Refinery fire protection

The challenge

During a planned turnaround, a refinery operator replaced the skirts and support steel under three distillation columns. In a hydrocarbon pool fire, temperatures pass 1,000 °C within minutes, so unprotected steel loses its strength long before a fire can be brought under control. The new steel had to arrive on site fully fireproofed, because the shutdown window left no time for spraying inside the unit.

Our approach

We blasted every part to Sa 2½ and primed it the same day. The epoxy intumescent went on in several passes in our Lokeren hall, with a glass-fibre mesh embedded halfway so the char stays in place when it expands. Thickness was set per part from the fire engineer’s schedule and measured at every location before the topcoat went on. Bolted connections were left bare and shipped with a repair kit for touch-up after assembly.

The result

All 64 parts were delivered in four batches, each on the day the erection crew needed it. The thickness report for every part went into the operator’s integrity file, and the units restarted on schedule.