Your Emergency Repair is our Routine in Times of the Global Pandemic

In these unprecedented times, delivering specialized emergency repair services for mission-critical equipment in the energy sector can be a challenge. To this, we say – Challenge Accepted! For IGS, it is essential to keep delivering the quality of services that our clients around the world are expecting from us, so they, in turn, can continue to provide critically important services such as power and other energy products to the world economy.

IGS teams are stationed in multiple strategic locations around the world, that enables speedy mobilization of our crews to the various job sites. International travel is required to resource the larger projects, such as the projects in the Middle East, where the IGS teams were in the middle of executing when the COVID-19 pandemic went global.

Emergency started – January 2020 in the Middle East

When it became obvious that global travel restrictions were imminent, the teams operating on multiple projects in the Middle East in February had to make that all important choice: to continue to execute the projects while risking not being able to get home, or to leave, thus, postponing the work.

The experienced and cohesive teams made the unanimous decision to stay and finish the projects. Upon completing the initial scope, IGS was able to execute additional work between January and March 2020 in both Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

IGS Provides Emergency Repair in Refining and Petrochemical Companies in Jubail and Yanbu, Saudi Arabia

• Project Dates: 12^th – 20^th February, 3^rd – 6^th March
• Project: 4 Process Vessels Protected from Metal Wastage in 2 Plants
• Country: Saudi Arabia

We applied High-Velocity Thermal Spray (HVTS) cladding to a Rich Amine Flash Drum, the Preheater and the Separator, and the Stripper Column protecting them from any further metal wastage and ensuring the reliability of these vital Petrochemical Complexes.

IGS was able to mobilize resources at very short notice and provide a metallurgical upgrade to the base metal of the vessels and columns suffering from severe corrosion damage. Both Yanbu and Jubail plants went back in operation ahead of their shutdown schedules.

Dennis Snijders, Sr. Regional Director – Middle East, has commented:

“A big salute to our crews for working under difficult circumstances, and still delivering the high quality that our customers deserve. IGS goes above and beyond! We continue to serve our customers throughout the Middle East while maintaining the health and safety of our field teams. IGS have been executing multiple projects in Saudi Arabia and Qatar since early January. We are still continuing to serve our customers in the Middle East to this date, despite the logistics challenges in moving resources in-country and between countries.”

IGS’s technicians and project managers are stationed in multiple locations enabling the delivery of project executions with very little notice in these ever-changing circumstances.

Waste-to-Energy Boiler Returned to Service in the Most Critical Time

• Project Dates: 28^th February – 5^th March
• Project: Fireside Corrosion Prevention in a WtE Boiler
• Country: Italy

The European team mobilized to the north of Italy a week after the first cluster of cases was detected in Lombardy. Having 100 sq.m. of pressure parts to protect in this highly corrosive boiler, the team would not leave the boiler unprotected. IGS took all security measures possible, providing the team with an isolated place for lodging,  food delivery, and PPE. The team successfully finished the project and safely returned home. The WtE plant returned to the service of waste incineration and power supply in time.

Colossal Boiler Project in Japan Completed

• Project Dates: 23^rd March – 20^th April
• Project: 565m² of HVTS Applied in a Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler
• Country: Japan

Tokyo-based chemical company and the world’s fourth-largest silicon manufacturer is operating their No. 7 CFB Boiler to provide power and steam for their petrochemical plant. They have an annual shutdown of the No. 7 CFB boiler in March-April, where our IGS Japan team, with the help of IGS technicians from the USA and Indonesia, completed the project on schedule, even with extended scope. 

Pandemic-Affected Power Project in Indonesia Goes to Schedule

• Project Dates: 23^rd March – 5^th May
• Project: 305m² of HVTS Cladding Applied in Unit #1
• Country: Indonesia

A government-owned electricity provider has been operating their boilers below full capacity. To help increase capacity, IGS applied HVTS in unit #1, a coal-fired boiler. Despite issues with getting the resources on time due to the global pandemic, the emergency repair project was completed successfully by the IGS local team in Indonesia with QC support from IGS Japan.

Maintaining Critical Power Infrastructure in Poland

• Project Dates: 19^th – 22^nd May
• Project: CFB Boiler Waterwall Protection
• Country: Poland

IGS mobilized to support a turnaround in a power plant, which is part of Poland’s critical power infrastructure. The team made a thorough inspection of the CFB boiler waterwalls and identified high metal wastage areas. We refurbished these areas with the HVTS cladding to prevent leaks of the pressure parts.

Due to emergency, the power plant also asked to protect an additional area, which was subjected to an accelerated metal loss. IGS team managed to execute this further scope promptly, avoiding any delays in the critical path. IGS HVTS cladding stops base material metal loss, making pressure part exchange and welding obsolete.

Extending Components Lifetime in France

• Project Dates: 26^th – 27^nd May
• Project: FCC Unit Pipe Erosion
• Country: France

An FCC unit in a Refinery had localized pipeline erosion at the elbows and tees. IGS Europe applied HVTS cladding to remedy the problem and extend the lifetime of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) column, avoiding replacement and associated downtime and costs.

Copper Mine Optimization Goes to Plan in the USA

• Project Dates: 25^th May – 30^th May
• Project: SO₂ Corrosion Mitigation in a Waste Heat Boiler
• Country: USA

The customer invited IGS to preserve the life and ensure the reliability of a copper mine’s FS waste heat boiler (WHB) inlet tubes, and a variety of other areas, by installing IGS’s proprietary HVTS cladding systems. 

Complete Boiler Revamp in Italy Achieved

• Project Dates: 28^th May – 9^nd June
• Project: WtE Boiler 219m² Waterwall Protection
• Country: Italy

A waste-to-energy boiler was suffering fireside corrosion on the waterwall tubes. IGS have applied its HVTS cladding at the top of the 2^nd path and the superheater tubes in the same area. This application will significantly extend these critical boiler components’ lifetime, preventing any forced outages in the future.

Your Emergency Repair is our Routine

In addition to the projects highlighted in this article, many other projects have been successfully completed by IGS across the globe. Every day, our dedicated local teams continue to perform emergency repairs safely and efficiently in these challenging conditions. IGS’s top priority remains the health and safety of our people, and the customer’s personnel. All while ensuring the reliability of the most critical energy and chemical producers to facilitate the continuity of essential services in these challenging times.

Contact us to see how IGS can optimize your plant reliability and solve erosion, corrosion or efficiency problems.