Due to the ever changing needs of the markets we serve, Babcock is constantly and proactively looking for new ways to circumvent potential problems and bottlenecks faced by our customers.
A recent example of this was a customer who had multiple ageing boilers with surplus steam capacity and was therefore able to take units offline for maintenance during normal operation of the plant. However, due to the physical location of the units the customer could not guarantee continuous access to maintenance crews, this would result in the contract being plagued with interruptions and costly waiting time if maintenance carried out on-site.
The solution was to reuse some of the existing, strategic parts of the boiler and rebuild the complete unit at Babcock’s in-house, off-site fabrication facility.
This resulted in the on-site execution period being reduced by approximately 65%, the safety of our people being dramatically enhanced and the project schedule being achieved due to working under controlled conditions.
Interesting Fact:
The initial contract was for a 55tph boiler. The success of this venture persuaded the customer to award Babcock the second unit, a 100tph boiler. Both units operate at 400°C and 42 bar pressure and are gas fired.