Task
Maintenance repair of a malfunctioning back draft damper between the main cooling water line and the pump system at voestalpine’s blast furnace in Donawitz, and installation of an additional slide valve without interrupting the steel production.
Preparation
The malfunctioning back draft damper was to be serviced without shutting down the blast furnace triggering time-consuming repair works and leading to costly production losses. After investigating the possibilities of employing hot-tapping and line-stopping methods experts from MCE Industrietechnik offered an efficient solution: the changing of the check valve was to undergo reconstruction by initially freezing the pipe. Chemserv Industrie Service, a subsidiary of MCE Industrietechnik, had used this method before, although never on a pipe of the dimension DN 300. Usually in Austria, pipes with standard dimensions of DN 65, 80, and 100 are frozen to decommission them for maintenance repairs. Only in Burghausen / Germany MCE Industrietechnik has had the opportunity of working on pipes of similar dimensions, i.e. a standard of DN 200. After MCE Industrietechnik had been commissioned by voestalpine Stahl Donawitz the Chemserv workshops manufactured the custom-made freezing box. All necessary materials, tools, and checking devices were compiled and the essential liquid nitrogen was ordered at LINDE Gas GmbH.
Contractor
MCE Industrietechnik Holding GmbH & Co is the largest division of MCE AG by volume of sales. MCE AG is a leading, manufacturer-independent service group and life-cycle partner for the set-up and servicing of industrial plants, buildings and infrastructure facilities in Central Europe. With about 7,800 employees and sales of approximately € 960 million, MCE is a portfolio company of Andlinger & Company, Inc., a private investment firm founded by Gerhard Andlinger in 1976. In 2005, MCE Industrietechnik employed a staff of 3.100 and generated sales of approximately € 467 million. The MCE Group is active on the market as a service partner for design, production, assembly and maintenance of plants and machinery for the oil and gas industry, chemical and petrochemical business, biotechnology, fine chemicals and pharmaceutical manufacturers, the metallurgical branch, paper and pulp producers and power generators and distributors. Chemserv Industrie Service, a subsidiary of MCE Industrietechnik Group, has its headquarters in Linz and also has offices in Krems, Schwechat, Ebensee and Burghausen (D). More than 500 employees and sales of approximately € 60 million have turned Chemserv into a viable service partner for the international industry.
Internet
http://www.mce-ag.com
