Pipe rack modules

The challenge

An EPC contractor was building a new production unit on a chemical site, with the pipe racks prefabricated as modules to shorten the site schedule. All steel needed a C5 anticorrosion system. The lower tiers, which carry the process lines, also needed protection against a hydrocarbon fire.

Our approach

We split the order into four batches that matched the module assembly sequence. All steel was blasted and coated in Lokeren, and the members for the lower two tiers then got an epoxy intumescent layer on top. Bracing connections and bolt holes were masked so the modules could be assembled without grinding off coating. One coordinator updated the contractor’s planner every day on what had left the hall.

The result

The modules were assembled in the contractor’s yard and shipped to site with no coating repairs beyond the bolted joints. Moving all coating to the shop took the painting crew off the site schedule entirely.