolingwater circulation system and the installation of a new cooling water tower for which the preparation work started already earlier in the summer, comments. Forchem’s production manager Timo Saarenko. The modification of the system affects the production capacity and increases the security level of the plant’s production process. The implementation of the cooling water tower was supervised by mechanics from the Dutch supplier GEA.
Timo Saarenko continues that the third appreciable task was the final integration of the new storage tank to the production system. New tank capacity creates more flexibility for the distillation of our tall oil products, concludes Saarenko. Maintenance manager of YIT Industrial and Network Services Matti Koponen points out that in addition to the normal maintenance activities such as cleaning the tanks, checking the valves and pipelines also the pressure equipment were checked during the break. In Finland it is obligatory every four years to examine the registered pressure equipment, but at Forchem we have gone a bit further -
simultaneously we also get the e-registered equipment checked by outside inspector, says Koponen.
All together, the fluent cooperation and coordination of all the participants, precise project planning and control, resulted in timely and successful project conclusion. At its best the maintenance project required 50 external professionals working in various jobs: scaffolding, insulation, cleaning, inspecting, hot oil eater optimization. It took approximately 2500 working hours to complete the tasks, but we were able to make it as scheduled, summarize Saarenko and oponen proudly.