Project Details:
Ridley Terminals Inc. (RTI) has been one of North America’s leading coal export terminals for nearly 40 years. In order to meet current and future throughput demands, RTI planned to replace aging equipment within their railcar unloading facility. CWA was retained by RTI as the prime consultant responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction management services for their Ingo/Outgo Dumper Upgrades Project.
The project involved the replacement of the existing Ingo Dumper Apron Feeder, Frozen Coal Crusher, and Ingo/Outgo Vibratory Feeders with new equipment, including the associated chutework and steel support structures, to increase the unloading-rate and overall reliability of the system. These upgrades resulted in an initial average 22 percent increase in train-unloading rates by the tandem rotary railcar dumper system.
Challenges:
The replacement of RTI’s existing equipment for the Ingo and Outgo Dumper systems would necessitate a complete shutdown of the railcar dumping operations. To minimize costly interruptions and adverse affects to RTI’s clients, the project required a strategy that would capitalize on opportunities to minimize the shutdown’s duration.
Construction access issues, due to the restrictive workspace limitations, presented logistical and constructability challenges. As the equipment being replaced was located beneath the railcar rotary dumpers, all demolition, construction materials and new equipment would have to be brought through two, 3-metre by 4.5-metre lifting wells.
Solutions:
CWA worked with the owner’s Project Manager and the selected Contractor to minimize interruptions to RTI’s operations, optimize construction sequencing, and identify tasks that could be completed prior to and in parallel during the shutdown. CWA incorporated modularization into the structural design to maximize the number of steel components that could be pre-assembled prior to installation.
CWA also worked with the vendors to design equipment that would maximize pre-assembly, in order to minimize installation durations, while still being capable of passing through the constricted lifting well space.
Preliminary Engineering
Based on RTI’s goal, to maximize the dumper’s throughput capacity, CWA developed the baseline design for the upgrades, including:
- A trade-off study comparing the advantages of replacing the existing Outgo equipment, (including a grizzly and four vibratory feeders) with a twinned system mirroring the Ingo equipment.
- A trade-off study of possible locations for the new E-room required to power the new, higher-capacity equipment.
- Pre-screening of potential, suitable contractors to construct the dumper upgrades.
- The preparation of technical and performance specifications for all vendor supplied equipment.
- The layout and arrangements to replace the existing equipment with new, higher-capacity equipment, including:
- Apron feeders.
- Vibratory feeders.
- Frozen coal crusher.
Detailed Design & Procurement
As the equipment trade-off study indicated that there were capital and operational benefits to twinning the Ingo equipment for the Outgo Dumper, CWA implemented a multifaceted strategy based on a task-specific approach that included the detailed design and procurement of the new Ingo and Outgo dumper systems’ equipment, involving:
- 3D modeling of mechanical and structural equipment.
- The detailed design of support structures and the interfacing of chutework between the vendor-supplied equipment and existing infrastructure.
- Modifications to the dumper Conveyor 201 to replace the existing garland style idlers with new impact roller cassette idlers.
- The detailed electrical and controls design, including a modified cable tray layout, additional lighting, and a new transformer.
- The procurement of two 5,000 tph apron feeders, four vibratory feeders, two frozen coal crushers, an E-room, and a transformer.
- The tendering and contract management of the Prime Construction Contract.
Installation & Commissioning:
CWA supported the construction work, with both on-site and home-office personnel facilitating communication and interfacing between the Contractor and RTI operations, including mitigation of all on-site construction issues. CWA worked with the Contractor and RTI during the commissioning phase to safely bring the new equipment on-line and facilitate a smooth handover to RTI operations personnel.