Stainless steel fabricator Styria Stainless Steel Fabrication will complete its installation of tanks, kilns and germination beds for South African malting company SAB Maltings’ Gauteng-based plant by December, the company tells Engineering News.
Styria’s manufacturing and supply contract for SAB Maltings comprises 20 steeping tanks that are 5 m in diameter and 10 m high, two drying kilns with a diameter of 32 m, and six germination beds 9 m wide and 70 m long, as well as an additional germination bed which is currently being installed.
The installation of the equipment started in August last year.
Styria director Dean Charsley notes that all the products that will come into contact with the barley used by the plant are made of SA 304 stainless steel, while everything else, such as the legs of the tanks, are made of carbon steel that has been galvanised.
The simultaneous use of stainless steel and carbon steel necessitated hiring additional premises to manufacture the carbon steel separately from the stainless steel to avoid contamination, he notes, explaining that rust staining can occur as a result of surface contamination if stainless steel comes in contact with non-stainless steel items during the manufacturing process.
Additionally, time and space were some of the challenges Styria faced while working on the project.
The company had to keep to the timeframe in which to assemble the products, such as the tanks, before transport to the plant in December last year. Transport embargoes at this time forced Styria’s team to take an alternative 70 km route to deliver its tanks rather than travel on the direct 10-km-long route.
Uranium Project
Meanwhile, Styria in May delivered the last of an order of 36 S32205 stainless steel pressure vessels that weighed a combined 235 t to a uranium mine in Namibia.
Styria also built and delivered an additional 32 tanks made of carbon steel, eight 316L stainless steel tanks and six 18 CS2205 API650 tanks to the mine. These tanks weighed a combined 110 t.
Charsley highlights that after receiving the order for the pressure vessels in March 2014, Styria converted the LDX2404 stainless steel requirement to the local equivalent S32205 stainless steel, with which the company was more comfortable.
The S32205 stainless steel was ordered through a local distributor and manufactured by stainless steel manufacturer and supplier Columbus Stainless.
“This conversion saved the client €130 000 and resulted in a delivery time of 10 to 12 weeks, as opposed to 18 to 20 weeks,” he adds.
The manufacture of the pressure vessels was considered a challenging task as Styria was building four pressure vessels a week, the company says, noting, however, that this challenge was mitigated through the use of a boom-welding machine and sub-arc welding.
It was also made easier through the company’s production line approach to building and packing the vessels, which took four months to get into sequence.
Further, Styria notes that it has a potential future project lined up in Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as various small projects around South Africa to supply tanks to the fertiliser industry for the beginning of 2016.
Edited by: Samantha Herbst
Creamer Media Deputy Editor
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
