Aveng Grinaker-LTA’s Mechanical & Electrical (M&E) business unit has recently been awarded several maintenance and shutdown contracts and electrical and instrumentation installation projects at Sasol.

Sasol FT Wax plant in Sasolburg. Photograph courtesy Sasol

This includes the mechanical shutdowns for the VCM-, PVC-, Caustic - and Chlorine Plants for Sasol’s Sasolburg operations. The work comprises the supply, supervision, coordination and management of labour, personnel and equipment in order to render a comprehensive mechanical shutdown service at the Midlands site in Sasolburg. The award of these contracts is partly as a result of the successful execution of the MIBK, and AAA shutdowns which took place from February 2016 to March 2016.

Further, Aveng Grinaker-LTA’s M&E business unit has been successfully awarded the mechanical shutdowns on Unit 043 (Steam Generation), Unit 300 (Hexene Train), Unit 590 (Ethyl Acetate), Chemical Work Up, Unit 301 and 304 (Octene) and Unit 303 (Safol) by Secunda Synfuels operations. The scope of work includes the supply of all labour, supervision, services, equipment (including safety equipment), tools, materials, transport, testing devices, warehousing and all other elements necessary for the execution and pre-planning of all mechanical shutdown work. The contract also includes coordination of resources for scaffolding, insulation, blasting, painting, QC inspection, x-rays, field welders, rigging services and ultra-high pressure water cleaning. The contract is expected to be completed by September 2016.

The awarding of these contracts follows work that has already commenced on the Sasol Fischer-Tropsch Wax Expansion Project (FTWEP), Work Pack 03 Phase 02 and Work Pack 06 Phase 2 Electrical and Instrumentation Projects, which are progressing well. The project was awarded to Aveng Grinaker-LTA in August 2015 and February 2016 respectively. The new plant comprises of two new slurry bed reactors and one common reduction reactor. The scope of work includes supply, installation, testing and handover of plant and materials for part of the electrical and instrumentation component of the project. Further work comprises of the installation of free issue equipment, cold commissioning and assisting with hot commissioning of the plant.

Before this, Aveng Grinaker-LTA completed Phase 01 of the project in July 2015. This scope of work included electrical power supply installation, the supply of plant materials, fabrication, site installation and erection as well as inspection and testing to ensure that the Synthesis Plant performs optimally.

“Aveng Grinaker-LTA was awarded these contracts largely because of our delivery on the Phase 01 of the Wax Expansion project, the recent successful completion of the AAA & MIBK Plant shutdowns in Sasolburg in April 2016, and shutdowns in Secunda, as well as our impressive safety record,” explains Louis Coetzee, Operations Executive for Aveng Grinaker-LTA M&E. “We are also extremely proud of our long standing relationship with Sasol, where we have always performed to the highest standards and delivered quality services.”

FTWEP is a long term project that was approved in 2009 and forms part of Sasol’s plans to double its hard waxes capacity at the Sasol One site in Sasolburg.