COVANTA ESSEX
Pre-Cyclone Replacement
Turn-Key Fabrication, Engineering, & On-Site Installation Services.
About the Company
Covanta Essex is a Resource Recovery Facility that sustainably pro-cesses up to 985,500 tons of waste, generates enough electricity to power 46,000 homes annually and recovers over 25,000 tons of metals for recycle.
Executive Summary
The Pre-Cyclone is located in bottom of Pollution Control Scrubber System and is lined with abrasion resistant ceramic tiles to protect against the high wear of fly ash collected at the bottom. After several years of repair and maintenance, the time had come for a replacement of the fabricated cone and ceramic lining. Helfrich Brothers was hired to fabricate a new cone, install the ceramic lining, remove the old cone and install the new.
The Challenges
Outage schedules do not allow for time to remove the old metal cone, install a new one and then install a ceramic lining. Pre-outage work would be necessary as access and space would also not allow this work to be completed offsite.
The Solution
Fabricate the metal cyclone in sections to rig into work area. Build a frame to weld the sections to a finished shape for installation of ceramic tiles right next to existing pre-cyclone. All this work could be completed Pre-Outage to save time and no change in schedule.
Field Work—Pre Outage
The Cyclone was fabricated in 6 pieces in HB’s Lawrence, MA shop, shipped to the plant, and lifted into place near the existing pre-cyclone. A frame was also built for the welding into a one piece cone and the installation of 2500+ pcs of a 90% alumina ceramic tile.
Field Work—Outage
The old cyclone was removed in sections. The connec-tion point was repaired and the new cone was installed in place. Once installed, additional tile and refractory work was completed to tie the new lining into the exist-ing. Once installed Insulation and Lagging were placed on the exterior of the surface.
The Results
The Project Plan to replace an entire ceramic lined cone by doing the majority of the work pre-outage onsite right next to the existing cone worked great. By the time the outage came, we were able to complete the removal and replacement within the scheduled outage time frame.
By having one contractor take on this whole project, from fabrication, refractory lining, demolition, installation, insulation and scaffolding, the project was completed on-time with no additional charges for delays by others.
“Helfrich Brothers turn-key approach and exe-cution of this project from fabrication, engi-neering, Pre and Post outage on-site services was very key to getting this project completed successfully and ontime” – Covanta Essex Maintenance Dept