Refactory Lined Pressure Balanced FCC Expansion Joint

Built for Pemex in 6 Weeks

A 59" diameter pressure balanced expansion joint was required for an upgrade of the Salina Cruz FCC unit. An order for the expansion joint had been placed with a local Mexican company 18 months before the required on site date. When it was discovered that the local company was not going to deliver the expansion joint as requested, Pemex called Pathway.

Senior Flexonics Pathwaywas given the order to proceed on May 17. The detail design was started immediately, critical path items were advance purchased and final drawings and detail planning were released for production on June 4. The pacing item in the production schedule was the requirement for a 2 component refractory lining to be installed throughout the elbow and flow section of the expansion joint. None of this work could be performed in parallel with the fabrication of the various piping components.

The refractory was installed under the direction of Chris Clarke, Pathway’s in-house refractory expert. Under his direction, the insulating layer was gunned into position to minimize installation time. The abrasion layer was then hand packed into place. Dry out was completed on June 20.

Because of the refractory, the final pressure test had to be pneumatic instead of hydrostatic. Special provisions were made to perform the pneumatic test as the assembly neared completion the last week in June. On June 28, the final assembly was pneumatically tested at 105 psig. On the same day, the expansion joint was skid mounted and delivered to a team of drivers scheduled by Pemex for overnight shipment to Houston, TX Within days, the assembly was being installed at the Salina Cruz job site.

In addition to the design effort, this 35,000 pound expansion joint required over 1600 man hours of labor. The labor hours had to be applied within a 4 week period to achieve the desired shipping schedule. The timely shipment of this part is another example of the quick response that Senior Flexonics Pathwaycan achieve on complex hardware in an outage situation or an emergency.

For more information about Senior Flexonics Pathwayexpedited shipment capabilities, contact Senior Flexonics Pathway.