Maintenance of the external heat exchanger of Lanzhou Petrochemical’s 3 million tons/year heavy oil catalytic cracking unit

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The external heat exchanger for the 3 million tons/year heavy catalyst regeneration maintenance project was precisely lifted out! Recently, at the site of Lanzhou Petrochemical’s 3 million tons per year heavy oil catalytic cracking unit, CNPC Second Construction Company successfully lifted and installed 2 external heat exchangers, thus accelerating the progress of work on this facility. It is reported that this mission faces multiple challenges, including a tight schedule, numerous obstacles in the work area, simultaneous requirements for large lifting spans and heights, as well as extremely limited space. Through on-site inspections and precise measurements, the team repeatedly simulated and analyzed key parameters such as the boom angle, stress distribution, and the offset of the equipment’s center of gravity, ultimately determining the optimal solution of using two vehicles for lifting, which laid the foundation for a safe and efficient implementation. The external heat exchanger lifted this time has a diameter of 3.2 meters, a height of 18 meters, and a weight of up to 73 tons; it needed to be precisely lifted out from inside the plant framework. During the operation, first, a 750-ton crawler crane is used to slowly lift the external heat exchanger out of the frame ； As the equipment approached the ground, to ensure its stable posture and precise positioning, a 100-ton truck crane stepped in promptly to provide assistance with tail steering; the entire process was carried out in a seamless and well-coordinated manner. Thanks to the seamless teamwork and precise coordination, the two cranes managed to complete the lifting and positioning task safely and accurately in just 6 hours.